“You're sure?” Sunset Shimmer poked the faux Alicorn Amulet. There was no sparkle of magic or promise of power; she wasn't sure if she should've been relieved or not.
“Look.” Twilight pulled out her magic detector and passed it over the amulet. “No magic. Not here, at least.” She tapped the side of the detector, and a direction light began to blink. She looked over her shoulder. “I'm getting readings going in that direction--”
“Blueblood's … friend must have grabbed it while we were in the bathroom. Replaced it with a replica so nobody would notice.” Sunset put the fake amulet back into the case, and eased it closed. “Wish I'd thought of that. Not that we had the time to do it, but … whoever we're dealing with, I bet they've been planning this for a long time.”
“So now what?” Twilight said.
“Same plan as before. We use your detector to find the amulet, then we steal it, and then we get out of here. It should be easy-- either the thief has stashed the real Alicorn Amulet somewhere, or she's got it in her purse. It's what I would do.”
“What if she puts it on?”
“Then we're really in trouble.” Sunset closed her eyes, pulled in a breath. “So let's make sure that doesn't happen.”
“All aboard!”
Blueblood stood at the bow of his yacht, basking in the polite applause that rose up from the other socialites. A good number of them soon made their way up the boarding ramp and onto the boat, while a couple of burly men in striped shirts and knit caps bustled around taking care of the actual work.
Twilight and Sunset joined the throng and climbed aboard. Twilight, nervous, kept quiet, while Sunset made idle small talk with a few of the other guests. Another cheer rose up from the guests as the ship pushed off, its twin engines thrumming to life as the yacht cruised out onto the lake.
Blueblood's yacht was just as lavishly decadent as his house-- to look inside the main cabin, one could be forgiven for mistaking it as the interior to some posh cocktail bar, instead of a boat. It was a little more cramped than the party itself, but copious amounts of champagne helped things along.
“There she is.” Sunset Shimmer murmured. Twilight turned her head just in time to glimpse the tall woman with the colorful dress walk through a doorway out to the exterior deck. “I'm gonna follow her, see if I can get some intel-- or maybe even snag the amulet when she's not looking. You wait here and hold my drink.”
Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but before she knew it, Sunset had foisted a flute of champagne onto Twilight and disappeared out the same narrow doorway. Twilight blinked a few times, and pushed her glasses further up her nose with her free hand. She edged towards one wall of the nautical 'lounge,' and leaned her back against the wood paneling, instinctively retreating to where nobody could creep up behind her.
After a few long, terrible moments of solitude, Twilight realized that it wasn't so bad. For the most part, the well-heeled party guests ignored her, wrapped up in their own little dramas. Twilight looked down at her champagne glass. One delicate sniff was all it took to remind Twilight of just why she'd devolved into a coughing fit last time she tried.
Twilight shifted from foot to foot, both out of nervousness, and from the gentle swaying of the yacht. She wondered if the uneasy feeling in her stomach was seasickness or just anxiety from being half of a criminal conspiracy to steal a potentially cursed artifact of untold magical power. Still, Twilight realized, she'd gone her whole life as a wallflower-- maybe now it could work to her advantage. It's not like anyone else on the yacht had ever seen her before. Except for Blueblood, but he seemed too dense and distracted to really notice. All she had to do was stay quiet and unnoticeable until Sunset did the actual crime, and she'd be fine.
“Twilight Sparkle, is that you?”
Twilight whipped her head around, and found herself staring up at none other than Principal Celestia. She still wore her typical white principal-ing blazer, along with a typically principal-ish expression of stern disapproval.
“Uh.” Twilight said, mouth going suddenly dry. “No?”
“What're you doing here?” Principal Celestia strode across the lounge, pushing a young man in a silk shirt out of the way. “Is that champagne? Have you been drinking?”
“Yes-- I mean, uh, no!” Twilight cringed back against the wall, looking in vain for a hiding place, or a means of escape. “I mean, um, it is champagne, but I haven't been drinking so … that's okay, right? Just … having a good time. That's not a crime, is it? Not that I would ever do any crimes ever because I am an upstanding and responsible citizen as well as a good student and please don't put this on my permanent record.”
Principal Celestia narrowed her eyes. “We're going to get to the bottom of this, young lady. Follow me.” She turned on a heel and strode out the main door, to the rear of the yacht. Twilight followed, taking hold of the railing with her free hand to keep herself steady. Wind whipped at her hair, and she looked out at the receeding lights from the shore. She could probably swim that distance, if she had to … and then after that, all she would have to do was flee the country. Maybe she could even make it that magical pony dimension. Being a tiny horse couldn't be that bad, could it?
