//------------------------------// // C4 The Celtic Dress (Edited) // Story: Welcome to the Bureau // by daOtterGuy //------------------------------// It was a very chilly evening for early fall. Breathing out a cloud of frozen air into the moonlit evening, she pulled her jacket tighter against herself to conserve what little warmth it provided. She stood alongside a deserted dirt road at the edge of the Everfree Forest. The sun had set an hour ago, and the full moon above lit the road up in stark white. A wary glance towards where the path split off into the forest and petered off shortly thereafter brought her little comfort. The deep shadows of the woods felt darker in the bright light shining above.  What little that could be seen within shafts of brightness that broke through the thick overhead canopy, only served to heighten the unease she felt. The imagined monsters that stalked in the undergrowth, that reveled in the cover provided by shadows.  It was unsettling to say the least. Sunset jumped as a stiff breeze howled through the forest causing it to rustle and shift. Her imagination conjured up any manner of creature that could be lurking within the shadows. Amalgamations of monsters both read and seen firsthand on the other side of the mirror. Over in Equestria, she had magic. A simple fireball dealt with most and a bigger one dealt with the rest. Here, though, she had nothing but two flashlights and two Suppressor Rods, the latter of which were only effective against Altered Items.  The Everfree was safe. Excluding the real threat of the Celtic Dress, her research had shown that the most dangerous monster to reside in the woods were wolves, large canines that could rip humans to shreds, however, reports stated that they had more of an interest in helping humans rather than killing them.  Articles centered on “good boys” that assisted those lost within the trees of the Everfree.  It did nothing to dissuade her fearful mind. She really wished that Flash would hurry up. Closing her eyes, Sunset took a deep breath to calm down her racing heart. As the urge to run screaming away receded, she opened her eyes once more and checked her phone: 9 pm. Flash was supposed to already have arrived. Sunset needed him to be here. She couldn’t contain the dress without him, and she was tired of standing alone in the dark. In an effort to take her mind off the imagined monsters in her head, she mentally reviewed her week. Rarity had deigned to continue their working relationship, and, together, had managed to cobble together the beginnings of their project. The subject was dry, but the company was begrudgingly enjoyable. She had also told Sunset that the flier girl was named Fluttershy. She had been asking Sunset to volunteer for the local animal shelter; a rescue center for abandoned pets. Apparently, Fluttershy had learned of Sunset’s outburst and thought that she might be willing to help out. Sunset had admitted interest — animals had always been her one soft spot — but Fluttershy would need to ask her properly before she would consider volunteering. And to stop stalking her everywhere. Fluttershy, according to Rarity, had crippling social anxiety and it took a lot for her to approach a stranger let alone ask them for something. There was a certain amount of empathy Sunset could feel for the girl’s plight, but that didn’t excuse the annoyance of having her follow Sunset everywhere she went.  It made her feel like she was back in the Chalkboard’s version of the school, and she had more than enough of that to last a lifetime.  On a different note, Pinkie had kept her promise and brought in a red velvet cake for her on the second day of school. One slice had convinced her to try and abscond the rest for herself at home, but Pinkie insisted that it had to be shared. A sentiment Sunset resented.  The rest of the week had been continuous verbal bombardment from Pinkie. It was just nothing but word vomit for the entirety of the class. She was the epitome of sunshine and hyperactivity, two traits Sunset hated. They annoyed the Tartarus out of her, which also happened to be where she preferred they went. In terms of Applejack, she had mostly left Sunset alone. Rarity and Rainbow Dash had intervened on her behalf and got her to agree to leave her be. This had been told to her by Rainbow the day after then spent the rest of the week ignoring her. An expected result, but one that soured Sunset’s thoughts. Rainbow had been a contender for the Bureau, and now that bridge was most likely permanently burnt. Definitely a loss, but nothing devastating. Finally, there was Flash Sentry. She could definitely confirm that he had no other friends. He was alone in class. He was alone at lunch. He was alone every time in between. The few times she’d seen him talk to other people, Sunset could practically see the awkwardness that radiated off him as he tried to keep up with the conversation. Curious, she had asked Rarity what his deal was, and she informed her that she didn’t know. He always tried to be friendly and kind to those around him, but most just couldn’t click with him. Recently, he hadn’t even been trying to meet other people. Until Sunset at least. Flash had made it very clear that he wanted to be friends with her. He said hello every morning, talked to her between classes whenever the opportunity presented itself, and had an uncanny ability to find her Applejack hiding spots at lunch.  