Chapter 5
Calling in Favors
In an alleyway, Sunset Shimmer and Trixie suddenly appeared in a puff of blue smoke. However, they immediately noticed they were not standing on solid ground, but were actually a short distance up in the air, so they screamed as they began to drop, soon landing inside an open dumpster. As the two girls sat up inside the dumpster, Trixie coughed a few times, while Sunset removed a banana peel from atop her head and flicked it right at Trixie’s face.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want you to teleport us,” grumbled Sunset. “You’ve had that oversized wand for years, and you still can’t achieve any reasonable accuracy with teleportation spells.”
“Trixie was overcompensating!” argued Trixie as she flung the banana peel over her shoulder. “If I didn’t put us just a little bit over the ground, there’s a chance we could’ve teleported right into the ground itself, and trust me, suddenly finding yourself embedded into a wall is not a pleasant experience.”
Sunset rolled her eyes as she stood up and climbed over the side of the dumpster, making sure to keep her grip on her briefcase full of cash. As Trixie followed with her magical staff in hand, Sunset walked out to the end of the alleyway to get a better look at which street they had ended up on. One of the first things she saw was a small restaurant across the street that was shaped like a giant take-out box, and that alone was enough for her to confirm they were now in the Pagoda district of Lego City.
“At least you got us pretty close,” acknowledged Sunset. “That noddle bar over there is just across the street from Chan’s salvage yard.”
“And since we’re across the street from that noddle bar, that means our destination must be right next to us,” stated Trixie smugly.
“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” grumbled Sunset under her breath as she turned right and walked over to the next building along the sidewalk. Followed by Trixie, she walked through an oriental gateway and approached the building’s entrance, which was guarded by a dark-haired man wearing a red jacket and black pants. “Hey, uh, is Chan around?” she called out to the guard. “I’d like to do some business with him.” She held up her briefcase to emphasize her request.
“Wait here,” said the guard before he opened the door and stepped inside.
As the two girls waited, Trixie glanced around and commented, “Quite a rough neighborhood, isn’t it? You sure this is the best place to get a car?”
“Like I said, because of that Memory Stone, everyone thinks I’m a wanted criminal,” Sunset pointed out. “I can’t just buy a car from a typical dealership, so I have to rely on someone who I know would care more about making money than obeying the law.”
“Why can’t you just steal a car instead?” asked Trixie.
“I’m trying to prove my innocence to everyone,” responded Sunset with annoyance, “and the last thing I’d want right now is to do anything illegal that would convince them otherwise.” She paused before she quickly added, “Besides, I’m technically still on probation.”
The door opened again and the guard stepped outside. Speaking with an Asian accent, he said, “Mister Chan in his office and ready to listen.”
Sunset thanked the guard and walked inside, followed closely by Trixie. They climbed up a stairway and headed down a short hallway before they arrived at a partially opened door. Sunset stopped and held Trixie back. “Wait here,” insisted Sunset. “I’ll handle this myself.”
Trixie pouted and grumbled, “If you insist…”
With that risk of unwanted distractions taken care of, Sunset knocked on the door.
“Please, come in,” responded the guy inside the room.
Sunset stepped into the office and saw the man she was looking for seated behind his desk. Chan Chuang had dark hair that was neatly combed to the side, a typical Asian style of mustache, and wore a black business suit with a red tie.
“Ah, welcome, Sunset Shimmer,” greeted Chan calmly. “It has been quite some time since I last heard of any of your… exploits.” But then almost immediately, his expression turned from content to furious as he raised his voice. “You’d better not be bringing any trouble with you! I’d like to keep my business running!”
“Relax, I’m just here for one quick thing,” assured Sunset as she stood in front of the desk. “A few years ago, I sold you one of my rides.” She set the briefcase down onto the desk. “If you still have it, I’d like to buy it back.” She then opened the briefcase and turned it around to show its contents to Chan.
Chan glanced at the cash stuffed inside the briefcase, turned his gaze up to Sunset, then returned his attention to the cash. He took out a few stacks of bills and flipped through them. Remaining silent, he opened a drawer in his desk, searched through it for a few seconds, then pulled out a key and handed it over to Sunset.
“Here you go,” said Chan calmly with a smile. “The car is yours again. You will find it downstairs in my personal garage.” Again, his expression suddenly turned furious as he shouted, “But if I see so much as a scratch on any of my other cars, I’m taking it back!” He slammed the briefcase closed. “NO REFUNDS!!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be extra careful when I pull it out,” assured Sunset as she turned and began to leave the room.
Chan quickly calmed back down and said, “Good.” He then pressed the intercom button on his desk and spoke, “Fu, could you please open the garage door downstairs?”
“The one to your personal collection?” asked the voice on the other side.
“Yes, the one to my personal collection!” Chan hollered back furiously. “It’s the only garage door we have in this building!”
Meanwhile, Sunset stepped out of the office, walked past Trixie still waiting outside, and began to head back down the hallway.
