Sunset stood there panting, a hand holding her side as the smoke from Twilight’s last attack covered their opponent’s side of the field. In the middle of the field, holographic portraits of the two Canterlot High girls were on display with the word ‘winner’ shining brightly above them. If they could connect to the net, this win would have been recorded by the people who made the duel disks for use in determining who got invited to the next major tournament. But that didn’t matter to Sunset right now. All that she cared about was knowing that it was over as well as confirming that those two weren’t dead.
It turned out she wasn’t the only one who wanted to know. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack seemed to be silent as well as they watched with bated breath. Well-To-Do’s crew was looking at each other, wondering what to do. Some were actually loading up their trucks with their equipment since their boss had lost. Even that gangster looking guy who was with Well-To-Do seemed taken aback by the loss of his employer.
As the seconds ticked by and the holograms faded, so too did the smoke. Lying on the ground with their faces in the dirt were Cinch and Well-To-Do. The scorch marks and holes in their clothing were still there with Cinch’s duel disk sparking madly. It was only as the holograms of everyone’s monster faded away that Well-To-Do clutched at the earth to signal that he was in fact alive. Seeing this, Sunset and Twilight let out sighs of relief at the same time as the dread that had been slowly glowing inside them faded. It appeared that you didn’t die when you lost.
“No,” said Well-To-Do as he raised his head showing that there was a cut on it now which was causing him to bleed all over his face. “No! NO! NO! NO!” Quickly the rich man got to his feet, wincing in pain as he did. Angrily he looked around to see his workers. “What are you all doing? Don’t go putting away the equipment! We have a job to do here and it’s not going to be stopped by some stupid high school girl!” One man stepped forward, looking nervous. Sunset could see his twiddling his fingers as he opened his mouth, most likely to remind his employer about the deal. It must have been obvious for Well-To-Do as well who snarled in the direction at the man. “Or do you want to lose your minimum wage jobs?”
“Hey, you promised!” shouted Pinkie loudly.
“That’s right,” agreed Rarity with a nod. “I would think that a member of the upper class-”
“Did any of you think I’d really keep my word?” he demanded, interrupting Rarity who huffed. “Ha! That’s a real laugh right there. Boys, tie these girls up and throw them in a ditch somewhere.” He then shot a glance at the guy dressed like a gangster. “And if they give you any trouble, shot the old broad.”
Now all the workers where looking on in shock and horror at their boss. It was bad enough he was going back on his word. However, none of them thought he’d sink so low as to kidnap several young girls or threaten to kill an old grandma.
“Do you really think you can get away with this?!” shouted Sunset as she stepped forwards. “Sooner or later someone will come looking for us.”
Well-To-Do shrugged. “If that happens, I’ll just say I have no idea where you went. Don’t worry about me, I’m good at covering my tracks. Take for example that bus of yours. Before the night is done, it’ll be scrap metal and my pockets will have a few extra dollars!” He then took a few steps towards Sunset while grinning ear to ear. “And let's say someone does come here looking for all of you. By then, it’ll be too late! I will have destroyed this entire forest and paved it over with all of you buried alive!” Well-To-Do pointed a finger at Sunset while continuing to grin insanely. “That’s what I do to people who stand in the way of my progress! You’ll all be dead and gone while I make a profit on this land. Every single tree will be cut down and turned into toothpick. Every animal, fish, and bird will be killed before I stuff them to be sold online. Then-”
“Say that again you son of a bitch!” Sunset and Well-To-Do blinked right before the short money man was punched in the back of the head. It was then that Sunset noticed the giant of a man standing where Well-To-Do used to be, looking enraged while Rainbow and Fluttershy sat on his shoulders.
“Ah,” sighed Fluttershy as she grinned dreamily. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to see that.”
“Who did that?!?” demanded Well-To-Do as he picked himself up off the ground. He turned around…before falling on his hands and knees. “W-Worker 16? W-W-What are you doing here? You should be out there in the field!”
Worker 16 walked over to Well-To-Do and picked him up by the shirt with one hand easily. “These two birdies told me you were not building the bird sanctuary like you told me you were. You lied to me.”
“Wait…what?” said Twilight, blinking in confusion.
“Yeah, apparently Well-To-Do got this big guy on his side and got him to work for free by telling him they were building a bird sanctuary,” said Rainbow Dash as she patted the guy she was sitting on shoulder, rolling her eyes as she did so. “He’s been out in the forest since they got here setting up jamming equipment to keep people from making phone calls and accessing the internet.”
“Didn’t he think that was a little…off?” asked Sunset as she raised an eyebrow.
“Or illegal?” added in Applejack as she crossed her arms.
“He really likes birds,” said Fluttershy, like that explained everything.