The only time he didn’t talk with her was outside of school hours, and only then because Sunset headed straight back to the Cabin as soon as the end of day bell rang. He seemed clingy and desperate, but Sunset was more inclined to believe he was just awkward and lonely. She couldn’t resent him for that.  A quick check of her phone showed the time to be 9:15 pm.  She could, however, resent him for being late. Sunset weighed over her options. If he didn’t show up soon, the night would be a bust and she’d have to wait a month for the next full moon. At least then she’d have more time to find a punctual partner, but that meant meeting more people. A task Sunset was not looking forward to.  Before she could decide whether to wait any longer, a voice called out to her. Turning towards the source, she saw Flash running up to her. As he came to a stop, he bent over to catch his breath. “Sorry I’m late,” he said once he’d recovered enough to stand up straight, “I had trouble sneak—, er, getting a ride here.” A quirk of the eyebrow was Sunset’s response. She wasn’t sure why he had hid the fact that he had snuck out of his house, but she could care less.  They had a dress to catch.  “It’s fine. You’re here now.” She waved her hand towards the woods. “Come on, we have a lot of ground to cover and not a lot of time to do it.” She started to enter the forest before remembering the flashlights in her jacket pocket. She tossed one to Flash, who caught it clumsily in his grasp. “Take this. Should be good enough to light up your path.”  Sunset took out a flashlight of her own, clicked it on and, without checking to see if Flash followed after her, walked calmly into the forest. The sound of running footfalls and the bobbing beam of light that shot past her announced Flash’s presence. “Hey, Sunset?” “Yes?” “Why are we entering the Everfree Forest at night?” She smiled coyly at him. “You’ll see soon enough.” There was a pause as the sounds of crunching leaves underfoot and wind whistling through the trees filled the void of silence. “Okay then,” Flash finally replied.  Flash was somewhat concerned about the situation he found himself in. Probably belated all things considered, but, now wandering through the Everfree Forest at night with a girl he barely knew for reasons she wouldn’t tell him, he was beginning to second guess the wisdom of his decision. What was worse was how willing he was to go along with it as he was desperate to make friends, and his other friends were… not his friends. Acquaintances at best.  He wasn’t completely oblivious. He knew his reputation as the kid that didn’t fit in with anyone. It was easy to meet new people, it was keeping them around that was proving difficult. This time around, things were going better with Sunset. She had kept his word, and he’d had a frequent talking buddy through the school week. Something he hadn’t had since elementary school.  Sure, Sunset probably hadn’t meant every possible waking moment when she had told him he was free to contact her anytime. But she hadn’t told him to leave yet, and Flash decided that was good enough. That concern, however, was feeling small in the face of the creepy forest he found himself in. If he was being smart, he would turn back now. He wanted Sunset to like him, so he’d agreed to her request without question, but he was finding the actual follow through on that request to be something of an ordeal. On the other hand, she had put up with him for the entire week and — even if it was faked —  was kind to him for the duration. He felt he owed her something for that, and if it meant getting shanked in a creepy forest, that was simply the price he was willing to pay.  That, and Flash had just snuck out of the house after swiping his parent’s car keys and driving his older sister’s van into the middle of nowhere. There was a sunk cost fallacy at play and curiosity was getting the best of him.  If he was going to be caught later and reamed out by his parents, he might as well make the whole excursion worth it. Flash yelped as he tripped and found himself face down in the dirt with his flashlight thankfully still in his hand. With a pained groan, he looked up into the bright light emitted by Sunset’s flashlight. “Need some help?” She asked with an impassive expression on her face.  “Nah, I should be good. Was surprised more than hurt.” Flash lifted himself to his feet, dusted off his jeans, and began searching with his flashlight for the source of his fall. “Wonder, what I—” He stopped as he took in the sight illuminated by his flashlight.  There was a rabbit. A dead rabbit. Its body laid still on the ground with the blank, pupiless eyes. Disturbingly, Flash observed that the rabbit wore a contented smile across its face, seemingly happy about its less than alive state. He hoped he was just reading too much into it. Further observation yielded no obvious cause of death. No external injuries and nothing that suggested illness, which only really ruled out external signs. Where Flash was apprehensive, Sunset was curious.  