“Sheesh, that guy has anger management issues,” Trixie quietly remarked as she followed right behind Sunset.
“You have no idea,” muttered Sunset in response. Thanks to previous visits — such as when she sold the car that she had now successfully bought back — she knew which way to go to reach the garage. She and Trixie walked back down the stairway and headed down another short hallway before they arrived at the garage, just as the main door outside was being opened.
Chan’s personal garage was full of all kinds of high-performance vehicles, from high-end luxury cars to the most outrageous of sports cars. While many of the cars were proudly displayed, some were hidden under protective covers. Sunset remembered exactly which car she was looking for, so after failing to identify it from just a quick glance around the room, she carefully checked the ones that were covered.
While Sunset was busy checking under the covers, Trixie looked around at the entire collection. She couldn’t help but feel a little envious. Having lived in the Castle Region for so long, she was getting her first reminder of life in the City Regions in years. She would never openly admit it, but she did find herself tempted with the idea of returning to city life, if only to enjoy some of the everyday conveniences she once took for granted.
Finally, at the far side of the garage, Sunset found what she was looking for. “Well, here it is,” she spoke up as she threw back the covering from the car she had purchased. This car was shaped with a gentle curve from a short front end to a large rear end, with a spoiler on the rear. It also had no roof, with only two seats side by side. It was mostly red, with a pair of black stripes along each side and a broad black stripe on top from behind the seats to the spoiler, which was completely black.
Sunset couldn’t help but feel a mild sense of pride as she stated, “Yes, what you see here really is a Spirit. Five hundred horsepower, zero-to-sixty in four-point-two seconds, surround-sound entertainment system, and this one comes with the special option of state-of-the-art GPS navigation.”
Trixie let out a long whistle and remarked, “Sweet ride.” She turned to Sunset and asked, “How’d you get your hands on a car like this?”
Sunset deflated a little as she admitted, “Well, to tell you the truth, it was originally part of Filthy Rich’s personal collection.”
“You stole it from him, didn’t you?” asked Trixie with a naughty smile.
“No! No, I didn’t steal it!” responded Sunset defensively. “I, um… borrowed it… indefinitely… without his permission…”
“In other words, you stole it,” retorted Trixie with that naughty smile still on her face.
Sunset let out a sigh of defeat, then firmly said, “Look, I really hate to have any additional reminders of what an awful person I used to be, so the only reason I’m taking this car is because I just can’t think of any other I could realistically get on such short notice. Let’s just get in and get going so we can focus on finding the Memory Stone.”
“Whatever you say,” responded Trixie, still smiling smugly as she walked around to the passenger side of the car.
Sunset opened the car’s left door, climbed into the driver’s seat, and closed the door, while Trixie did the same on the right side. As Trixie sat down in the passenger seat, she kept her grip on her magical staff, and with the bottom end resting on the car floor in the middle, that left the top end with its large blue five-pointed star sticking up quite noticeably above the windshield. Sunset immediately noticed this, so rather than start the car, she glared at Trixie.
Trixie kept her gaze forward, expecting Sunset to start driving right away. When nothing happened after a few seconds, she glanced over at Sunset and saw the displeased look she was giving her. “What?” asked Trixie in confusion.
“Are you really that oblivious?” said Sunset irritably. “It’s bad enough that my only option of discretely getting around town is a big flashy performance car. There is no way that I’m going anywhere with you keeping that thing sticking out like a damaged piece.” She pointed at Trixie’s staff.
Trixie glanced up at her staff, then glared back at Sunset and argued, “Did you not hear me earlier? The Great and Powerful Trixie never goes anywhere without her magical staff! Though if you insist on a lower profile, Trixie could just lay it down like this.” Trixie turned the staff over so that it was now lying across the laps of both girls in the car.
“Yeah, sure, like I’m gonna be totally comfortable with having a powerful magical artifact resting in my lap and which answers only to the most unstable girl I know of,” grumbled Sunset.
“Oh, stop your whining,” argued Trixie. “Trixie promises to not unleash any magical spells upon you. At least, not intentionally.”
Sunset suddenly yanked the staff out of Trixie’s grip and turned it around to look at it from various angles as she retorted, “Seriously, does this thing have an off switch?”
Trixie immediately snatched the staff out of Sunset’s hands and shot back, “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s a magical staff! Not some radio transceiver!”
“Look, all I’m asking for is that staff be kept out of sight while we’re on the road,” insisted Sunset. “Just throw it in the trunk so we can get moving.”
Trixie growled in frustration as she opened the car door and walked around to the back of the car. She opened the rear compartment, then pointed out, “Uh, slight problem. There’s an engine back here.”
Sunset thumped the back of her head against her seat and mumbled, “Right, I forgot that this was one of those rear-engine type of vehicles.” She then spoke up, “The storage compartment should be in the front.”