“Bertram!” Principal Celestia's education-trained voice cut over the drone of the yacht's engines, and shook Twilight out of her escapist fantasy.
“What is it now?” Blueblood's head poked out over the edge of the yacht's observation deck, easily twelve feet above. “I already apologized for that business about the invitation, Auntie!You should've just told me you lost--”
“Get down here!” Principal Celestia's voice brooked no dissension.
Blueblood blinked, and then slid down the ladder to the main deck, landing nimbly next to Celestia and Twilight. “Do you really need to yell like that? It's embarrassing.”
“This is low, even for you, Bertram.”
“What?” Blueblood's eyes went wide in shock.
“What kind of sick game are you playing? Inviting one of my students to your party? Just so you could get her drunk and … and … “ Celestia grabbed hold of Blueblood's blazer, eliciting a shriek from the would-be yacht captain. “I aught to have you arrested.”
“That's insane!” Blueblood's voice cracked. “Why would I even do that? What kind of man do you think I am?”
“I don't even know.” Celestia slammed Blueblood's back against the deck ladder. “You wanted me to see this, didn't you? You never could resist gloating.”
“Gloating over what?” Blueblood wailed.
“Stop!” Twilight blurted, dropping her champagne flute to let it shatter on the deck. “It's not his fault!”
Celestia and Blueblood both turned their heads to stare at Twilight.
“I'm sorry, who are you again?” said Blueblood.
“You. Shut up.” Celestia jabbed an accusatory finger into Blueblood's chest, and then wheeled around on Twilight. The nerdy girl cringed back from Celestia's pointing finger as if it were the barrel of a gun. “You. Explain.”
“I … I snuck in.” Twilight clutched her purse to her chest. “It's not his fault. There's nothing, um, weird going on. At least, uh, not what you think. I just overheard Mister Blueblood bragging about his antiquity collection and I was so impressed from the field trip to the museum that I wanted to see what else he had so here I am.” She rattled on.
“That … sounds surprisingly plausible.” Principal Celestia said.
“So … that means I'm not in trouble, right?” Twilight said. “I mean, um, I know it was wrong to sneak in but I only did it because I wanted to learn, and that makes it okay?”
“Not exactly.” Principal Celestia said.
“Well, now that we've gotten that settled, and, I should note, none of this is my fault, let's just put this behind us, hm? Auntie, I trust you can watch over your student here while I go … mingle? I've certain responsibilities to attend to as host and captain, after all.”
“Responsibilities.” Celestia's voice was deadpan.
“Oh, yes. One doesn't grace the cover of Yachting Gentleman without being a master sailor, after all.” Grateful for an excuse to escape, Blueblood clambered back up the ladder. “Why, without my expert captaining, we'd no doubt be struck by some horrid disaster!”
There was shouting from the bow of the ship, followed by a splash.
“See?” Blueblood said, smug.
“Man overboard!” Someone cried from up front.
“Where!?” Someone else yelled.
“I can't see them! Someone get a flashlight! Turn the boat around!”
Twilight paled. “I need to make sure Sunset's alright!” she blurted, and scrambled towards the front of the ship, gripping the chromed railing to make sure she wouldn't be the next one pushed over.
“Sunset? As in Sunset Shimmer?” Celestia pushed after Twilight, shouldering panicked and not-entirely-sober socialites out of the way on the suddenly crowded deck.
“I can explain!” Twilight blurted. She squeezed through the crowd and stumbled onto the main sundeck. “Just, um, later?”
Sunset Shimmer stood at the very prow of the boat, facing the water like a living figurehead. Her hair streamed behind her, flamelike in the soft glow of the yacht's lighting. The boat tilted to the side as it made a hard turn to port-- Twilight, Celestia, and all the other passengers reeled and flailed for handholds, but Sunset Shimmer remained steady.
“Sunset!” Twilight said, relieved. “What's happening? Do you know who fell off the boat?”
Slowly, gracefully, Sunset Shimmer turned. It took Twilight a moment to notice she wasn't standing on the deck-- she floated. The Alicorn Amulet nestled into the hollow of Sunset's neck like a tumor, pulsing faintly with energy.
“No. Nonononononono.” Twilight staggered backwards, and would have toppled over the railing if Principal Celestia hadn't caught her. “This isn't happening. This isn't you, Sunset!”
“You don't know who I am.” Sunset Shimmer's voice echoed with power. She raised a hand, and the yacht shook, suddenly grinding to a dead stop in the water.
“But I do!” Ragged desperation tinged Twilight's voice. “You're not a villain, Sunset! Not anymore!”