She moved her flashlight along the ground following the soft impression of rabbit feet in the dirt. As she traced the path, she found it continued further into the forest to their right. “Let’s go,” Sunset declared as she followed the trail. Flash looked after her before returning to the rabbit. He bent down on the soles of his feet and looked closer at the rabbit’s face. It was clear from this close up the rabbit was in fact smiling. Rather blissfully, Flash admitted.  A rather vocal part of his mind told him he needed to leave. It was far too easy to see himself in the same position, a look of bliss adorned on his face, dead. He was in over his head and nothing about this situation led him to believe he would return home alive.  But on the other hand… I look forward to working with you. Standing up quickly, Flash jogged after Sunset, minding his path so he didn’t trip on another rabbit.  Shortly after the first corpse, Sunset and Flash found a second, this one of a deer. A third followed the second, followed by a fourth and so on until they arrived at the edge of a moonlit clearing. Flash turned off his flashlight. “What is that?” he asked.  Sunset matched him by turning off her own. “The Celtic Dress.” she answered.  The object in question was a long-sleeved white gown adorned with frilly green lace along the openings and criss crossed on the front. It floated as if underwater, bathed in moonlight. In a loose ring surrounding the dress were the corpses of dead animals. A menagerie of rabbits, deer, mice, and everything in between. Each laid lifeless before the ethereal dress, all blissfully smiling and facing away from the foreboding item. A quick observation from Sunset noted that the bodies became denser as they came closer to the Altered Item, except within an approximate 1 meter distance around it, which was devoid of anything. “Stay close, Flash,” Sunset ordered, “we’re going to carefully approach it.” “Wait, we’re going to move closer to it?” he scanned over the piles of bodies and gulped. “I’m not so sure we should be doing that.” “We have to.” Flash stared back at Sunset, mulling over his thoughts before, reluctantly, nodding his consent.  Wanting to waste no more time, Sunset began her slow tread towards the dress, minding the corpses littered about the grove. She was cautious, as the Cabin had provided some information, but not nearly enough for Sunset’s comfort. What had been logged was the Celtic Dress’s rough location, the conditions in which it revealed itself, and that getting too close to the Dress would cause death, but, most importantly, not instantaneous death.  Further details implied that the effect was not permanent and could be rectified by stepping out of the Altered Item’s area of effect. This was useful as that meant the only unknown quantity she needed to be concerned with was the range.  Assuming the documentation in the Cabin had been correct. She stopped just short of the outer ring of the open field. “Alright, Flash. I’m going to move closer and I’ll need you to pull me back at the first sign of something happening.” “Sign of what happening?” Flash asked.  “Anything,” Sunset answered, “I don’t know exactly what will happen, but I need you focused and ready to act.” “I—” Flash gulped. “Okay, Sunset.” “Okay. Whenever you’re ready, Flash.” “Ready, Sunshine.” Slowly, and deliberately, Sunset turned her head to stare back at Flash with an incredulous look on her face. Flash was trying hard not to look back at her, a nervous expression on his face.  “Sunshine?” Sunset said in a dangerous tone.  “Yeah,” Flash replied sheepishly.  “Really?” “I was just thinking that we seem to be doing super secret dangerous stuff, and code names would be kinda cool. Plus, you know.” He shrugged. “I wanted to lighten the mood.” Sunset took a deep breath. “You know what, Flash? I’ll let you call me that, but!” She pointed a finger at him with a stern expression on her face. “Only when we are alone. Got it?” Flash grinned. “Got it, Sunshine.” This was met by a deadpan look. “Okay, just to be as clear as possible since I would like to live through this, weird stuff happens, you pull me back. Clear?” “Affirmative.” Sunset nodded before renewing her focus on the dress. She took a deep breath to steady herself, then stepped forward. The world was white. Eternal. Peaceful. Beautiful. She was floating.  Up. Away. Gone were all her worries and problems.  Such useless thoughts. Why had she even been bothered by them? Who cared what her mentor thought of her? What did it matter working for the Cabin? She should just let it all go and float away from— Sunset gasped for air as she awoke on the ground. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, blind panic fueling her strength. Behind her was Flash, an equally distraught expression on his face, clutching onto the back of her jacket with a shaking grip.  “What happened?” Sunset asked. “You fell forward. Your skin turned pale, you—” Flash fumbled as he tried to find the right words, “... died? I think?” “Not quite right. It wasn’t dying, at least not in the traditional sense. It was more like…” Sunset sorted through her thoughts and smiled as she arrived at the answer. “Soul severing. Oh, that is fascinating. I had never thought to see something like this.” “Soul what now?” Flash tilted his head to one side. “Soul Severing,” Sunset replied, “I’ll explain in a moment. First, where did I step before I fell forward?” “Sunset, I don’t think—”  “Flash,” Sunset said in a commanding tone, “I know that was scary, but we need to know what the range of the dress is to handle this. We can’t leave it here to prey on more victims.” She paused for a moment to allow her words to register. “So, I’m going to ask you again. Where did I step before I fell?” She watched as he seemed to struggle with what she told him before finally saying, “Three steps past where you started.” Looking back towards the dress, she noted the approximate location of where she had fallen based on the impressions in the grass and Flash’s statement. “Good.” She turned back to Flash. “Wait here.” Standing back up, Sunset brushed the dirt off her jeans, and walked along the edge of the clearing with Flash warily eyeing the ethereal dress. As she searched, she found a multitude of sticks lying on the ground. She picked them up and carried the bundle back. Moving past a confused Flash, she slowly inched her way closer to the dress. Once she had reached about where she had fallen, Sunset rammed a stick into the soft ground.  She turned around to find Flash hovering just behind her, ready to grab her should she have fallen under the Altered Item’s effects. “Here.” Sunset passed over about half of her pile over to Flash. “Carefully go around the edge of the dress’s effect and place sticks in the ground until we roughly form a circle around it. That way we won’t have to guess if we’re too close.” “Smart, I think?” Flash said.  “I came up with the idea, so, yes, it is,” Sunset answered. “Let’s get started.” Both Sunset and Flash began making their way around the edge of the proposed radial effect, driving sticks into the ground as they went. Once they met up again on the other side, Sunset surveyed the roughly circle ring of sticks with satisfaction.  “Now what?” Flash asked. “We use these.” From inside of her jacket, Sunset pulled out two long metal rods. She twisted the ends of both extending the tops. Twin bands of blue light lit up on both rods while releasing a quiet metallic hum. “And these are?” Flash questioned. “Suppressor Rods. They’ll help us stop the Item’s effect, which will allow us to get it into containment.” “Containment?” “Later.” Sunset offered one of the rods to Flash who grabbed it. “Now, we have the dangerous part to do.” “This is the dangerous part? We haven’t already been doing that?” “No, we haven’t.” Sunset took a deep breath. “We both need to get close to the dress on opposite sides to use the rods.” “Close to it?” Flash asked incredulously, “The death dress?” “Yes.” “It’ll kill us!” Flash yelled. “Firstly, not quite true. It will sever our souls, not kill us.” “What difference does that make?!” “Death would mean the effect is instantaneous, while soul severance means that our spirits are ripped out of our bodies and floated off into oblivion. Now, that does result in death, however,” Sunset paused for emphasis, “The effect is reversed once we get out of range or deactivate it. This means we have valuable time.” “This sounds risky, super dangerous, and with a zero chance of success.” Sunset was about to reassure Flash’s worries before she was cut off. “Let’s do it.” Sunset grinned. “Alright, then here’s what we do. You and I will go to opposing sides of the circle keeping out of range of the dress with the sticks as guidelines. Once in position, I’ll give the signal, and we’ll both jump towards the dress with the Suppressors in front of us. The effect will trigger, but momentum should get us close enough to deactivate it. Any questions?” Flash shook his head before he moved into position opposite of Sunset. They made eye contact with each other. “On my signal,” Sunset said.  A single nod then Flash focused his attention on the dress. Sunset took a breath to steady herself and, with as much confidence as she was able to, called out, “Now!” In tandem, they leapt towards the dress, arms outstretched. Time seemed to slow as they got closer and closer to— Let it go. Just let all your worries go. Embrace peace. Embrace the end.  Succumb to silence and everlasting contentment. Let it— Sunset once more gasping for air on the ground. She quickly took in her bearings and found Flash in a similar position next to her. They glanced at each other then, as one, they looked down to find the dress lying in a crumpled heap between the Suppressors. They glanced back at each other in a moment of silence. Sunset broke it first with a small titter, Flash followed with a snort. As the tension ebbed, both teenagers couldn’t help but laugh hysterically at the situation. The dress was contained and they were alive.  