“You,” growled Well-To-Do getting everyone’s attention again as he swung about to try and free himself for Work 16’s grip. “You won’t get away with betraying me like this! Do you have any idea how many government officials I paid off? Do you have any idea how many connections I have? I’m Well-To-Do! My connections are limitless! I swear, if I’m not down on the ground within the next ten seconds, I’ll make sure that all of your families are living in ditches fighting stray dogs for their next meal before the night falls! TEN! NINE! EI-”
Well-To-Do’s voice was suddenly drowned out by the noise of police sirens. Everyone turned to look as dozens of cars sped into the camp site as well as an ambulance. The police cars surrounded positioned themselves at various locations around the camp, their occupants quickly getting out while pulling out their very visible handguns to point at the works. As many on the cops began ordering the workers still holding things like chainsaws onto the ground, a few moved their cars in order to block the exit. Sunset looked over at Well-To-Do whose blue face had gone pale white as he surveyed all.
“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash with a cocky grin. “We might have made a little phone call before headed back to camp.”
Sunset smiled as Worker 16 lowered Well-To-Do onto the ground, a dozen officers approaching the short man. “Stay on the ground and put your hands on your head!” shouted one of the officers. While this was going on, paramedics approached Sunset and Twilight to examine their bruises while Timer and Gloriosa were put on stretchers. Twilight kept her eyes on her boyfriend, looking like she wanted to go check up on him but the medic examining her shook his head.
“You can’t do this to me!” screamed Well-To-Do, drawing attention back to him. “Do you have an idea who I am?!”
“You have the right to remain silent,” said the officer escorting him to the cop car. Or at least was trying to. Well-To-Do, despite his own injuries, was hopping about and shaking his head like a rabid animal. “I strongly suggest you use that right.”
Well-To-Do clearly didn’t agree. “This isn’t over by a long shot! My lawyers will have me out before I miss my dinner! I’ll be back and then-” At that point, the mini-millionaire was thrown into the car with the door slamming in his face. Sunset could see all of the girls grinning and shaking their heads at this. The only one who didn’t was Pinkie who was walking over to the car. Well-To-Do, who had his hands on the glass, stopped his yelling as Pinkie approached.
“I don’t think you’ll be back,” she said while looking at the man with pity. “I’m sure the writer had a blast writing such a one-dimensional villain, but I don’t think the readers are going to miss you at all.” Well-To-Do looked at her in confusion as the car began to depart the camp with Pinkie waved goodbye. Everything was looking all wrapped up until Twilight let out a gasp that startled everyone around. Sunset turned to look at her friend who was not staring at the departing car or any of the officers who were now questioning the workers in the area. Instead, she was looking at the spot where Cinch used to be. It seems while everyone was focused on Well-To-Do she had slipped away with her deck, leaving behind her malfunctioning duel disk.
-x-
It was several hours later and Sunset found herself standing by the lake, looking out as the sun brightly reflected itself against the water. Dressed now in her spare camping attire, Sunset couldn’t really focus on the beauty before her. It surely wasn’t easy since all of Well-To-Do’s former employees were busy fixing up the camp. Both Timber and Gloriosa (who were both recovering in the hospital) had decided not to press charges against them as long as they restored the camp to its prior condition. So there they were, hard at work fixing everything they had destroyed in their short time here. Some were even making their own little additions. Like Worker 16, who was busy working with Fluttershy to build a small bird sanctuary like he had wanted.
Speaking of Worker 16, he had spoken to the Timber and her sister about adding some security for the camp. Apparently he knew a guy who always wanted to ‘range the fuck out of a park’ as he put it. Some guy named 17. Weird.
However, it wasn’t the noise of the workers around her that was keeping Sunset from enjoying the view. It was Cinch. After they told the police about how she was involved, the authorities began searching the area for her. So far, all they had come across were some Jeep tracks about a couple of miles away leading towards the main highway. It was possible that Cinch had gotten away. While the police had put out a warrant for her arrest, Sunset couldn’t help but to worry about the damage she could do until she was finally caught. She knew about magic and had the technology at her disposal to capture it. While she had left behind the device that had stolen Applejack’s and Rainbow’s magic (which thanks to Twilight’s help had been returned to them), it didn’t mean that that was the last time they would see it. With enough time, she could rebuild the device before heading out to gather more magic. Who knew what she could do then? Perhaps she could take control of minds or hurt other people like she had done today.
Thinking about the duel, Sunset pulled out her deck. As she examined her cards, she couldn’t help but think about how unhelpful she had been during the match. She had stuck to her old strategy, making sure the grave was full of tuners so when she summoned her dragon it would be powerful enough to defeat any opponent. Ever since she had first come to this world, it had always worked out for her. But now…
“Sunset,” came Twilight’s voice from behind her. The red and yellow haired girl turned around to see Twilight, who was also sporting her backup attire, walking towards her. “Some of the girls thought that, since we’re here, we might as well make the most of it. Want to go hiking or something?”
Sunset shrugged. “I don’t know. Got a lot on my mind.”
