//------------------------------// // 13 - No Squealing, Remember That It's All In Your Head // Story: Hell & High Water // by Uria the Sacred Beast //------------------------------// “So.” Officer Lightspeed Barrage sat across from her newest suspect, “I was told you have a confession for the assault case.” Lightning Dust shifted in the uncomfortable steel chair. On one hand, the interrogation room at the local police department wasn’t the dark room with a shockingly bright lamp like she had imagined it was. Though, on the other, here she was about to admit to being a part of an assault case and having a connection to an attempted homicide. Oh, and of course then there was the amazon of an officer that was questioning her. That was a little intimidating too. Barrage leaned back in her chair, steely gaze locked on the highschooler. “And?” “W-well, yeah.” She nodded hesitantly, “I was...there, at the gym.” “Okay, well, give me the rundown, kiddo.” The officer sighed. “Where would you like me to start?” “Start with that night. Who was there, and where were you?” “Gilda gathered a bunch of us the day before, after class and stuff. Said it was about time someone got back at Sunset for everything she’d put us through before this. A lot of us agreed.” Dust began, “So Gilda said she’d lure Sunset and Dash to the school after hours and we’d rough them up a bit. Didn’t sound too extreme. The sports teams rough each other up now and again, yeah this was outta anger, but still…” “Okay, so this was a different group.” “Bigger group, more people but still the same general people.” “Alright then, continue.” Barrage nodded. “So Gilda gets her hands on Fluttershy’s phone and texts Dash, I think. Her or Sunset. Says something about wanting to talk and they showed up not too long later. We shut the door behind them and, uh...jumped ‘em…” “So she stole that phone and used it. I see.” The cop looked down, scribbling that into her notes. “Okay, so this was at the gym, then. How did you end up at the D’If?” “I wasn’t at the D’If.” “You weren’t? Why not?” “Well… When we jumped them at the gym, Sunset kinda cracked me on the nose and knocked me out for the count.” Dust scratched the back of her head, “Someone dropped me off at the hospital later. Things are still kinda fuzzy. I don’t remember who or exactly when.” Barrage looked down at the clipboard in her hands before nodding to herself. “Alright, so do you know anything about the D’If?” “I know the basics. Gilda kinda gave me the rundown when she picked me up from the hospital.” Dust sighed, rubbing her brow roughly, “Listen, Rainbow Dash can be an asshole, but she’s still my Captain. ...She didn’t deserve what happened at that place.” The police chief sighed, “Keep focused, kid. I’m glad you’re being straight with us, and I’ll be sure to write a good word in for your judge.” Dust continued, “Okay… For what I know, the group at the gym split off, and only a few were left over, Gilda still at the head. After they knocked the girls out at the gym, they drove them both to the D’If, and tied them up - if they weren’t already.” She flinched as she said the words, “Th-then they continued to beat them, Gilda st-stabbed Dash with her knife, and S-Sunset was branded with a h-hot iron.” The officer stared at her notes in silence, mouth in a tight line. “It all matches up…” She muttered, eyes narrowing at the clipboard. Dust nodded, “It should...is there anything else you need?” “Yes, actually. I got Gilda, but are there any other names you know of?” “There’s this group that calls themselves the Diamond Dogs. Rover, Spot, and Fido.” She started, “On top of that there are these three, Hoops, Dumbbell, and Score. Hoops and the other two have always had a thing against Dash, so I have no doubt they were there for the whole thing.” Dust nodded to herself in thought, “And the Diamonds are just known for being a little...rough.” She shifted uncomfortably. “Mmmm…” The officer didn’t mention, but some of those names seemed familiar. “Right. Well, is that all you have left to say?” Dust was quick to list off the names she remembered beyond that. “That’s as much as I remember, but if one of them thinks someone’s squealed already, the rest might collapse.” “We’ll be sure to keep your identity from being released.” She nodded, “Your name will be completely anonymous.” “Thanks...I don’t wanna end up like them. I just want this to end.” “I understand.” Officer Barrage nodded, “Coming clean with us will help your battery charge, kid, I promise. That being