Trixie let out a sigh of frustration as she slammed the rear hood closed. She walked around to the front of the car and opened the compartment hatch. She tried placing her staff inside the storage compartment, but no matter which direction she laid it down, one end or the other would always end up sticking out far enough that the hatch couldn’t close. Eventually, she huffed and grumbled, “This isn’t going to work. The trunk’s too small.”
Sunset growled in frustration and irritably said, “I don’t have time for this. Either find a way to hide that thing, or I’ll just drive off without you.”
Trixie glanced over the car from front to back before her gaze settled on the passenger seat. “I wonder…” she mumbled to herself. She then grabbed the top of that seat and yanked it aside, tipping the seat forward and exposing a long and narrow empty space that stretched across the width of the car. “Aha! There is a secret compartment behind the seats!” she proudly noted. She then slipped her staff into the empty space — where it was able to fit perfectly — and pushed the seat back to its original position. “There! Out of sight and within quick and easy reach!”
“Whatever,” responded Sunset with almost no enthusiasm. “Just get in and buckle up.”
As Sunset buckled her seatbelt, Trixie sat back down in the passenger seat, closed the car door beside her, and buckled her seatbelt. With everything now as good as it could ever get under the current circumstances, Sunset inserted the key and started the car. The engine rumbled to life — relatively quiet, but certainly not hiding its remarkable power. After a quick check of the mirrors and other features, Sunset shifted the car into drive and carefully rolled it out of the garage and out onto the street.
“Okay,” Trixie spoke up, “now that we’re finally on the streets of Lego City in our own ride, where to next?”
As Sunset turned left onto the first street, she replied, “We need any information we can get to help us figure out who has the Memory Stone and where to find them. There’s one guy I know who not only has enough outreach to cover the entire city, but also stands in a position where he has less to lose by helping me rather than tip off the police that I’m around. Let’s just say it’s time to call in an old favor…”
After a few minutes of driving across town, Sunset and Trixie now found themselves entering the Fresco district of Lego City. It was a largely uneventful drive, and Sunset was completely fine with that — especially considering her desire to avoid attracting any attention. Trixie, on the other hand, was less than thrilled by just how dull the search of the Memory Stone had been so far.
“Are we there yet?” moaned Trixie, resting her head against her right hand with her elbow propped on the car door beside her.
“We’ll get there when we get there,” grumbled Sunset.
“Can’t you go any faster?” asked Trixie, practically whining. “I mean, we’re in a car that can easily go more than double what we’re doing now.”
“Because,” responded Sunset, struggling to keep her temper in check, “in case you forgot what I said earlier, we’re trying to keep a low profile to give ourselves the best chance of finding the Memory Stone, which means I have to obey all the traffic laws while we’re on the road.”
The two girls sat in silence for a few seconds before Trixie grumbled, “Trixie’s bored…”
Sunset didn’t say anything, but her grip on the steering wheel did tighten a little.
After a few more seconds of silence between the two girls, Trixie spoke up, “I wonder what’s on the radio.” She then reached over to the car’s stereo system and tapped what she assumed was the button to turn it on.
THIS SONG’S GONNA GET STUCK INSIDE YOUR HEEEEAAAAD!!
“Shut if off!” shouted Sunset over the loud volume of the music.
THIS SONG’S GONNA GET STUCK INSIDE YOUR—
THIS SONG’S GONNA GET STUCK INSIDE YOUR—
THIS SONG’S GONNA GET STUCK INSIDE YOUR HEEEEAAAAD!!
Trixie wildly hit random buttons on the stereo, but nothing she did was able to turn it off. “I-I-I don’t know how!” she hastily confessed. “Trixie hasn’t used one of these things in years!”
CUZ IT’S SO CAAAATCHY, CAAAATCHY, IT’S SUCH A CATCHY SONG!!
IT’LL MAKE YOU HAAAAPY, HAAAAPY, DON’T TRY TO FIGHT IT, SING ALOOOONG!!
THIS SONG’S GONNA GET STUCK INSIDE YOUR—
Frustrated by Trixie’s inability to operate such a simple device, Sunset decided to just grab the car’s stereo and yanked the printed 1x2 tile off the dashboard, which immediately shut off the loud music that had blared from the surrounding speakers. Without saying a word, she tossed the disconnected stereo onto the floor of the car, then resumed her tight two-handed grip on the steering wheel while keeping her intensely furious glare straight ahead on the road.
“Well… that works, too, I guess,” remarked Trixie.
Even with a grumpy expression plainly visible on her face, Sunset refused to say anything in response.
After another awkward silence, Trixie again spoke up, “That was a pretty catchy song, though. I wonder where it came from.”
“Don’t know, don’t care,” grumbled Sunset. “We have more important issues to deal with right now.”
Sunset made a right turn and pulled into a parallel parking space on the side of road, then shut off the car. The two girls unbuckled their seatbelts and climbed out of the car, with Trixie pulling her seat forward to retrieve her staff from the hidden compartment. After setting the alarm — making the car chirp twice — Sunset led Trixie across the street towards a two-floor grey stone building with red and white striped awnings over all of the windows. Atop the front of this building was a big sign that read “Pappalardo’s”, with the L topped with a swirl of white ice cream.
