//------------------------------//
// Ch. 3 
// Story: Hexes and Horsepower 
// by ShadowFall 
//------------------------------//

 
Fluttershy pulled her Subaru back into her driveway next to her Pruis.The headlights flickered off, and the two chirps came from the Outback as Fluttershy pushed the lock button on her key. She winced as the noise echoed around, despite her living a fair space away from any other homes. Opening up the door, she turned on the lights, to which she heard a whine come from her right.
 
Angel rubbed his eyes as the light awoke him from his slumber, to which Fluttershy quickly flicked the light switch back down, “Oh, I’m so sorry!”
 
Her night vision gave her ample view to navigate, as well as the fact that being accustomed with the layout of her home allowed her to walk through even if she was blind. A few tasks had to be done before she headed off to bed. Fluttershy undressed to her shorts and shirt, and took to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Flossing too, as her dentist always insisted. 
 
Spitting the toothpaste back in the sink and rising her mouth, she heard a sort of buzzing noise conflict with the sound of the running water flowing into her mouth. After another spit back out, she turned her head and realised that her phone was ringing. It was back on the dining table when she had entered the house, placing it there when she walked in.
 
She was about to run for it, until Angel hopped in, carrying the vibrating device.
 
“Aw, thank you Angel.” she cooed as she picked up her cellphone. The screen showed Rainbow Dash’s name, along with her signature smirk as her contact photo, “Rainbow Dash at this hour? It might be important….”
 
Fluttershy tapped her thumb on the display, and the call started.
 
“Hello…?” Fluttershy knew the tone of exhaustion was clear in her voice.
 
“Hey, Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash’s raspy voice however, sounded wide awake, “I… I think I saw someone.”
 
Fluttershy put both of her hands on the phone, “Oh my, is someone following you? You’d better call the police instead of me.”
 
“No, Flutters. I think I saw Sunset Shimmer.”
 
Fluttershy looked back at the phone, as if Rainbow’s face would be there, before placing it back to her cheek, “Rainbow Dash, Sunset has been-”
 
“Damnit, I know that she’s been gone! I’m telling you, I saw her! Red and yellow hair! It was her!” Fluttershy could actually hear her stand straight up from wherever she was sitting, throwing her other arm in the air.
 
Fluttershy walked to her bedroom and sat down on her bed as she kept talking, “Rainbow Dash, I know that it felt awful when Sunset wouldn’t contact us when we went to college, but maybe she has her own life now. Maybe it’s one where she can’t see us, even if she really wanted to.”
 
“Well what kind of a life is that? She was my friend! She was our friend, and to just ditch us like that without a single text message for what, eight years by now?”
 
“Dash, I don’t think that-”.
 
“Whatever. I know who I saw. Even if you don’t believe me like the others, I kinda hoped you would.”
 
“You called the others?”
 
Rainbow Dash hung up.
 
“Hello?”
 
Fluttershy knew what had happened when the small click had come from the other end. She just felt the need to say “hello” one more time. But before she knew it, Fluttershy was rushing out to her Prius, thumbing the power button, and heading down the road back to the city. She was no longer tired, but now deeply worried about her friend’s troublesome state and voice. 
 
It took several minutes to get all the way to the center city and pull up to Rainbow Dash’s apartment building. However, the street curbs next to the building were already occupied, and the parking lot next to Rainbow Dash’s place had no vacancy as well. Heading into the underground parking lot and climbing out, Fluttershy locked her Prius as she approached the elevators knowing the long climb it would take to the fourteenth floor. Thumbing the only button to head up,the elevator to her right opened immediately, as it was already resting on her level. Pressing the number “14”, the doors closed and she rested herself against the handrail.
 
The gradual climb up made Fluttershy more and more anxious about how Rainbow Dash was handling things. She wasn’t a girl to shed a tear, but Fluttershy remembered her saying she called the others. What could this be about? Sunset Shimmer? Soon, Fluttershy would know, and comfort her friend.
 
The doors opened, and Fluttershy walked out into the hallway.
 
Then, to her left, another “ding” sounded off. The other elevator opened, and out poured her other four friends.
 
They stopped as they saw Fluttershy.
 
“So… uh… she called you too?” Twilight rubbed her head as she asked Fluttershy.
 
“Oh yes. Did she bring up Senset?”
 
“Yeah.” each of them replied at the same time.
 
Fluttershy tapped her shoes on the ground and scratched her arm, “Huh. Well, I guess we’re all here to comfort her?”
 
“Depends on what comfort means. Ahm’ here to try to get her to forget about Sunset.” Applejack had her arms crossed.
 