said, though… You’re over 18, you’ll still be charged as an adult.” “I understand, and I accept that. Just...I never knew this was going to go this far. It needs to stop. CHS has been hell for the last few days without all this.” “Alright.” Barrage stood, “I understand. Now… Hands where I can see ‘em, please.” Dust stood, holding her hands before her, wrists together, “Yes, ma’am...can I ask a small favor though?” “Depends. What’s that?” She asked, slipping the cuffs onto Dust’s wrists. “The rest of my team, they tend to hang out at this guitar shop called Clipper’s. It's a couple blocks from the school. Can you pass all this along to them? I don’t want them to think I helped in this, not in the way Gilda and them did. I’m guilty, but I don’t want to be seen like Gilda. I screwed up, but I came clean. I regret all this.” She responded, a pained look on her face. “Gilda will just regret being caught.” “...This group at the guitar shop. They’re friends of the victims’ and yours?” She asked. “Yeah, they were my teammates for the school soccer team. I dunno where I stand with them friend wise, but I don’t want this. I just…” She brought her hands up to her face, breathing growing shallow as she devolved into sobs, “I n-never wanted this!” The officer simply shook her head, putting her hand on Dust’s shoulder and pushing her out of the interrogation room. “Alright, kid. I’ll tell ‘em myself.” Dust nodded among the sobs, letting the officer lead her. She was out of words for now. The remnants of the Rainbooms sat in a side booth of Sugarcube corner. Silence hung heavily over the group. Rarity rung her hands anxiously as she glanced between her friends. Applejack leaned back as her hat cast a shadow over her face, eyes downcast on her half empty drink. Fluttershy simply lay slumped over, head down and buried in her arms. Pinkie walked over to the table carrying a platter of drinks for the girls, “Ooooh!” Pinkie pressed her lips in a frown and stomped her foot, “I hate all this moping! Come on, girls! We all know why we’re here!” Rarity’s glance landed on her, looking a little miffed, “Darling, of course we’re all feeling down! We stabbed Sunset and Dash in the back without a second thought, assured we were right...and it was the Crusaders the entire time.” She clenched her teeth, pressing her face back into her hands. “Yeeeaaah!” Pinkie threw her hands in the air, “This is exactly why we should do something! Why sit around here and mope when we can do or at least say something?!” “Like what?” Applejack looked up, the sour thought of her sister still on the mind. “Well, I dunno! But doing annnything is better than just sitting here!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Well.” Applejack paused, rubbing her chin in thought, “Ah guess we should lay out a few things then? Mah sister is gonna be punished ta Hell and back a course. M’sure Sweetie Belle will be too, right?” She glanced over at Rarity. “Oh, definitely.” Rarity huffed, pointing her nose up at the reminder. “Then the matter is back to Dash an’ Sunset. Even after those three gettin’ exposed, they haven’t come back. Even with this whole cop thing, ya’d think with how hot headed Dash is, she’d come to gloat or yell.” “Mayhaps she’s so mad, she won’t even yell at us…” Rarity sighed, lowering her nose to normal levels. “We all know how Dash is.” “So that’s why I say we throw a big, We’re-Sorry-We-Abandoned-You-in-the-Middle-of the-Hallway party! Or Wswayitmothp for short!” Pinkie cheered, throwing up her arms and smiling at the total sense she had just made. “...Wasawayit- what?!” AJ blinked. Fluttershy chose this instance to look up, eyes widening as she stared out the frosted shop window and into the morning flurry. Without a second word, she was up and out of the booth, making her way towards the door in a rush, “I’ll talk to all later. I have to go!” “Ya sure, Flutters?” Applejack asked, rising from her seat. “Yes, I just had a bit of an epiphany. I’ll see you later, girls.” She pushed the door open, the bell dinging above her as she stepped into the snow, marching herself down the sidewalk with renewed drive. “Well that was...a little awkward, Marred.” Sunset frowned lightly at her friend as she sat in the passenger’s seat of the family sedan once more. She and Dash had acquired it that afternoon to meet up with the group at Crystal Prep. It seemed that even during break, they were allowed to meet there due to the current circumstances as well as for practicing their new powers. Something that'd certainly