"So, you really think I have a shot?" Sunset asked, casting a glance towards Twilight as the pair strolled down the hallway of her apartment building.
"Won't know until we have a real plan, but I think it's a better idea than trying to find some kind of crazy legal loophole that will force the government into recognizing an inter-dimensional immigrant as a citizen." Twilight answered with a rueful chuckle as she adjusted the massive stack of books held between her arms.
"Yeah, you've got me there..." Sunset admitted with a sigh. Hoisting her motorcycle helmet under one arm, she began digging around in a pocket for her keys, finding them after only a few minutes of fumbling. "I might as well keep looking though, it'll be awhile before we can..." Unlocking the door and swinging it open as she spoke, Sunset found herself cut off at the alarming scene in her living room.
Hanging from a hook that definitely hadn't been installed in her ceiling that morning, Sunset observed a human figure, bound and hung with black silk ropes, topped with a very familiar head of mint green and white hair.
"For the love of Celestia!" Sunset shouted, clenching her fists as her blood pressure spiked. "I can't leave her alone for half a day!?" Ignoring the sound of a gasp and several pounds of books falling to the floor, Sunset stomped over to the tied up figure so she could look her in the eyes.
"Lyra, what are you doing here?" Sunset asked curtly.
"Mmphmm mph whmm mmhmhmhm." The girl replied through the bright red ball-gag in her mouth.
Sunset crossed her arms, looking down at Lyra with an unamused expression. "Uhuh...and does Bon Bon know you're here?"
Lyra nodded, at least as much as the ropes allowed her to.
"...and does she know what you're doing here?" Sunset continued, narrowing her eyes.
Lyra nodded again, this time with a heavy blush spreading across her face.
Sunset slapped a palm to her face. "Wow, now I know way more about your relationship than I ever wanted to." Taking a small pocket knife from inside her jacket, she made quick work of the ropes, resisting the urge to grin with satisfaction as the girl dropped roughly to the floor with a yelp. Giving her a moment to stand, Sunset pointed towards her front door, where Twilight was still standing in shock. "Out, now!"
Still gagged, Lyra just nodded meekly while rubbing her sore backside, scooping up a nearby pile of clothes and hightailing it out into the hallway.
"Twilight....just, I don't know, guard the door, I have a bone to pick with my roommate." Sunset muttered darkly, walking towards Adagio's bedroom and landing a heavy fist against the door. "Adagio! Open the door!"
"Come innnnnnn, it's open!" Adagio sang through the door.
Bracing herself for whatever horrors or temptations lay beyond, Sunset opened the door, only to practically trip in surprise at what she saw.
Adagio was seated on her bed, wearing sweatpants and for once a normal sized tshirt. She had reading glasses perched on her nose and what looked like a well worn romance novel held open in her palm. As Sunset came barging into the room, only to stop in disbelief, Adagio looked up from her book, sliding the glasses down a bit to get a better look at her. "What's up?"
"I...you...but...what?" Sunset sputtered, trying to piece together what she'd seen since getting home into a cohesive idea and failing entirely. Eventually she gave up and just blurted what she assumed she had walked in on. "Aren't you in the middle of having weird bdsm sex with Lyra in our living room?"
Adagio just arched a brow at her, picking up a nearby bookmark and slotting it into her book before setting it aside and giving Sunset her full attention. "I never have sex with her." she pointed out bluntly, "...usually" she added under her breath. "The girl just likes to be tied up and apparently I'm one of the only girls in Canterlot who knows how to 'do it right', or so she claims. I just string her up and leave her for an hour or two before letting her run off to her girlfriend all hot and bothered." she explained with a shrug.
"So you expect me to believe that you're using sexual deviancy for good now?" Sunset asked suspiciously.
Adagio just shrugged again before picking her book back up.
Sunset growled as Adagio casually dismissed her, but couldn't really think of anything else to say. "WELL FINE, but don't drill anymore holes in the ceiling without asking me first!"
"You'll be thanking me for the hook once I show you what we can do with it." Adagio mumbled, not even looking up from her book, though her expression had changed into a wicked grin.
Sunset just groaned, too frustrated to even try and be mad at the girl anymore. "Whatever...I need a drink." she muttered as she turned and walked back out of the room.
In the mean time, Twilight had cleaned up the dropped books and closed the door before settling into her usual chair. She perked up as Sunset returned, but immediately noticed her apathetic demeanor. "Sunset? Is everything ok?"
Sunset held up one finger in response and walked past her towards the kitchen, squatting down to get to a low slung cabinet and extracting a rusted toolbox with a padlock on it. As she brought it back across the room and deposited it on the coffee table, Twilight noticed a bright red sticker on the front that read "For Emergencies Only."
"That's a pretty beat up looking first-aid kit." Twilight mused as she eyed the toolbox. "What do you need it for anyways?"
Sunset chuckled as she found her keys again and popped open the lock. "It's not a first-aid kit, and it's not for that kind of emergency." she answered cryptically as she turned the box away from Twilight and lifted the lid, rummaging inside for a few moments.
Twilight just gave her friend a concerned look.
"Oh calm down." Sunset chided, "It's nothing to be worried about." she added as she pulled a large bottle of whiskey from the box before setting two shot glasses next to it.