Trixie raised an eyebrow and asked, “You took us to an ice cream parlor?”
“Let’s just say the owner uses this legitimate business as a cover for his more… illegal work,” replied Sunset slyly.
“Ah, a fellow criminal mastermind,” remarked Trixie with a smile. “Trixie’s suddenly interested to meet this guy.”
The two girls walked through the main entrance into the building, and soon found themselves walking into the main room. On the main floor were some circular tables, each with a lit candle on the center and surrounded by a few chairs. To the right was a performance stage with a piano, on which someone was playing some slow music. At the far end was the service counter that offered many varieties of ice cream, and to the right of that was a stairway that led to the upper floor, which went around over the back and left sides of the room. Along all of the walls were all kinds of high-quality paintings. Today, there were enough patrons to fill more than half of the available seats.
As they headed towards the stairway, Sunset couldn’t help but smile as she remarked, “I have to say, this place brings back some memories. Whenever I happened to be in Lego City and wanted to lay low for a while, this was usually my preferred hideout. Although I never bothered seeing anyone here as even so much as an acquaintance, I do still recognize some familiar faces here.” She pointed to the left. “Over there is Tony One-Time.”
“Hey!” greeted the guy wearing a red shirt and black beret, seated at a table by himself.
Sunset pointed to the right and said, “Right here is Paulie Blindfolds.”
One of the two guys seated at that table had black hair, wore a red shirt, and had a blindfold over his eyes. “Eh, I don’t see what’s wrong with that,” he said to the other guy.
As she and Trixie began climbing the stairs, Sunset pointed to the left and said, “That guy is Lucky Pete.”
Seated at one of the stools in front of the service counter was a guy wearing a black baseball cap and a black jacket. He scratched a ticket in his hands, then suddenly exclaimed, “Aw, sweet! I just won the lottery! Third week in a row!”
The two girls walked along the upper floor and as they came around the corner, Sunset pointed to the right and said, “And of course, there’s Mikey Spoilers.”
Sunset walked past the guy with brown hair and wearing a black pinstripe suit. But as Trixie tried to follow, he suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him. “Hey, check it out,” he whispered softly to her. “If you wanna find somethin’ real quick, you can use that magic staff of yours on the car’s GPS.”
Trixie raised an eyebrow and asked, “What?”
The guy quietly shushed her and whispered, “Ya didn’t hear this from me…” He then let go of her arm and gave her a slight nudge to continue following after Sunset.
Trixie stared back at that guy, then shook her head as she turned her attention ahead back to Sunset, who appeared to have been oblivious to the quiet interaction behind her.
The two girls finally arrived at a closed door within a stone archway. Once they stopped in front of the door, Sunset turned to Trixie and said, “This guy, Vinnie Pappalardo, should have the best resources of any crime boss in all of Lego City. But if we want him to be willing to help us, we’ll have to show him a lot of respect, so unless you’d rather wait outside, try not to be too obnoxious.”
“For this crucial meeting, Trixie shall try to restrain herself,” declared Trixie.
Sunset turned to the door, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door three times.
“Yeah, who is it?” asked someone on the other side of the door.
“Sunset Shimmer,” responded Sunset. “I need to talk to you.”
Sunset and Trixie waited for a response. As the seconds ticked by, they slowly grew more anxious and uncertain on whether or not this Vinnie would be willing to hear them out.
Eventually, the voice on the other side of the door responded, “Alright, come on in.”
Sunset let out a quiet sigh, then opened the door and stepped inside, with Trixie following right behind. Inside this room, there were green rugs on the floor, numerous portraits hanging on the brown walls, highly valuable paintings covering the ceiling, a long table in the middle surrounded by chairs, and a desk at the far end. Behind that desk and sitting in a big red chair was a guy with combed-back black hair that was greying on the sides and wore a dark grey pinstripe suit.
As the two girls walked across the room to the desk, the minifig behind the desk smiled and, speaking with an Italian accent, greeted, “Ah, Sunset Shimmer… Been a long time since I’ve seen you around.”
“Yeah, I suppose it really has, Vinnie,” remarked Sunset and she and Trixie stopped in front of the desk.
Trixie glanced up at the ceiling and remarked, “Nice collection. You have a fine taste for art, I’ll give you that. Perhaps Trixie should start her own collection and use it to decorate her castle.”
“Ignore her,” Sunset immediately said to Vinnie dismissively. “She’s just being a pest.”
Trixie huffed indigently, but chose not to speak up again and instead decided to continue admiring everything in the luxurious office.
“So what brings you and your new associate to Lego City?” asked Vinnie. “Got some new scheme you wanna let me in on?”
“Not exactly,” replied Sunset. Trying her best to choose her words carefully, she explained, “Lately, I’ve moved on to the kind of business that involves… saving the world — not that you would even recall, on account of the most recent crisis.”