be welcome to them as well. “Really? I thought it went fine.” Dash shrugged, at the wheel. She kept her eyes on the road, cold shoulder from earlier still emanating off of her. “So what? A bunch of assholes we hate got their houses struck by lightning. Big whoop. Not every freak thing of nature is magic. Canterlot’s always just been weird.” “Perhaps, but even so.” She sighed, “I’m not over it all either, but if you keep letting this hang off of you, you’re just going to stay miserable.” “I guess you’re right, Sunset.” Dash sighed, “It’s just a lot of stress on me. I haven’t really been sleeping well, either. Y’know, since this whole thing happened…” “Dash, lets just try to not think about it right now. Please? We’ve got more important things to do.” Sunset winced. “Right, right.” Dash’s mouth drew into a hard line, staring at the road in front of her, “We’re dealing with this magic shit instead.” Sunset sunk into her seat a bit, letting out a long sigh, “Yeah.” She muttered, backing off. Dash ran her hand down her face quickly, before letting out a sigh of her own. “Sorry. I’m being a jerk, aren’t I?” “I’m just worried about you, Dash. I know you’re pissed and all, and I am too, trust me, but...you’re really glued to all this. We’ll take care of it soon, I promise, but if we do it in our current state, we’ll-” Sunset rubbed her face, sighing in frustration, “I don’t want us to be so emotionally charged when we confront the girls. We have to be in the right state of mind. Exploding won’t solve anything.” “...Maybe a little distance is a good idea.” Dash agreed with a nod. “Yeah, just until things start to cool off. I think this is one time where we shouldn’t strike while the iron’s hot.” Sunset added thoughtfully, running a hand through her hair. “Alright, well, I’ll try to keep myself from obsessing over it.” Dash said, putting on her blinker to turn into Crystal Prep’s parking lot. “Let’s talk about what we actually have to deal with today.” “All we have on the list is talk to this group, let's just call them ‘The Shadowbolts’ for ease, and get a rundown of what’s been going on. Planning and such. Everything else we take as it comes.” Sunset clasped her hand. Planning to make a plan was still a plan. “Right, and I get to call them unflattering nicknames.” Dash nodded to herself, quickly deciding that was how she’d amuse herself through this. “We’re Shadowbolts too now. Don’t make enemies.” “Oh come on, it’ll only be Zap!” Dash snickered, clearly feeling a little better. “...that I can allow.” She smiled back, “Given, well, let’s call it the Soarin clause.” “Yeah, yeah, I know that Soarin would kick my ass if I got too mean.” Dash put the car in park, having chosen a spot close to the entrance. “Sister and all. How does he say it? ‘IZZY’!” Sunset grinned. Dash held her sides, “Y-Yeah, that’s it! That dork.” She shook her head with a grin. “But trust me when I say… He’s scary when he wants to be. Seriously.” “I’ll take your word for it. For now though, let's focus here.” Sunset opened the car door, pulling herself out and stretching. Dash piled out as well, wrapping herself in her jacket, “Alright. Let’s get this party started!” Sunset smiled, glad to see Dash in better spirits for the moment. She was always more fun to be around without a storm cloud over her head, “Yeah, let’s.” She lead the charge forwards, walking up the front steps of Crystal Prep and pushing the doors experimentally. To her surprise, they opened. “Guess we’re expected.” “Guess so.” Dash walked in with her, and the two made their way down the halls. “Yeesh, empty hallways are almost kinda creepy, ya know?” “Maybe that’s because it's giving us flashbacks.” Sunset rubbed her arm, starting to grow uneasy. “Maybe.” Dash agreed, gluing herself to Sunset’s side. “Never fear, I’ll save you from the bad memories!” Sunset eased up, “Oh? Do I have one of my own Argonauts already? Protecting the queen, Mar?” She joked, smiling appreciatively. Dash rubbed her chin with a sly smirk, “Well I’m the tough one, and I don’t intend to let anything bad happen to you, so yeah, maybe I am!” She blew a petulant raspberry. “Excuse me? Am I not tough?” Sunset laughed, “C’mon.” She gave a gentle shove, “The joke was a one-off, don’t keep it rolling.” “Well you’re no sports star. What, is it that awful an idea?” Dash elbowed her, smirk still plastered over her face. “I never said ‘awful’, I just assumed you were joking.” She shrugged simply, not meaning to offend, “I mean, you’re a guitarist and a soccer player, not a soldier.” “Well, yeah, but anyone can join the military.” Dash said, “I can learn.” “True, but that’s not exactly a small decision! Besides, you know this isn’t just a military, Dash. Aria’s from my world. You know? Giant monsters, killer animals everywhere, and psychotic she-demons?” Sunset chuckled, “I mean that’s the kinda stuff these Argonauts were probably up against on a daily basis. It's what Equestria is up against on a weekly basis.” “Which makes it even more awesome!” Dash’s smirk spread from ear to ear as she spoke of all the danger and monsters. Dash took it one way: ‘Sounds like I’m gonna be like my mom!’ Sunset grinned widely with a huge laugh, “You’re the best, you know that?” “Oi! Just ’cause the school’s not packed, doesn’t mean you should go ‘round shoutin’.” A voice surprised them as they turned a corner. A man with a mop over his shoulder and a  scraggy head of brown hair frowned at them. He eyed the duo distrustingly, “You two not lookin’ to cause trouble, are ya? Bad enough the principal’s keepin’ the doors open over break for them kids in the back.” His heavy accent almost made Dash snort in amusement. The sharp look from the janitor kept it down though. “Err, no. We’re just looking for friends of ours.” Sunset assured. “We’ve been given the okay to come in by Principal Cinch.” A flash of recognition passed through his eyes, “Ah, so ya are part of their lil’ gamer group then? Assumin’ you’re not with that Sour girl? Hope not. Tch. Anyway, name’s Bray. I clean up after you kids. Try not to make my job more difficult than it is already, and we won’ have a problem!” He nodded at them, moving past them with his mop swaying behind. “That was...odd.” Sunset glanced behind her with a blink. “Who’s Sour?” “Talk about, weird guy, and dunno.” Dash agreed, grabbing Sunset’s arm and pulling it towards the rec room. “Woah! Hey!” She stumbled slightly, catching her footing and keeping up with Dash, “Impatient much, Spec?” “Sorry, I just don’t like running into adult men in a creepy darkened school after hours!” Dash said, looking behind her to where Bray was a moment ago. “That’s just about asking for a horror movie!” “Or an ambush?” Sunset raised an eyebrow, looking ahead, “Watch out!” “Oh Sunset, come on, I won’t get jumped twice in a- WAHHH!” Dash plowed right into another figure lurking the halls. Sunset watched as Dash crashed headlong into another girl that had just locked the door to a side room crammed in between a pair of lockers, “!” Was as much of her reaction could be heard coherently before Dash face planted into her. Sunset was released from her friend's grip as Dash and the newcomer went spiraling to the ground. Dash pulled herself up in a hurry, face heavily red for some reason that Sunset couldn’t understand. At least, not for that moment. The other girl, now more clearly seen as being pale yellow and dusted in freckles, pulled herself up off the floor. She dusted herself off with an almost strained certainty to her movements. Her purple eyes raised up to Dash, glaring darkly, waiting. “S-Sorr-” Dash started. Rainbow was stopped in her tracks as a fist connected to her stomach. She pulled back as Dash keeled forwards, wind knocked out of her. “WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING YA FUCK TRUMPET!” Sunset stumbled back, first from the sudden blow, then from the explosion of noise from the girl’s mouth, ‘Oh...dear.’ “Wh-What the… H-Hell?! It was an accident!” Dash stressed as Sunset helped her back up. “Accident or not, it happened.” She sneered, “I’ve never seen you two around.” Her guard seemed to shoot up at this realization, “Who are you two and why are you here on the first day of winter break?!” Dash crossed her arms, “Cinch herself invited us here, in fact.” She sneered, “We’re here to hang with Starry and all, and if you don’t mind, we’ll be heading there now.” Sunset raised her eyebrow as the other made no attempt to move, “And who are you?” “If we’re gonna play that game, fine. My name’s Sour Sweet.” Her glare seemed to strengthen as it moved to Sunset, “Oh, you’re those two CHS transfers, aren’t you? Stanza and Spectrum?” Dash narrowed her eyes, “Waaait, how do you know us already?” “I know about everything that goes on in this school. It is my castle and I am its queen.” Sunset felt herself shiver. This girl bothered her, something about her was just off. “We better get going. Sorry about the crash. See you around?” She smiled weakly, pulling Dash around Sour. “...I hope not.” With a final poisonous sneer, she