A resounding success.  “So, now what?” Flash asked once he’d calmed down.  Before Sunset could reply, a ding echoed through the grove. Looking towards the source, they saw an elevator at the edge of the clearing with a plush red interior lit by a single hanging chandelier.  “We take the elevator to the Cabin,” Sunset replied. Moving the death dress to the Cabin — whatever that was — had been easy. The metal rod things — Suppressors, Flash reminded himself — caused anything caught between them to float. This allowed Sunset and Flash to easily float the thing into the weird elevator that had appeared in the middle of the woods.  Flash was concerned about why none of the aforementioned things bothered him, but at this point, he had long past broken his limit on understanding and was content to simply roll with events as they came. He figured Sunset would eventually explain everything to him. Hopefully. The elevator ride down had been silent. Not by any means awkward, both Sunset and Flash were just exhausted from the near death experience.  After a time, the elevator opened onto a white room, and they disembarked while carefully maneuvering the dress between them. Flash noticed a long corridor and two other rooms present. Once room was a classroom with a single chalkboard inside with the words “Hello, Twerp” written on the slate. The other was a blank room of the same structure minus the classroom amenities.  They entered the empty room, at which point Sunset told Flash to drop the dress. Flash had voiced concerns over being too close, but Sunset assured him the suppression effect would continue while they were inside of the room. With some apprehension, they both deactivate their Suppressors by twisting the top half back into place. The dress flopped to the ground in a crumpled heap.     Not wanting to wait, Flash rushed out of the room with a bemused Sunset following after him. Once exited, Sunset made her way to a console situated just before the room.  Looking over her shoulder, Flash watched as she navigated various displays and transformed the interior of the cell into something resembling the moonlit grove they had found the dress in. Shortly after, the dress began to float in place. With the imminent threat of death negated, Flash could admit that the object looked beautiful, but in the way of a poisonous flower.  Pretty to observe, but only death awaited those that would touch it. “I suppose I should explain some things,” Sunset said. Flash was quiet for a moment before he answered, “Yeah, you should.” “Any questions?” Sunset asked. “Give me a minute,” Flash answered. “Take as much time as you need.” Flash began to mull over the information Sunset had told him. It was… a lot. The Cabin, the Bureau, the Celtic Dress, why she had recruited him, and everything in between. Unexpectedly, he had felt a pang of hurt on learning that Sunset had recruited him since she needed someone to follow orders, not because of anything specifically about him. That made him feel… expendable. He thought it odd that it was the only thing that bothered him. It was terrifying to think how little he cared about the fact he could have died. But the weird part to Flash wasn’t that he felt uncaring. Contrary to that, he was thrilled. He had been useful, gone through a near death experience, and was riding high on a sort of pleasure akin to the satisfaction someone only got with some alone time in the bedroom. And then Flash immediately stopped thinking about it. There was a verifiable soup of emotions just under the surface that he had neither the energy or time to unpack. What was most important was getting a clear answer from Sunset about a lingering feeling he had. “Do you like me?” Flash asked. “Not romantically, but I guess just as a friend?” Sunset stared back at me seemingly mulling over her thoughts. She was taking her time, probably to be sure her response was clear, but a more cynical part of Flash’s mind thought she was just trying to figure out what he wanted to hear so he’d continue helping her. “No,” she finally answered.  Flash felt something break inside himself.  “But, I don’t dislike you either.” Then he was just left confused. “I don’t think that’s a better response,” Flash said.  “I’m sorry, Flash, but I don’t trust people easily.” A morose expression crossed her face. “I work alone, and prefer to keep it that way since relying on others has never worked well for me in the past.” Her face returned to an impassive look. “I can’t promise friendship, but I can say that I tentatively trust you. Enough to have you watch my back.” Sunset looked directly into Flash’s eyes and said, “You can decide if that’s enough.” Flash wasn’t sure how to respond to Sunset’s statement. He wasn’t her friend and he might never be that to her. But there was something to have earned the trust of someone to watch their back, to have an ally that stuck by you through thick and thin. It meant more to him than he had thought it would. “Alright, Sunshine.” Flash grinned. “Let’s do this. Together.” She glared at him. “I really wish you wouldn’t call me that, but,” she grinned, “glad to have you aboard, Flash.”