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New Arrival1,107 words
Debriefing1,637 words
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Gathering Intel2,179 words

Gathering Intel

“I am going to kill you!”

“It was a minor deal! They’re immortal, too!”

“That’s not the point and you know it!”

Star stomped through the snow as she led Shadow home for the day. They had just left the Dazzle household with a few conditions from one Adagio Dazzle. Star would rather spend five Hell days with her father than follow through on said conditions, but unfortunately, the Sirens had them in a small corner. At least until Anon-a-Miss was over with.

The encounter replayed in her mind’s eye, only further fueling her ire.

“So, you’re divine beings? Immortal messengers of these humans?”

Star stayed close to Shadow, keeping a firm hold on her sister’s wrist as the three Sirens surrounded them. It would have been no problem slipping out the door, but Aria had blocked that path off, and Sonata was standing in front of the glass to the balcony. They were forced to face Adagio.

“We don’t want trouble,” Star said slowly, looking for an escape that didn’t involve one immortal going through another. “We were only here to conduct our investigation.”

“Pray tell, what investigation would that be?” Adagio inquired, keeping her stance relaxed. Star knew she was ready to pounce on any information she could get out of them. They needed to be careful about what they revealed or things could get worse for CHS.

Shadow was not on the same wavelength. “We’re just investigating some Anon-a-Miss stuff happening at the school. Some bully’s making everyone all cranky, so we were sent to put a stop to it.”

Star slapped a hand against her face. Aria gave a soft snicker. “Those kids can never stay out of trouble. They would’ve been better off letting us brainwash them.”

“It would certainly keep their feeble minds safe, that’s for certain,” Adagio agreed with a slight smirk. “I take it you came here to be sure we weren’t the cause of this new uproar?”

“We needed to be sure there was no reason to suspect you,” Star told her tightly. “Since there isn’t, we can be on our way.”

“I don’t think so,” Adagio stated. “You broke into our home under false pretenses. I believe some compensation is in order.”

Red eyes narrowed. “And how are you so sure we have something to give you?”

“You’re an angel and a demon!” Sonata giggled. “If there’s anyone who can give us something we want, it would be you two. Can’t you, like, rain fire on things?”

“I can’t,” Shadow told her. “I’m not old enough yet.”

“An indication that one of you can.” Amethyst eyes met Star’s red ones and the angel huffed.

“We only came here for our investigation.” This was not going as planned. Star could have been in and out if she had done this on her own. “We should really be leaving your territory since there’s no way to give you whatever you want anyway.”

Sonata pouted behind them. “So much for a Christmas Wish…”

Star froze up. H-how did she know about that? No. They couldn’t possibly know.

Her sudden nervousness did not go unnoticed by the leader of the trio. “Is there something about this Christmas wish we should know?” Adagio smirked, walking closer. “Perhaps something you could do for us after all?”

Shadow ducked behind Star, her cheeks flaming as the siren moved closer. “O-only Angels have the ability to grant those. Demons can’t. Because of the nature of Christmas, it was only granted to Angels, like Star.”

“Shadow!” Star exclaimed, rounding on her sister. “Can you shut up for five minutes? How badly do you want Dad to torture me?”

“So Angels grant wishes?” Aria snorted. “What, like a genie or something?”

Star spun on her now. “There is now way I’m granting wishes to any of you! Who knows what you three would wish for any-.”

“You have to hang out with us whenever you’re not investigating!” Sonata blurted out.

Everyone stared at her in utter shock and even Adagio asked, “What?”

“W-well, we don’t really have anyone else coming over for the holidays, s-so I thought they could spend the holidays with us…” Sonata shrank under the flat glares of her sisters.

“These are two heavenly beings with immense power and the ability to destroy the world at their fingertips, and your wish from them is to hang out with us when they're not doing their job?” Aria’s face had darkened to an indignant prune color as she glared at the ponytailed woman.

“U-um, yeah?”

Before Aria could go on a tirade, Adagio cleared her throat. The pair settled down immediately and glanced to their leader. Adagio stared at Shadow and Star pensively, tapping her chin in thought. The blondes shared an uneasy glance as they waited for her to say something.

Finally, Adagio nodded. “I think that’s a wonderful idea, Sonata,” she stated.

“WHAT?” Aria’s jaw hit the ground as she stared at her leader in shock.

“I see no reason why Sonata can’t have her wish granted,” the lead siren shrugged. “And it doesn’t negate that you and I still have our wishes, Aria. If that’s what she wants to wish for, it will give us time to think about our own.”

Aria’s eyes narrowed as she surveyed Adagio. The two of them held eye contact for a long moment before Aria slowly nodded. “Okay… fine. It’ll be nice to have someone new to wipe the floor with in videogames anyway.”

Shadow snorted, breaking the tension in the air. “Yeah, we’ll see about that.”

Adagio and Star leveled each other with wary gazes. “So?” Adagio prodded. “Do we have a deal for Sonata’s wish?”

Red eyes glared around at the entire room for a moment before closing. With a deep breath, Star conceded this battle. “We have a deal.”

Star gave a soft groan of aggravation. Spending their downtime in the company of three very manipulative, very cunning, very questionable women was not how she expected her Winter Break to go!

“We were asked to be inconspicuous. Our presence is supposed to be secret. Our mission involves stealth, undercover operations, interrogations, and other things that would help us clear up this case as soon as possible. Telling possible suspects of our true nature was not part of the plan!”

“I just wanted to make sure they were telling the truth!” Shadow pouted. “Just asking them doesn’t give results. People tell the most truth when Wrath is triggered.”