shouldered her backpack, walking off. “Obvious statement, but that could’ve gone better.” “Yeah, no kidding!” Dash wiped her mouth with a sleeve. “What do you think she was doing h-what are you doing?” Sunset cut herself off, raising an eyebrow. Dash groaned, “Ugh! We kissed!” She wiped her mouth on her sleeve more aggressively, “And not even the fun kissing! It’s was like-” Dash saw Sunset’s face, “-I’m gonna stop talking now.” Sunset’s expression had swapped between far too many faces in the last few seconds to be considered healthy, quickly landing on blank right after, “...oh, well that explains the punch at least. Does this mean you’re now staring in a cliche romcom?” “Pah!” Dash doubled over like she had been punched again, “N-No! Sunset! Why?” Sunset chuckled despite the oddly hollow feeling in her stomach, “Anyways, let’s get there before you manage to kiss someone else, eh Spec?” “Y-Yeah! Oh geez, this place is like kiss-brainwashing or something. Let’s get out before I fall to it again!” She grabbed Sunset’s arm once more. “Oh...so you know then?” “Know?” Dash paused, “Know what?” “Oh? You don’t?” She tilted her head, pulling her arm out of her grasp and smirking, “Because I was told that...you didn’t know that you fell~” She sang teasingly, heading on down the hall. Dash paused, “...I just got Dazzled.” She realized with wide-eyes and a shiver. “Stanza! Get your ass back over here!” She ran after. Sunset just laughed in response, picking up the pace into a run as well, neither stopping until the reached the familiar door at the end of the far hall. “Aren't you supposed to be fast?” Dash scoffed with a smirk, “I am fast, you just got a head start! Oh yeah, and I just got punched!” “Excuses, excuses.” She snickered, giving several quick knocks on the door. “What’s the password?!” The familiar call rang out from within. “Swordfish. The password is always swordfish.” Sunset answered, remembering Dean Cadence’s answer from the other day. “Actually the password has been changed, but valiant effort!” Blitz giggled, opening the door nonetheless, “But no one else is really gonna be here and we were expecting you!” “Cool.” Dash walked in, “What’s up, Shadowdolts?” “Well there’s you insulting yourself for starters.” Nightshade responded, kicking back on an old couch. Each of the girls had discarded the standard school uniform, now each dressed more casually. A mound of jackets lay discarded over on the table. “Oh, excuse me, fellow Shadowdolts.” Dash grinned. “You’re gonna do fine here.” Shade smirked, nodding to herself. “Glad you two could make it, given the circumstances.” Starry smiled over at them, playing with a DnD piece between her fingers. “Nightshade was able to fill us in with Soarin’s help over this little incident at CHS.” Soarin, who had been casually reclining on another old couch, waved at them, “Hello!” He greeted with a grin. “I’ll be your adult supervision for the afternoon.” Dash snorted, “You count as an adult?” “I know right?! Joke’s on Cinch!” Soarin’s beam widened even further. “Soarin, don’t be rude to my mother.” Starry responded in much the same way one would ask for ‘paper or plastic’. “Besides, we can take care of ourselves by this point.” She gave a prideful smirk, extending her other arm as a small glowing purple knife appeared floating above her hand. “What better defense than magic, I suppose?” Sunset chuckled, “You’ve all had time to practice your powers?” “Some of us more than others.” Nightshade nodded towards Night Glider, who was calmly sitting at the table. “I have everything under control.” NG replied. “Her powers are still coming in.” Blitz answered for her, “It's spotty still, but she’s past the wacky emotional stuff!” She grinned. “Emotional stuff? What does that mean?” Sunset glanced back to Starry. She seemed to more or less be the group’s leader. “She means these powers come with emotional instability.” Starry explained, “The magic we’ve been gaining comes with heightened emotions. Even the smallest thing can set you off when you’re just starting out. ...Until you learn to deal with it of course.” “Is that right?” Sunset asked, thoughts growing distant for a moment as a hypothesis grew in her mind. Blitz brought her back to reality, however. “Yep, but we’ve all gotten past the mopey crud and got ourselves in line! Sounds like you have too.” The lightning haired girl beamed. “I’m...sorry?” “Well, you use dark magic too, right?” Courier asked. “I did, do...technically, yes.” Sunset stumbled over her words in response, flashes of her dream from the other night surfacing in her mind. “After using dark magic for awhile, you learn to chill your heightened emotions or whatever.” Courier put her feet on the table, “Blitz was saying that it seems like you’re at that point.” “Ah, I see.” Sunset nodded back in thought. ‘Must’ve been the...girls.’ She looked down, a stabbing pain rising in her chest. Her hand tightened into a fist and she shook the image away, “I suppose since a good bit of nothing happened in between the Formal and the Battle of the Bands; I gave it time to just disperse without me ever noticing.” “Sounds plausible.” Starry nodded, “You never had any moments of being pissed off or anything in between though?” “Of course I did.” She sighed, “I was the most hated person in all of CHS even before that night. My erm, ‘episode’ at the Fall Formal just finally brought it all to the surface. All kinds of abuse was hurled at me. I just...I guess that surge of dark magic just scared me so much, I shut down entirely on that front.” Sunset reasoned, holding herself as she looked down. It had been scary, terrifying even, and here she was ready to try again. She wasn’t quite sure if that in itself was scary or grimly amusing. She felt two hands on her shoulders. Obviously, one was Dash. The other, though, was Soarin, who was smiling soothingly at her. “So… can you help them deal with whoever’s causing this?” Soarin asked, crouching down a bit to see eye to eye with her, “You seem like you know more about this than any of us do.” Sunset glanced over at Nightshade momentarily. Nightshade was giving her brother a bittersweet smile, even though he wasn’t looking at her. “I wouldn’t say dark magic is my primary expertise, but...it's still magic, and I know magic.” She nodded, a stronger resolve behind her. “It sounds like you’ve got a good start on things though. Starry seems to be doing well as acting leader of the group, and her mother as well in keeping things contained.” The fuschia girl sat a little straighter, smiling proudly at the praise. “It's just a matter of tracking down this cult, right?” “Indeed.” Starry confirmed, “None of us have solid memories of our short times in captivity. Just bits and pieces, enough to line things up. None of us can recall a location, just that we always woke up on the edge of the Everfree, to the west.” “And this has been going on for how long? A few months?” “Around seven. Give or take a few weeks, disappearances interspaced on when someone would ‘go on vacation’.” Starry added, a small sneer to her lips. “Right.” Sunset put her hand to her chin in thought. “Hey, not to drag things off topic a little, but do we have suspects to the members of this cult?” Dash asked, “Like, if they’re matching these kidnappings up to when people go on vay-cay, wouldn’t they need someone inside the school to tell them?” “Yes, but we’re not sure who.” Starry agreed. “There’s plenty of staff members here, and it could be any of them. It could even be one of our outsourced teachers, we just have no incriminating evidence or even reason to suspect.” “What about that Sour Sweet girl?” Dash crossed her arms with a frown, “She seems like a raging ass. What is she even doing here on break?” “Well, yes, Sweet’s an ass but what is she doing here?” NG looked at Starry. “I didn’t even know she was still hanging around… I suppose I’ll have to take this up with my mother.” Starry said with a frown. “Sour, eh? She did transfer in around seven or so months ago, but we already looked into it. She’s no cultist.” Courier got up from her seat, walking over to the two. “So, since you two are new and all, I feel like I should give ya a fair warning.” She put her hands on her hips, “Sour Sweet is a total bitch, and she honestly believes that she runs this school. I say she’s up her own ass and around the corner.” “To be fair though, she has good reason for thinking it.” Blitz frowned, “She’s got a lotta dirt on a lotta people. Including people from outside CP. So, uh, be careful around her, lest you wind up with your neck under her foot.” She shifted uncomfortably. Sunset suddenly looked a lot more nervous, “I’ll...keep that in mind.” “Good, but I think she’ll be not too subtly booted off her throne soon.” Courier said, crossing her arms. “Have another scheme to out all her blackmail?” Night Glider deadpanned over at her. “It’s gonna work this time!” Courier insisted. Sunset just turned to look at Dash. Dash stared back, an equally flat look on her face. “So...avoid Sour?” Dash gave