“Quiet.” Sunset Shimmer's glowing fingers cut through the air. “I'm working.” She swept her hand through the air, and streams of ethereal energy shot from her fingertips, out into the dark of the water. Sunset curled her fingers, pulling on the lines of magic like a puppeteer. In the distance, something splashed out of the water, floating through the air.
Twilight squinted into the darkness, and corrected herself. It wasn't something, but someone. Sure enough, it was the tall woman she'd seen on Blueblood's arm, though she looked a lot less elegant now after a dip in the lake.
“Looks like you were right.” Sunset Shimmer drifted through the air, hair and skirts rippling with magic as she came to peer at the sodden woman she'd pulled from the lake. “Funny how such a little trinket can hold so much … power.” Sunset savored the p-word, and licked her lips. Sunset held her twinkling fingers up in front of her face, and wiggled them, as if showing off a new manicure. “Oh, the things I could do … “ Sunset's eyes scanned the small crowd of shocked party guests, finally settling on Twilight.
“Please!” Twilight pleaded. “Sunset, I--”
“I know.” Sunset said. She made a slashing motion with her hand, and her magic-bound prisoner dropped to the deck. The yacht shuddered as the otherworldly force holding it in place let up, allowing the engines to start pushing it through the water again. Sunset tightened her hands into fists, and then opened them, slowly drifting back to the deck. She stumbled slightly, the motion oddly, gratifyingly humanizing after her earlier displays of power and grace. And then, with measured deliberation, she reached behind her neck to undo the clasp to the Alicorn Amulet. The faint sound of breaking glass echoed over the lake, and the otherworldly glow surrounding Sunset Shimmer flickered to nothingness.
Sunset pulled the amulet from her neck, looking at it in her hand for a terribly long moment. She closed her eyes, and wordlessly passed it over to the woman she'd pulled from the lake moments before.
Wasting no time, the taller woman made a complicated sign with her free hand, and sketched out a quick chant over the amulet. Faint particles of magic wafted up from her closed fingers, like embers from a campfire.
“Though our paths are long and winding,
I now invoke a rite of binding.
I give this amulet to this lake,
Where it shall lie eternal, for all our sake.
It shall forever lay beneath the sands,
Never again to touch mortal hands!”
At the last line, the woman hurled the Alicorn Amulet far into the lake, where it hit the water with a soft 'plunk!' and disappeared from view.
As soon as the amulet hit the water, Sunset collapsed to her knees. A moment later, Twilight was at her side, fairly hyperventilating with concern. “What was that? What did you do? Why did you do it? You're not evil now, are you? Please don't be evil!”
“I … I'm fine.” Sunset closed her eyes, and leaned against Twilight. “I just did … something really stupid, that's all.”
“That doesn't help!” Twilight blinked tears from her eyes.
“So, uh, maybe I should explain some stuff. Twilight Sparkle, meet Zecora Oromo.” She nodded towards the tall woman, who just smiled and nodded back. “She kind of specializes in tracking down and securing artifacts of great power. And apparently she's a lot better at it than we are.”
Zecora shrugged, neither confirming nor denying the statement.
Sunset Shimmer leaned on Twilight, and forced herself back to her feet. “Zecora and I had a … discussion. I didn't trust her at first, and so I tried to lift her purse. She noticed when I did, and, uh … that's when she went overboard. I didn't want to kill her, so … well, the only thing I could think of was to use the Alicorn Amulet's magic.”
“Y'know,” Twilight said, “most people would've just thrown a life preserver or something.”
“Hey,” Sunset Shimmer said, “when all you have is a magical amulet, everything looks like a nail. Or … something.”
“This is one of those things, isn't it? Something magic?” Principal Celestia rubbed at the bridge of her nose. “I knew I should've brought my sister.”
To his credit, Blueblood didn't need any encouraging to turn his yacht around. The other guests had already started rationalizing what they'd seen as some kind of odd in-cruise entertainment or at least drunken hallucinations. To which their logical response was to simply drink until they were actually hallucinating, which made the cruise back to shore even more raucous. The guests yammered on amongst themselves on the sundeck, where even Principal Celestia enjoyed a much-needed cocktail.
“Twilight, I'm sorry.” Sunset sat near the stern of the yacht, distant from the rest of the party, hugging herself. “This whole thing has been a disaster.”
“It's not any more of a disaster than, y'know, like every other weekend we spend together.”
“I still went kind of magic-crazy.” Sunset hugged herself and curled up a little, making herself smaller.
“Better you than me!” Twilight said.
Sunset looked up at Twilight and blinked.
“No, I mean it!” Twilight blurted. “I mean, I don't even know how much magic that amulet had, but you could handle it! Not to mention the fact you put it on with good intentions-- you wanted to save Zecora, not conquer the world. And once you did, you took it off! I don't think I could've walked away from unlimited magic power if someone offered it to me like that.”