“Forget about Sunset? That seems a bit harsh, don’t you agree?” Rarity chimed in her view.
 
“Now look here, Sunset just left us and hasn’t even shot us a text for what, ten years?”
 
“Eight, actually.” Twilight pointed out.
 
“Yeah, eight whole years, and not a single word. We already tried all we could to get in touch with her. Trying to find her parents, other people she knew, all of it lead to nowhere.” Applejack leaned against the wall.
 
“It still nags at the back of my mind that something bad could have happened to her…” Fluttershy leaned against the wall as well.
 
“Sunset? Don’t be silly! She’s one of the toughest and coolest girls I know!” Pinkie wrapped her arms around Applejack and Twilight before changing her expression to one of deep thought, “Speaking of tough and awesome, shouldn’t we be comforting Dash?”
 
The others looked at each other for a few seconds before Pinkie knocked on the door, “Rainbow Dash? Are you okay in there? We’re here to turn that frown upside down!”
 
The group waited a tiny bit before some shuffling sounds came towards the front. 
 
“What the- what are you doing here? What are you all doing here?” Rainbow Dash peered through the peephole, not opening the door.
 
“Well, we were so worried about you that we came to see if you’re doing okay.” Twilight explained on behalf of her friends.
 
“To hell with this, they may be here to sugarcoat some things, but ahm’ coming inside to talk some sense into you. Ya’ need to face the truth, Dash. Sunset left us.” Applejack came up to the door.
 
“You all talk like there’s something wrong with me! I saw Sunset Shimmer! She flew right past me on a motorcycle! The same leather jacket!” Rainbow Dash’s voice projected away from behind the door, indicating that she was sitting on the floor of her apartment room, back to the door. Applejack backed away from the door, looking at her other friends around her.
 
“Dashie, there’s nothing wrong with you. We just want to be there for when you’re stressed.” Fluttershy leaned her shoulder to the wall.
 
“Isn’t it late for you guys to be here?” Rainbow Dash asked.
 
“We don’t care, quite frankly. You’re much more important than our bedtimes.” Rarity chimed in.
 
Then, the door opened up. Rainbow Dash’s eyes kept staring at the floor, all the energy and confidence that occupied her being had seemingly been sapped from her. One by one, Rainbow Dash’s friends entered the room. Applejack couldn’t even bring herself to start with her original plan to get Rainbow Dash to get over Sunset Shimmer. But even someone gone for eight years could still have the impact as Sunset did.
 
Rainbow Dash stood in the center of the hallway to her apartment housing, looking up from her feet, her eyes hidden partially by her never dulling multi-colored hair. She rubbed her arm and looked away.
 
“God, look at me. I got all of you to come here as if I was murdered.”
 
Her friends gathered around and swarmed her with an embrace, the warmth of each of them coating Rainbow Dash in affection and love, with her at the center of it all.
 
“Hush now, Rainbow Dash.” Applejack even joined in the group hug.
 
“I never wanna see you down in the dumps like this! Never!” Pinkie smiled, knowing that every second that passed meant that her dear friend was feeling a bit better. 
 
The group had eventually disbanded the hug, and found themselves sitting on Rainbow Dash’s couch, her living room chair, and two dining room chairs that Twilight and Applejack moved over to sit down in. Rainbow Dash had recovered from her overbearing emotions earlier, but still maintained profusely that she had seen her lost friend.
 
“Are you sure it couldn’t have been anyone else?” Twilight had her arms in her lap as she was seated in Rainbow Dash’s dining room chair, “There could be a lot of women who ride motorcycles going around town. It isn’t that much of an uncommon sight.”
 
Rainbow dash shook her head, “She had blonde and red hair. Who else could it’ve been?”
 
“Miss Dash, I’m afraid that’s only one detail. Hair dying, wigs, or it could just be another girl. I mean, it’s only one distinct feature of someone we haven’t seen for eight years now.” Rarity came back from the dining room, pouring Rainbow Dash a glass of water.
 
“Thanks.” she took a sip, “I mean… well… I guess it really wasn’t much to go off of.”
 
Applejack turned her head to Dash, sitting next to her on her couch, “Well, if she was really Sunset Shimmer, ah’d think that she would have shown you her face, or talked to you right there and then. Kinda seems like somethin’ she’d do, no?”
 
Rainbow Dash found herself nodding a bit, “Yeah… that seems strange.”
 
Pinkie Pie was scribbling down in a notepad about another party to cheer up Rainbow Dash. Unsurprisingly, she was finding herself a little overbooked. Maybe Twilight was right about taking life one party at a time.
 