pause before responding, “Totally.” Soarin raised an eyebrow at her, but said nothing. “Right. Maybe Courier too.” NG snickered. That was when Soarin’s phone buzzed, and he looked down, “...Hmm?” He put it to his ear, “Hello?” There was a pause, and all eyes went to Soarin as he spoke a one-sided conversation. “Okay. Right. Mmm. That’s actually kinda nice to hear. I’ll tell them.” He nodded, glancing over at Dash and Sunset. “Yeah, yeah, I’m standing in the same room as them. Okay Spits, bye.” He hung up, pausing for a moment. “...Hey, uh, girls? Figured you’d want to hear this. Someone confessed to the police about your case.” “Confessed?” Dash blinked, “One of those assholes turned themselves in?” “Not just any asshole, our asshole.” Soarin amended, “Lightning Dust.” “...Dust came clean?” She blinked again, tilting her head in confusion. That couldn’t be right. Lightning Dust had helped in the attack. Why the change of heart? “She...she probably got caught in a lie and was forced to come clean.” “Nope. Her grandfather called into the station saying that she was going to confess and be a witness.” Soarin said, pocketing his phone, “No getting caught required, she turned herself into the cops. That call was from Spits at the shop, apparently a few detectives came in to ask our group about your case, and mentioned that Dust wanted them to talk to us about her. Something about ‘not wanting to be seen like them’.” “Well, she wasn’t at the hotel.” Sunset admitted. “She might’ve been if you hadn’t busted her nose!” Dash pointed out, spitefully. “Well, I can’t say anything other than that, that’s all Spitfire gave me. But apparently they have Dust in custody, and they’re going after the rest.” Dash looked down, seeming to think for awhile, “Think they’ll let us talk to her?” “I doubt it.” Sunset said. “We can try, though.” “Tomorrow.” She waved with a snort, “She still attacked us, so she can take a night in the slammer.” “Yeah, that’s fair.” Sunset said simply, before looking around the room, “So… Where do we start?” “Sounds like you need as much training in dark magic as NG.” Nightshade pointed out. “Why not meet us at the old storage facility just outside South Everfree tomorrow? It's out of the way enough of most locals and it's plenty far from where we all woke up. It's worked out well enough so far.” Sunset nodded a bit, “I am still new to my dark magic, and I’ve yet to use it extensively. That’d be for the best, yeah.” “Well then, I suppose we’ll be seeing you both tomorrow.” Starry nodded, “I take it you’ll be trying to get into the police station beforehand, though?” “More than likely.” Sunset nodded, “Don’t worry though. I doubt I’ll have any trouble getting in just to talk to her.” “Well good luck to you nonetheless.” Starry threw the bag she had with her over her shoulder, “But yes, everyone, have a good night.” With the meeting called off, everyone packed up their things, and Dash walked out of the room with Sunset in tow. Dash was somewhat lost in thought for once, keeping her pace up as they walked out. The meeting had lasted longer than expected, sun now cresting the skyline. The down side of Dash living a good distance from Crystal Prep, “So, I think that went okay.” Sunset offered her friend a smile. “Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, I think that went good. You’ll get a grip on this dark magic stuff like this.” Dash agreed, seemingly a little distracted. “Thinking about Dust?” Sunset asked as they climbed back into the car. “Yeah. I… I almost don’t think I can believe it. Do you really think she regrets everything?” Dash asked. “I don’t know. For one reason or another, it seems that she blew the lid off of everything. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow?” “Guess so.” Dash nodded, starting up the car and pulling out of Crystal Prep. “Man, what a ride today’s been.” “Hey, we’ve had worse.” She smiled at her, leaning back in the passenger seat, “Nothing we can’t handle, right?” “Yeah! We can handle anything!” Dash smirked, “I mean, we handled enough shit already.” Sunset laughed, “Hey, if we can survive Gilda and friends...well I’m not going to jinx anything just yet.” She hesitated with a yawn. “Heh, yeah, probably for the best. Sounds like where you need to focus now is on getting to bed.” Dash joked, looking for her turn. “Sounds like.” Sunset agreed. Tomorrow would be a big day. Dash pulled up in the driveway, parking the car in the garage. “Go on in. I’ll probably have to talk to the folks about my day before I