Vinnie frowned and asked, “What are you gettin’ at?”
Sunset reached into her satchel and pulled out the sketch, which she placed on Vinnie’s desk. “This is the Memory Stone,” she explained, “a magical artifact from Equestria that has the power to erase any memories from anyone. And just a few days ago, someone used it to erase everyone’s memories of my recent exploits, making them believe that I’m still the notorious criminal I used to be.”
Vinnie glanced down at the sketch, then eyed Sunset suspiciously and asked, “And you’re sayin’ you’re not?”
“I can’t rely on my friends, since they’re convinced we’re on opposite sides of the law,” continued Sunset. “So I have to turn to some of my old connections for help, and you’re just the guy I need to put a stop to this.”
Vinnie maintained his incredulous look as he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “And why should I trust yous?” he asked.
Realizing the conversation was not quite going the way she was hoping for, Sunset quickly decided to change tactics. “You owe me, Vinnine,” she sharply replied. “When that joint venture of ours went south, I offered to take all of the heat by myself, because I knew I could get away with it. And I did!”
Vinnie smiled and remarked, “Ha-ha, now there’s the Sunset Shimmer I know.” He leaned forward to take another look at the sketch on his desk. “So what’s the deal with this ‘Memory Stone’ you was goin’ on about?”
“That’s the thing,” explained Sunset. “You think you know the real me, but the reality is a little different, because those recent memories were taken away from everyone — including you.”
“So which is it?” asked Vinnie with growing impatience. “Are you a trustworthy felon or not? You tryin’ to be funny with me?!”
“That’s exactly what makes this such a serious threat to all of us!” argued Sunset. “As long as this artifact is out there, none of us can ever be sure that we really know everything!” Deciding to take advantage of a new angle, she leaned forward against the desk and looked Vinnie in the eye as she coldly continued, “Think about it, Vinnie. I know how much you care for your family — your parents, your wife, your kids, your siblings and cousins. Now imagine someone comes along and uses this stone to erase all of their memories of you. To them, you would now suddenly appear to be a total stranger who should be avoided at all costs. That, Vinnie Pappalardo, is the kind of situation I’m currently facing, and unless you’re willing to help, there’s no telling who could be next…”
Vinnie thought carefully for a moment before he said, “Normally, I’d find this kinda stuff hard to believe, but after seein’ weird things from brainwashin’ sirens to psychotic plant monsters, I’d be a fool not to take another magical threat seriously. So who’s the guilty party this time?”
“That’s what makes this an especially serious threat,” replied Sunset. “We have absolutely no idea who has this stone, and certainly no idea why they used it against me like this. If anyone ever discovers them, this person could just use the stone to erase their memory of the encounter and make a truly perfectly clean getaway.”
“Then how are we supposed to catch this guy?” asked Vinnie.
“Simple,” answered Sunset. “We use methods that don’t rely on personal memory. When you send out your guys to search for whoever has the Memory Stone, tell them to take notes, take pictures, anything that’ll make sure they’ll have intel on this person we’re going after, regardless of whether or not they remember anything.”
“Alright, yous got yourself a deal,” declared Vinnie with a nod. He picked up the sketch and carried it over to a nearby photocopier. “I’ll give my guys copies of this sketch and tell them to steal it from whoever’s got it. I’ll also be sure to pass on your advice: record everything.”
“Thanks, Vinnie,” said Sunset with a smile. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
“Well, it’s like you just told me,” said Vinnie as he started printing photocopies of the sketch, “this thing’s messin’ with people’s minds, and nobody deserves to be forever isolated because of it. At least, not without bein’ told why someone would do this to ‘em.” He paused before he asked, “By the way, what are you plannin’ to do with that magic stone once we got it?”
“Well, obviously, the very first thing I’m going to do with it is restore everyone’s true memories of me,” replied Sunset. “Once everything’s back to normal, I’ll destroy the stone. As I’m sure you know, any item can be stolen, and to have a powerful magical artifact like that stolen from you would be the ultimate nightmare scenario. Trust me, it’s best for everyone on all sides that the Memory Stone must be destroyed.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” acknowledged Vinnie. As the photocopier continued running, he walked over to the opposite side of the room. “Before you leave, I’d like to give you something that might come in handy.” He moved aside a painting to reveal a vault door. He dialed the combination and opened the vault, then reached inside and pulled out something that resembled a pistol of some kind that had a transparent chamber.
“Is that a color gun?” asked Sunset.
“It sure is,” confirmed Vinnie. “I illegally obtained a whole truckload of ‘em some years back, so I still got plenty to go around. I figured that since you’re goin’ on a near-impossible search and destroy, you could use all the help you can get.”
Trixie — finally starting to grow board with her surroundings — turned to Sunset and asked, “How is a color-changing pistol going to help us?”
“Let’s just say it has a way of bringing cartoon physics to life,” Sunset cryptically replied as she put the color gun in her satchel.