"I beg to differ..." Twilight said with a gulp as she noticed Sunset filling both of the small glasses. "Sunset, I can't, I'm not 21!"
Sunset rolled her eyes and pushed the glass across the table towards her. "Twi, do we really need to do this every time? You always cave."
"...True," Twilight admitted with a sigh, "but you're supposed to give me a ride home later, and it's not like I can crash in the spare bedroom anymore." she pointed out, eyeing the shot critically, before her eyes grew wide with terror "...seriously, please don't make me go in there!"
Sunset chuckled at that, wishing she could've gotten a picture of Twilight's deer in the headlights expression. "You take my bed, I'll take the couch, deal?"
"Fine..." Twilight grumbled, her moral annoyance quickly eroding in the face of the amber liquid "but if you start getting handsy again I'm locking you in the bathroom." Picking up the shot glass, she quickly tapped it against Sunset's and drank it down.
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Adagio closed her book as she finished the last page and tossed it towards her closet before
giving a yawn and stretching her arms. "Wonder what Sunset is up to, it's been awfully quiet since she barged in here a few hours ago..." she muttered to herself, getting up off her bed and heading towards the door.
Walking out into the living room area, she was surprised to see a surly looking Twilight pouring whiskey into two shot glasses from a large, half-full bottle. "Well well, this isn't what I expected." she said as she flopped onto the couch and helped herself to one of the glasses.
Twilight grunted irritably but followed Adagio's lead as they both lifted their glasses and downed them.
"Aren't you just a ray of sunshine?" Adagio chuckled, pushing her empty glass back towards Twilight and the bottle.
Twilight took the hint and went about filling them again.
"So where's my disgruntled roommate anyways?" Adagio asked casually as she picked up her refilled shot glass. She was about to drink it when suddenly the smell of smoke caused her to pause.
"Dagi! Are you here to drink with us? Twilight is being a big sourpuss!" Sunset cheered as she swooped into the room from the balcony and unceremoniously set herself down in Adagio's lap, a lit cigarette in one hand as she snatched the shot glass with the other and quickly tossed it down her throat.
Caught off guard, Adagio gave the oddly energetic and happy looking girl a confused stare.
"Haha whoops, was that yours? I'm sorry!" Sunset giggled as she put the glass back on the table and took a puff from her cigarette before locking eyes with Adagio. "I think there might be a taste of it still left on my tongue though, and I wouldn't mind sharing." she whispered as she leaned closer and closer to Adagio's face.
Adagio's face flushed as she felt herself instinctively leaning in towards the girl as well, the strangely appealing scent of whiskey and smoke coming off of her causing her mind to blank. Before their lips could touch however, Adagio was startled by an angry shout.
"Sunset!" Twilight growled, slamming a fist on the table. "No cigarettes inside! That's your rule, outside, now!"
"Whoops!" Sunset said with an airy giggle, hopping up out of Adagio's lap and practically skipping back out onto the balcony and sliding the door closed.
"Thanks captain cockblock." Adagio grumbled, this time grabbing the bottle herself and filling a glass, practically inhaling it the moment she was done, hoping to replace the heavy blush on her face with one of intoxication.
"Pfft I don't care about that, you can kiss her all you want when she comes back," Twilight said as she rolled her eyes as dramatically as possible, "I just don't want her to ruin her apartment."
Adagio found herself surprised by how genuine Twilight's answer sounded. "Really? You're not bothered at all by the idea that I might take advantage of her while she's drunk?" She asked skeptically.
"Hah!" Twilight scoffed, "You're dreaming if you think that's gonna happen, if anything she'll be the one taking advantage, girl gets way too riled up when she's this drunk. Trust me, you want no part of that."
"Somehow I doubt that." Adagio countered with a smirk, casting an eye towards the figure on the balcony that seemed to be doing some kind of uncoordinated dance as it tried to light another cigarette.
Adagio's smirk died as Twilight fixed her with a thousand yard. "You haven't seen what I've seen..." Twilight whispered, again filling the shot glasses, but this time with a shaky hand. "This one time, Pinkie had us over for a sleepover, and Rarity had somehow acquired a few bottles of wine..."
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"...and to this day, that's still the only time any of us have ever seen Applejack cry." Twilight finished in a haunted tone before lifting the entire bottle to her lips and taking a long pull.
Adagio stared wide eyed at Twilight as she absorbed the girl's story, then grabbed the bottle from her and followed suit, before wordlessly standing up from her chair and heading back towards her room, taking the bottle with her.
Just as Adagio disappeared behind her door, Sunset came stumbling back into the room. "Where'd Dagi go?" Sunset asked in a slurred voice. "I was finally gonna let her kiss me!" she admitted with a girlish giggle, before glancing around the room. "also where's my booze?"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Adagio went to bed and took the bottle for safe keeping, besides I think we've had enough." Twilight stood and grabbed Sunset's hand, dragging her down the hallway. "Come on let's go find some blankets and pillows for the couch."
"D'ya think Dagi would let me sleep in her bed? I bet she would!" Sunset said happily, sliding out of Twilight's grip and attempting to open the Siren's door, only to find it locked.
"Awww, she must be asleep." Sunset whined, pawing at the door like a neglected cat.
Twilight just let out a huff and turned to march towards the linen closet.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Adagio was cowering under her blanket, cradling the bottle of whiskey like it was a teddy bear.