“Like?” asked Twilight.
“Just…worried about Cinch I guess,” said Sunset before looking down at her deck. “And how useless I was when we faced her.”
Twilight looked at her for a moment before folding her arms behind her back. “Well, it’s not like you did horribly. I mean, we did win after all.”
“Only because of you,” said Sunset with a sigh, her shouldering slumping as she did. Slowly, she looked up from her deck to face her friend square in the eye. “I…I thought that I’d have to do all the hard work. That your deck just wasn’t good enough. Then, when it looked like we might lose, I worried about what that would mean. For all we knew, we could have died! I was ready to give up!”
“But you didn’t,” said Twilight.
“Only because your monsters told me not to,” snapped Sunset. Seeing the shocked looked on Twilight’s face Sunset took a breath as well as a step back while turning to look back at the water. “Sorry about that. I just wish I could have done more or had the same connection you do with your deck.”
It was then that Sunset felt Twilight’s hand on her shoulder. “The only reason I was able to do so well was because I had my friends with me, willing to help improve myself as well as my deck. If it hadn’t been for all of you, I’d still be playing the same strategy I had back when I face Princess Twilight. I don’t think either of us could have won if I had played like that.”
“Guess that makes sense,” said Sunset as she looked at her deck again. “Maybe it’s time I made some changes as well.”
“Are you going to get rid of your deck?” asked Twilight. Sunset shook her head.
“No way,” she said as she pulled out Prominence, the Molten Swordsman. “Me and these cards go back a long time. I just need to update some of their support and change up some monsters in my extra deck. Maybe, if I put as much of my heart into this deck as you have with ours, then maybe I’ll gain the same connection.”
“Ok,” said Twilight as her hand slid off Sunset’s shoulder. “But in the meantime how about you come hiking with us. After all, you won’t be able to make any changes to your deck until we get back home.”
Sunset nodded. As she turned around, she saw Twilight’s retreating figure as well as something else. There, in-between the two girls, stood a man whose skin was like rock holding a flaming sword. He looked down at Sunset with his green eyes which seemed to look into her soul. She said nothing as she looked back, knowing who this was. It was Prominence.
“More battles will come,” said the monster before her. He then planted his sword into the ground before taking a knee in front of the flame haired girl. “Help us grow stronger so that we may fight by your side.”
-x-
Meanwhile, back in the city, Adagio was pacing back and forth in the apartment she shared with her fellow siren. Trash littered the floor surrounding the worn and used furniture that they had managed to salvage during their time in the human world. On any other night when they had not been out collecting energy, Adagio would have been bemoaning the fact that times had were reduced to this. She would have been thinking back to when they lived in better conditions, back before employers wanted at least high school diplomas for the higher paying jobs. Back before the internet so they could better lie through their teeth about their past work experience or give out fake Social Security Numbers. Those were the good old days.
This night, however, found Adagio angry at something different. “How dare that blue moron fire US! After everything we’ve had to put up from her, after everything we’ve done to help that idiot out! That ingrate! How are we supposed to survive without a paycheck from that hole?”
“Maybe we should have actually gone to work,” murmured Aria as she laid on the couch that smelled of wet dog. Her attention was not on her sister siren, but instead on the websites she scrolled across on her smartphone. “Speaking of work, we’re going to need to find a new job soon. We need to pay the rent for this place and, more importantly, our phone bills. Maybe we could try the local grocery store. They are looking for greeters and some other lousy positions.”
“No!” growled Adagio before crossing her arms. “I am sick of lowering myself to jobs. Remember back in the good old days when we ran inn after inn for centuries? Morons traveling by to see three pretty girls as we served them food and sang by the fireplaces. Nobody to ask us if we were experienced or too young to be doing something like that. We never went hungry back then or worry about getting kicked out onto the streets.”
“Times have changed,” grunted Aria as she got up. “Besides, you complained about that life back then as well. That it was beneath us and we should try to get a job in a palace or something like that?”
Growling some more, Adagio pointed at her sister only to be silenced by a knock on the door. The two looked at each other as another knock was heard by them. Could it be the landlord? They were a tad late on their rent…by four weeks or so. He was the only one these days to come knocking at their door. Everyone else in this crap hole knew very well not to bother them. For a moment, Adagio considered pretending that no one was home only to realize that the lights were on meaning that someone was most likely home. Sighing to herself Adagio walked over to the door as she began to plan out how to handle this situation. Perhaps she could force herself to cry? No, she had tried that three times already and the act had grown stale. Perhaps she could try matching his aggression with her own? Might make her feel better but he held all the chips in this situation. Make him mad enough and they would be on the streets before they knew what hit them.
Deciding that lowering herself to begging might work out best, Adagio opened the door to find a very thin woman standing there. “Hello,” she said in an upright manner. “I heard through my sources that you know about magic and hate the Rainbooms. Perhaps we could come to an arrangement…”