By this time, the photocopier finished, so Vinnie retrieved the original sketch and handed it back to Sunset. “If any of my guys finds any clues, I’ll be sure to call you right away,” assured Vinnie.
“That reminds me, I should probably give you my number,” noted Sunset as she quickly wrote down her phone number on a corner of the parchment that sketch was on, then tore off that corner piece and gave it to Vinnie. As she put the sketch back into her satchel, she added, “In the meantime, Trixie and I will try to search the city as well. Hopefully, it won’t be long before we finally get some answers.”
“In that case, I wish you good luck out there,” said Vinnie.
“You too, Vinnie,” responded Sunset as she waved goodbye and headed out of the room, with Trixie right behind her.
As the two girls walked along the upper floor back towards the stairway, Sunset remarked, “You were surprisingly well-behaved.”
“Trixie saw no reason to make a scene in there,” said Trixie dismissively. “Anyway, now that our search for the Memory Stone is well and truly underway, where shall we begin?”
“First thing I’d like to do is check my magic journal for any replies from Princess Twilight in Equestria,” replied Sunset as she reached into her satchel. “She’s been busy researching for any additional ancient knowledge about the Memory Stone, so any new information she can give us would really help…”
Sunset trailed off and stopped walking as she found herself unable to find the journal she was looking for. She looked closely into her satchel and dug through the contents, but was unable to find it anywhere. She desperately thought back to when she might have removed the journal, and soon determined that it was probably right before she made her trip back to Equestria, which meant…
Sunset suddenly let out a roar of frustration — easily catching the attention of everyone inside the large room — and exclaimed, “Shoot! I left it back in my hotel room!” She then rushed down the stairs and towards the main entrance outside. “I’m gonna have to run back there and grab it real quick!”
“Hey! Wait up!” Trixie called out as she rushed after Sunset.
The two girls quickly made it outside and ran across the street back to their car. As Sunset jumped into the driver’s seat, Trixie spared a few seconds to place her staff into the hidden compartment behind the seat before sitting down in the passenger seat. Once they were both seated and buckled up, Sunset immediately started the engine, then drove the car onto the street.
The districts of Fresco and Paradise Sands were rather close to each other, so it was only a short drive up the coast for Sunset and Trixie to reach the hotel where Sunset and her friends had been staying. In an effort to remain unseen, Sunset brought the car around to the parking garage behind the hotel and pulled it into the first available parking space she could find, which fortunately happened to be on the ground floor to ensure they could make a quick escape if necessary.
As soon as the car was parked, Sunset shut off the engine and unbuckled her seatbelt. Trixie removed her seatbelt and was about to open the door on her side when Sunset suddenly held her down by her left shoulder and firmly said, “No. You say here.”
“What?” asked Trixie in both astonishment and confusion. “Why?”
“I just wanna grab my journal as quickly as possible, and you’ll only slow me down,” Sunset bluntly replied.
Trixie furrowed her brow and folded her arms as she grumpily asked, “And what makes you so certain that Trixie’s presence would be a hindrance?”
“Because you’re an arrogant brat who has a crippling addiction to public attention!” snapped Sunset.
Trixie huffed and grumbled, “Trixie has never been so annoyed and insulted in her entire life.”
With her patience rapidly thinning, Sunset sighed and firmly said, “Look, just stay here in the car. I’ll be back before you know it.” Without waiting for any response, she immediately ran off towards the hotel.
Still in a sour mood, Trixie turned her head forward and slouched in her seat.
It didn’t take long for Sunset to reach the nearest side door into the hotel. These kinds of doors would normally be locked on the outside, but those who had a keycard to one of the rooms inside would be able to use it to briefly unlock the door, and since she happened to have one, that’s exactly what she did to get inside.
As she quickly walked down the hallway, Sunset realized she next had to make a choice between speed and stealth. Taking the stairs would be the preferred method of avoiding detection, since few people ever bothered to use them anyway, but because her room was on the top floor of such a tall building, taking the elevator would be the much faster option. As soon as she reminded herself that she was here just to grab one item as quickly as possible, she let out a reluctant sigh as she made her decision.
Sunset soon reached the lobby and arrived at the elevators. She hit the up button on the nearest elevator, then folded her arms and tapped her foot as she waited impatiently for the doors to open. As she waited for the elevator to arrive, her gaze wandered around the room, until she noticed the receptionist behind the desk had picked up the telephone and was about to dial a number, but then froze on the spot when he noticed she was staring right at him.
Sunset was in no mood for playing nice right now, so she immediately called out, “Are you about to call the cops on me?”
The receptionist — in his surfer dude voice — hesitantly replied, “Uh… maybe?”
“Don’t!” Sunset firmly responded. She sighed and facepalmed before she briefly explained, “Look, I don’t want any trouble here. I’m just gonna go up to my room, grab my stuff, and get outta here. All I’m asking for in return is that you don’t tell anyone that I’m here. Got it?”