can shower and all that.” “Alright, I’ll take the shower first then. Warm water’s all mine.” She teased playfully, stepping up to the door and pushing it open. “Mr. Blaze? Mrs. Daring? We’re ba-” Sunset froze as her gaze locked with a pair of cyan eyes across the room. Fluttershy sat huddled on the couch, a glass of juice in her hands, staring across the room at Sunset. Her eyes were wide, locked on Sunset with an almost frightened shock. “Warned ya, kid.” Daring sighed, sitting on a side chair. “Sunset?” “Sunset, what’s the hold up, I-?” Dash froze at the door as well, now caught in the magnetic stare. Thankfully, she wasn’t nearly as tongue tied, “Fluttershy?” “She stopped by a few hours ago.” Blaze nodded, “Insisted that she had to say something.” That made Fluttershy stand, weakly stepping over to the open door, visibly shaking as tears pooled in her eyes. She glanced them over several times. ‘This can’t be right. They...they look so…’ Neither of the two had been ready for Fluttershy’s appearance. They hadn’t been ready for any of the girls to seek them out given their talk about keeping their distance earlier that day. Sunset steeled herself, ready to take a hard edge against one of the people that so harshly stabbed them in the- “I’M SO SORRY!” The dam burst as Fluttershy collapsed into tears, falling into the two girls, weakly attempting to hug them both. “I-I made a mistake! A huge m-mistake! I sh-should’ve listened-believed you and I d-didn't!” Her fists clenched weakly as she shook with the sobs, “We promised we had learned from the last t-time and I didn’t!” Any sort of response the two hard for her died in their throats, the thought of shouting the girl down for the events of the other day mostly melting away. “Fluttershy.” “W-what good is our word if we couldn’t keep it?” She continued to sob into Sunset’s shirt. “Fluttershy.” Sunset tried again. Instead of another raspy cry, a loud and wheezing squeak came from Fluttershy. Dash took a breath and pushed her back by the shoulders, keeping hold and looking her in the eyes. “Ease up, ‘Shy.” The tears made no effort to stop, nor did the heavy breathing. However, she opened her eyes to meet Rainbow’s gaze. “We’re...not mad.” Dash forced out, “We’ll…” Sunset took over, hearing her friend’s hesitance, “We’re all tired. Clearly. Dash and I have had a long day, and it looks like you need some time to calm down. I know this must be a shock and all.” She gestured between herself and Rainbow. “So how about this? Let’s just talk in the morning. We’ll let you say your piece and we go from there?” Fluttershy nodded meekly, pulling herself back into the hug, shivering a little less. Sunset wasn’t ecstatic to see Fluttershy at the moment, especially so unexpectedly. However, she seemed sincere, downright broken over the situation, and she was also the only one here. Dash gave a terse nod of agreement, “Yeah...sounds like a...a plan.” She looked over at her parents, “Is she-?’ “We’ve offered her the guest bedroom for tonight.” Blaze stood, smiling awkwardly, happy things hadn’t exploded. “Hope you don’t mind, Sunset?” “It’ll be fine.” Sunset waved it off, “I’ll be fine with Dash for one more night.” A silence quickly enveloped the room. “So who wants shepard’s pie?!” Blaze laughed, somehow feeling even more awkward. Dinner would come and go without incident, though not without the continuous uncomfortable air, the topic of both Dust and tomorrow’s plans came up with thoughtful nods coming from both Daring and Blaze. Fluttershy was silent through it all, sitting over by Dash’s parents. Beyond that, all five would retire to their beds as the sun set for the day, heavy thoughts of the next day weighing on them all. They would all wake up the next day, hesitant to confront it. Except they wouldn’t. Sunset found herself awoken from her sleep, the sound of plastic squeaking against wood sent a shiver down her spine. She quickly jerked up in bed, “...Dash?” She asked in a hushed whisper, glancing around in the darkness. Rainbow was neither in the recliner she had fallen asleep in nor the bed that Sunset had all but claimed. A flutter of movement caught her eye from the left. Glancing over, the dark blue curtains fluttered in the cold breeze from outside. The window was wide open and Dash nowhere to be seen. “Rainbow?” Sunset blinked, wide awake now and out of the bed. In the distance, a bolt of lightning lit up the cloudless sky for a few brief moments, a crash of thunder following soon after. Something was dreadfully wrong.