Star grumbled under her breath as she turned into a nearby shop for a brief respite from the cold. “Could’ve triggered Wrath without exposing us to the most manipulative, intelligent-.”

“Don’t forget curvy,” Shadow piped in with a goofy grin.

“-ancient monster to swim the seas of that Equestria place!” Star continued, shooting a glare at her sister. “Now we’re stuck spending our downtime with them!”

Shadow shrugged, rubbing her arm. “What’s so bad about that, though?”

Morning Star clenched her jaw and took a few deep breaths before her shoulders slumped and her steam ran out. “Nothing,” she muttered defeatedly. “I was probably going to spend the holidays alone drinking anyway. I’m just… Adagio isn’t one to be messed with. I don’t know what plan she has for us and it makes me nervous, I guess.”

Shadow Wings threw an arm around her sister’s shoulder. “Think about it this way!” she chirped. “You and I will be spending every moment we’re not investigating in the company of three gorgeous women.”

“I’m not going to fall for Lust again, Shadow,” Star smirked. “I fell for it last millennia and I’m still getting over some of the after effects.”

Shadow laughed and was about to comment when her ears twitched. Star’s did as well and both turned their attention to some nearby students from Canterlot High. They were poring over their phones and one of them appeared to be seething. Shadow’s eyes lit up and she slipped to the angry student’s side.

“Mind if I look?” she asked softly. The group looked up at her. “My phone broke last week and my sister is being mean and won’t let me look at hers.”

“Check out the newest Anon-a-Miss post,” one of the students chuckled.

“What’s happened now?” Star walked closer to get a better look.

“Shimmer put Cruise Control here on blast!” another of the group laughed, bending over in mirth.

While Shadow looked to the phone, Star took a deep breath. Smiling at the group, she lowered her voice. “So, you cats think it’s Sunset, too?”

The students all scoffed. “Who else could it be?” one of them snorted. “Shimmer’s done this before. Knew it was only a matter of time before she went back to it.”

“So, there’s no possibility of it being anyone else?” the angel inquired. Her shrewd eyes watched the group carefully, looking for even the slightest break in composure.

Someone she recognized as High Speed spoke up, “Why would anyone else even bother? CHS is a friendly place, you know? Ever since those Rainbooms stripped Shimmer from power, the school’s been great. Everyone is finally getting along better than ever.”

“Except during the Battle of the Bands,” Star threw out casually. There it was. The smallest change in expression, a slight shift of shame.

“Th-that doesn’t count,” one of them—Nitro Shot?—piped in. “It was those Sirens doing it to us. We were fine before they arrived, too!”

“Face it,” Cruise Control grunted. “Every problem at CHS has come from that other world. We’re all perfectly fine with each other without those Equestrians butting into our business.”

Star and Shadow shared a glance. This was more than they were expecting. If they had to guess, quite a few students shared that sentiment. Not bothering to mention that the Sirens had no control over what the students said to each other, Star sighed.

“Yeah, I can see that,” she mused. “Would honestly come as a surprise if this wasn’t a magical problem, you know?” The students stared at her in confusion. “Well, I mean, the account could be Shimmer, or it could be, say another magical entity from that Equestria place, right? I don’t know if they have computers over there, though, being ponies and all.”

“If this isn’t a magical problem, I’ll destroy my model car collection,” one of the students snickered.

“Don’t worry, Scale Design,” Nitro Shot laughed. “I think your collection is safe. There’s no way this is anyone but Shimmer.”

High Speed smirked. “Remember how she was when she ruled the school? This is probably her just spilling all her blackmail stuff. All those embarrassing pictures and humiliating secrets are probably coming to light now because she knows no one will cave to her blackmail anymore. Without any use of it, she’s just airing it for everybody.”

“That’s just how bullies are,” Cruise grunted, laying his head on his folded arms. “Should’ve known people like Shimmer never change.”

Star spotted Shadow breathing deeply. A deep blue essence lifted from a few of the students and she smiled. Well, she thought. I did promise I would get her something to eat.

She frowned as they bade the students good night. This was troubling, though. The students were content to think the problem had come from Equestria, but none of this had the same feel as things from that world did. There was no magic in the air, no underlying scent of danger. Everything about the ordeal was painfully human, loathe as Star was to admit it.

Worse than that, none of this had any of Sunset’s old tells, either. It didn’t have any of her finesse. Sunset Shimmer was many things, but she wasn’t stupid. She would have known the students would come after her if she did this. None of this was making any sense.

“Those kids really don’t like that Shimmer chick, huh?” Shadow’s soft voice brought Star out of her musing.

“Hm?” the angel asked.

Shadow shrugged. “The way those kids were talking about her, she must have been pretty bad, right?”

“Yeah, she kinda was,” Star sighed, running a hand through her hair. “She didn’t get physical with anyone unless they got physical first, but… She used embarrassing secrets and photos and other blackmail material to keep the school under her thumb. Even students who tried to report on it couldn’t find any concrete evidence, so Celestia and Luna couldn’t dish out any consequences.”

Star shook her head. “She had the entire school terrified of her for three years. That kind of thing doesn’t just go away.”

“It’s gonna be hard convincing these kids she’s innocent,” Shadow whispered. “Will any of them even believe us when we find the real culprits?”

Star glanced to her sister, then up at the stars. It was a clear night, but there were clouds on the horizon, foretelling of another bout of snow coming in a day or two. A day or two. That much closer to Winter Break. Star heaved a deep sigh and threw an arm around Shadow’s shoulders.

“I dunno.”

Author's Note:

Sorry it's been a while everyone. I needed to buy a new charger to make my laptop last just a little longer. I'll be buying a new laptop as soon as I can, so hopefully updates will be smoother after that.

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