“What if something’s going on? Maybe she couldn’t speak to me at the time.” Rainbow Dash suddenly threw the idea into the air. They didn’t show it, but the girls internally sighed. They were making such good progress.
 
“Well, what could Sunset even be doing now? She hasn’t even sent us a text, or mailed us over the years.” Fluttershy herself was starting to go into the speculation territory.
 
Twilight pointed a finger up. “Well, whatever it is, I’m sure Sunset’s fine. It’s not like she’s a pushover at all.” 
 
“Well, how would we know? Like Flutters said, not even a single text for these past eight years. If she’s our friend, then Sunset would’ve kept us up to date.” Rainbow Dash found herself staring at her feet again.
 
Pinkie Pie gace a big smile, “Well, if she does come around, I’ll be sure to ask her all about what’s been going on!”
 
Just then, someone knocked at the door.
 
“I’ll get it!” Pinkie was closest and hopped off the living room chair to answer the door. She looked through the peephole, and opened it up.
 
“Hey Sunset!”
 



 
Full Metal Jacket dismounted from the executive helicopter, having already applied his own bandages and first aid. He walked away from the helicopter, rotors still churning on the helipad, and past two armed guards to enter the building. 
 
The massive property had a sophisticated and modern aura, white buildings and palm trees littered across the artificial island. Though it appeared to have the appearance of a business property, or some would even call it a massive private estate fused with the aforementioned, soldiers walked around, armored Land Rover trucks patrolled the island, and heavily secured crates were being unloaded off cargo trucks with forklifts.
 
The view from above disappeared as he entered through the automatic sliding glass doors, greeted by artificial waterfalls and marble interior. Taking an elevator up, he pressed a button, and thumbed in a code on a keypad inside of the elevator. The electronic ding sounded as the cabin slowly lifted up a few floors, until it reached the very top, away from the helipad that jutted from the side of the building.
 
The doors opened and he stepped through a glass door into a penthouse, his burly and bloodied appearance looking completely out of place. He walked inside, looked around at the expensive imported furniture, searching for someone. He peered outside to the high-risen outdoor swimming pool. She wasn’t there. Already frustrated from before, Full Metal Jacket sat down on the sectional sofa.
 
Whatever cuts or gashes he sustained from before had stopped bleeding. The expensive white couch was safe from his fluids staining it. Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time the couch was replaced due to bloodshed.
 
“You didn’t knock.”
 
Full Metal Jacket turned towards the voice.
 
“The door was open.”
 
A woman, skin pale as snow, walked down the spiral staircase. She was dressed in grey business attire, her dark hair cut short, just off her shoulders. She stepped from the staircase, and looked at Full Metal Jacket, sitting on her couch.
 
“I’m impressed you survived all of that. The driver later died from the injuries sustained to his head.” the woman sat down across from FMJ on a loveseat, her legs crossed as she flicked some lint off of her pants, “Though, the loss of the arcanic stabilizer is a bit concerning.”
 
“My escort for the mission-”
 
“I know about the treachery. No need to remind me.”
 
“And the tracking device-”
 
“Has been removed. It’s not too much of a surprise.”
 
Dispassionate as she usually was, FMJ was still not sure that she understood the full situation. “Aurora, I need to find her. She could compromise everything that we’re doing.”
 
Aurora nodded, “I’ve already planned for that.”
 
“So what do you expect me to do? Sit on my ass and let this happen?” Full Metal Jacket sat up.
 
“It’s simple. Proceed with your mission, and find any means to obtaining more intelligence on acarnic energy. I believe the escort’s destination would have some very promising leads.” Aurora tapped the tablet, and a buzz was heard from FMJ’s phone.
 
“And what about you?” Full Metal Jacket turned to leave before stopping and looking back.
 
“Vegas. Remember my poker tournament?” Aurora reminded him. She smiled for the first time, more predatory than friendly.
 
“You’re already loaded. What on earth do you need to go all the way to Vegas for anyways?” Full Metal Jacket walked back.
 
“The winner gets a car. A really nice car. A rare car.”
 
Full Metal Jacket shook his head. “You’ve got plenty of those.”
 
“I know I do.” Aurora acknowledged, “but not that one.”
 
“You’re obsessed with them.” Full Metal Jacket interjected.
 
“Just as you’re obsessed with me telling you what to do.” Aurora walked up and gave a little kiss to FMJ’s cheek, “Now go.”
 
Full Metal Jacket snorted as he left the penthouse. He had a destination, an objective, and new men at his side. If he ran into his escort, there was a bullet in his gun reserved just for them.
 
And by that, he meant every single bullet in every single gun.