The receptionist nervously replied, “O-okay…”
“Good,” stated Sunset, just as she heard the elevator door open. She stepped into the elevator, and as she turned back, she sternly added, “And if you break your promise, I’ll break you.” She then hit the button for the top floor, and the elevator doors closed.
As Sunset rode the elevator up, it quickly hit her just how aggressively she had reacted to that receptionist. “Did I really just say that?” she mumbled in disbelief. She let out a sigh of frustration. What she had just done was the kind of behavior she would’ve expected from her old self, something she had sworn to never allow happen again. Because of this incident, she was now starting to question if simply being with her friends as a welcomed member of their group was really the only thing that ever prevented her from relapsing back to her old ways.
As soon as the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Sunset immediately set aside her thoughts and focused on the task at hand. She walked quickly down the hallway until she reached her room. She inserted her keycard to unlock the door, then stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
As soon as Sunset was in her room, she noticed right away that her magic journal was on the bedside table, and that journal was vibrating and glowing. Unsure of how long it had been doing that, she immediately grabbed the journal and opened it to the most recent message. Sure enough, it was from Princess Twilight, regarding newfound information about the Memory Stone.
The message from Equestria was rather short, so it took Sunset only a few seconds to read it. The first half and the accompanying sketch offered a promising lead, even though she was completely unfamiliar with the depicted rock formation. But it was the second half of the brief message that practically made her heart stop. To learn that all the stolen memories of her could be permanently erased from existence after the end of this very day just devastated her beyond belief. She glanced over at the clock on the bedside table and saw it was almost noon, which meant she now had little more than just half a dozen hours to find and destroy the Memory Stone, or she would forever be falsely remembered as the wanted criminal she had tried so hard to leave behind.
As Sunset closed the journal and placed it in her satchel, she walked over to the window and looked left towards the amusement park on the pier. From this distance, she couldn’t identify anyone down there, but she knew her friends were hanging out somewhere in that area today. As she thought back to all the good memories she had shared with them, it saddened her to realize that it had all been so easily taken away from her, and that there was a very real possibility that she may never get to experience any of that ever again.
Sunset could very well have spent the entire afternoon just staring out that window in a sullen mood, if not for something else she suddenly noticed. Coming down the road beside the pier were three police cars. Just one alone would normally not be a big deal, but three of them together was a sign that they were on a mission. She glanced over to the right and saw three more police cars coming up the road in the opposite lane. She watched as the two groups of police cars slowed down as they came together in front of the hotel, then turned into the front lot. It quickly dawned on her that there was only one reason why so many police cars were suddenly stopping right at this very building. They knew she was here!
It also quickly occurred to her that there was likely only one way the cops could’ve been tipped off that she was inside this hotel, so her expression quickly turned into a scowl as she tightly clenched her fists. She let out a long growl, then suddenly pounded the window and furiously hollered, “THAT FILTHY RAT!!”
With that sudden burst of rage now out of her system, Sunset shifted her thoughts to how she was going to escape. The cops would certainly start by setting up a perimeter around the building, so she knew she would have to move fast. She glanced around her room and quickly decided to not bother with packing any of her stuff, so she immediately walked out of her room, bringing only the contents of her satchel with her.
Now out in the hallway, Sunset next had to figure out how to get out of the building without any police officers noticing her presence. Being on the top floor gave her more time to think, but it also allowed more time for all of her potential exit routes to be cut off. The elevators would take her to the lobby, where some officers were certainly already present, so that option was out. She couldn’t use the stairs either, as it would take her so long to reach the ground floor that the police would definitely have every single exit covered by the time she got there. If she wanted to get out of this situation without much trouble, she was going to need a quick and unconventional means of escape.
As Sunset glanced around the hallway, her eyes eventually fell on a hatch in the wall. She rushed over to that hatch, opened it, and peered inside. She quickly realized that this was a laundry chute, which almost certainly dropped all the way down to the ground floor or possibly one of the basement floors. The hatch also happened to be big enough that she could slip inside. It seemed like just the kind of escape she was looking for, but there was no telling what would await her down at the very bottom of the chute. This option offer the lowest chance of being caught by the police, but it was also very highly risky in a number of other ways.
With time running out, Sunset reluctantly made her choice. She sighed and muttered, “This has gotta be the dumbest thing I’ve ever done…” She then swiftly climbed head-first into the hatch and pulled herself through.
Sunset was now falling head-first through the narrow chute, and the steep angle of it caused her descent to accelerate very rapidly. She struggled not to scream on the way down, in an effort to not alert anyone that someone was inside the laundry chute. Her very fast slide down soon came to a sudden end as she landed inside a full laundry cart, the momentum of her landing causing that cart to roll across the room until it bumped into the wall on the opposite side. The thankfully soft landing had been made possible by the contents of that cart, which consisted of all kinds of white laundry, from bedsheets to various… unmentionables.