“I bet you could.” Sunset Shimmer leaned back. “You're stronger than you think, Twilight.”
“And you're stronger than I am.”
“You don't know that.”
“Oh, I do.” Sunset reached over and twined her fingers with Twilight's, and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Don't sell yourself short.”
“So, um … now what?” Twilight said.
“Now? Well, we … kind of did our job. I mean, the Alicorn Amulet is hundreds of feet underwater, not to mention it's protected by whatever magic Zecora tossed on it. I kind of wish I'd known Zecora was on the case, or even who she was, before all of this started. She could've handled this whole 'magic amulet' thing without us.”
“And we wouldn't have had to break all those laws!” Twilight Sparkle said. “Oh jeez, what happens when we get back to the shore? Are we going to get arrested?”
“I doubt it. I mean, so long as we're not actively making trouble, there's no real reason to arrest us. Especially since it's really, really hard to secure a conviction when the motive is 'we wanted to protect the world from a crazy magic artifact.' The jury would just think we're insane-- which can be a surprisingly good defense. And with the forgery amulet back at Blueblood's house, it's almost like it was never stolen to begin with. Especially since the main difference was magic, and I'm pretty sure that's inadmissible in court. Plus, since we're not on school property or on an official school event, we technically haven't broken any school rules. I mean, Principal Celestia may be a little annoyed with us crashing her nephew's party, but I'm sure she's got better stuff to worry about.”
“Should I be worried about how much thought you've put into alll this?” Twilight pushed her glasses further up her nose.
“Probably.” Sunset Shimmer cracked a grin. “But at least I've got you here to keep me in check.”
“So I'm your conscience now?”
“More like you're someone I don't want to get arrested for being an accomplice.”
“Thanks. I think.”
Sunset Shimmer turned towards Twilight, expression going serious. “I mean it. If I ever start getting too close to the edge, you'll pull me back, right?“
“I won't.” Twilight said. “I mean, uh, I won't have to. You're better than you think you are, Sunset. Especially since if anyone here is going to go crazy and try to take over the world, it's me.”
“I doubt that. You're too nice. Too caring. You just got a little … carried away that one time, that's all.”
“Aw, thanks.”
“Not to mention you're terrible at Risk.”
“Hey!” Twilight broke out laughing, a night's worth of nervous tension draining away in an instant. She swatted at Sunset's hand in retaliation for the slight. “Risk is a terribly abstracted game that fails to account for the key socio-economic logistics required for a true global conflict. If we played a more advanced board game, I'm sure I'd conquer the world in no time. Er, just in the strictest simulationist sense.”
“Maybe I'll take you up on that sometime.” Sunset Shimmer said.
“I'd like that” Twilight said with a smile. She looked at Sunset for a long moment, bit her lip, and then looked away once she realized how close they were. “Uh, I mean, anyway … do you think Zecora can teach us about magic? I've read about rhyming cant being used as a focus for magic spells, but I'd never seen it in effect … do you think it has anything to do with the way you start channeling Equestrian magic whenever your band plays?” Twilight spoke faster and faster as the ideas started popping up in her head-- and then directly to her mouth. “If Zecora has somehow found a way to codify that phenomenon and compress it into simple verse … I wonder what would happen if we started working with other rhyme schemes? Would a limerick be less powerful than a sonnet? Or maybe using a more complex form like iambic pentameter would allow for the manipulation of more powerful magical forces and … and, why didn't I think of this before!”
Twilight stood up, only to flop back down on her butt as the boat shook from gently bouncing off the rubber bumpers along the pier. The stripe-shirted sailors deftly hopped off the yacht and set about tying it in place.
The guests began to walk down the boarding plank, back towards Blueblood's house (and the still-stocked cocktail bar). Zecora moved easily among them, somehow going unnoticed despite her tall and striking figure. She lingered near the rear of the boat, just long enough to offer Sunset and Twilight a knowing nod and a wink. She then disappeared into the throng of guests, fading away into the sea of formal wear as if she were stepping into deep forest underbrush.
“Or maybe she won't teach us rhyme magic.” Twilight said, shoulders sagging a little in disappointment.
“I wouldn't worry too much about it.” Sunset said. “Something tells me we haven't seen the last of her. And now that we know who she is, that'll make things easier next time we've got to plan a-- I mean, um, save the world from magic stuff. But for now, I'm ready to take it easy. Maybe even try one of those conquer-the-world board games you were talking about.”
“Really?” Twilight said.
“Really.” Sunset Shimmer stood up, and offered her friend a steadying hand as she did the same. “Empress Twilight has a certain ring to it, don't you think?”
“Don't tempt me.”