After a few seconds of stillness and silence, much of that laundry was suddenly flung all over the room as Sunset immediately stood up and shrieked, “AAHHHHHH!! DIRTY UNDERWEAR!!” In her mad scramble to get out of the cart, she ended up tipping it over and falling out onto the floor. She swiftly stood back up, brushed off every single bit of laundry from herself, and shuddered quite loudly in disgust. After she was certain she was out of that horrific mess, she quickly took a few deep breaths to ease her panicked nerves.
Once Sunset eventually calmed back down, she refocused her thoughts back on her escape plan. She glanced around the laundry room and soon found a door with a bright orange “EXIT” sign directly above it. “Thank goodness for emergency exits,” she remarked as she rushed towards that door. She then stopped right in front of that door before she carefully opened it. She glanced left and right across the hallway outside, and once she confirmed the coast was clear, she rushed out down the hallway.
After running up a flight of stairs, Sunset reached another door marked with a bright orange “EXIT” sign. Again, she stopped in front of that door and carefully opened it, revealing that this door lead directly outside the building. As she glanced all around, she smiled as she not only confirmed there were no police officers to be seen, but also found the parking garage was close by. Without wasting another moment, she rushed out the door, ran towards the parking garage, jumped over the concrete barrier, and rushed straight towards her car as soon as she spotted it.
Meanwhile, Trixie was struggling to fit the car’s stereo back onto the dashboard. Once she was sure it was fitted well enough — not realizing she had placed it on upside down — she let go of it, only for it to fall off back to the floor of the car. She groaned in frustration, then slumped back in her seat. A few seconds later, she heard the rapid clacking of approaching footsteps, so she turned back and saw Sunset Shimmer running back towards the car. “Took you long enough,” grumbled Trixie.
“Can it, Trixie!” snapped Sunset as she hopped over the car door and landed into the driver’s seat. After taking a few seconds to catch her breath, she turned to Trixie and hastily explained, “I’ve got nothing but bad news. It turns out we’ve been on a time limit all along. If we don’t find and destroy that Memory Stone before the sun sets today, then all of those stolen memories about me will be permanently lost!”
Astonished by this shocking new information, Trixie immediately said, “Well then what are we waiting for? Start the car and let’s go!”
“That’s the other bad news,” continued Sunset sullenly. “The cops just arrived and are surrounding the area as we speak. I was very lucky to make it this far, but I seriously doubt we’ll be able to drive outta here without catching their attention.”
Trixie laughed and remarked, “Don’t be so quick to give up.” She then stood up, pulled her seat forward, and retrieved her magical staff from the hidden compartment. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has a trick up her sleeve.” She twirled the staff around and pointed it straight down, then unleashed a burst of magical energy directly into the car. The vehicle bounced once from the sudden surge of power, small sparks of energy danced across its surface, but once the energy faded after a few seconds, nothing seemed to have changed at all.
“Wow…” grumbled Sunset. “That did absolutely nothing.”
Trixie laughed again and quipped, “Oh, ye of little faith… Just take a look at us in the mirror.” She pointed her staff at a nearby round mirror that was mounted on one of the support columns of the parking garage.
Sunset glanced over at that mirror and what she saw made her raise both of her eyebrows. In the exact parking space where she knew they were parked, rather than a convertible red performance car, she instead saw a blue and white sedan with the word “POLICE” labeled on the doors and hood, and even had the lights and siren on the roof.
“That’s right!” proclaimed Trixie with a huge smile on her face as she put her staff back into the hidden compartment and sat back down in her seat. “To the outside observer, we are now driving a police cruiser! This will allow us to simply pass right through any checkpoints the cops may have set up, and they will never give us even a second thought! And until either of us climbs out of this vehicle, this illusion will never be broken!”
Sunset was momentarily speechless, but then took out the key to the car as she hesitantly said, “I’m not sure if this’ll work… but it’s not like I have any better ideas.” She started the engine, backed the vehicle out of its parking space, then drove it out of the parking garage and down the access road towards the main street.
As Sunset had suspected, the police had set up a checkpoint on the access road, even going so far as to lay down a spike strip across the full width of the pavement. The police officer posted here immediately noticed them, so he held up his hand at them. Sunset slowed the car down to a stop, her mind already racing through possible scenarios on how she would react once the officer walked up to the side of the car and discovered her in the driver’s seat.
Astonishingly, rather than approach the car, the officer ran across the road and began to roll up the spike strip. Once he had cleared the spike strip off the road, he then waved at the car to pass through.
Not bothering to question what she had just witnessed, Sunset obeyed the gesture and continued down the access road. Once they had cleared the checkpoint, Sunset glanced in the rearview mirror and saw the officer unfurl the spike strip back across the pavement. “I can’t believe that actually worked,” she admitted quietly.
“Now are you pleased with your decision to bring Trixie along?” asked Trixie smugly.
Sunset sighed and reluctantly said, “Okay, I’ll let you have this one minor victory.”
“And there shall be plenty more where that came from,” declared Trixie.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” muttered Sunset.
As Sunset turned the car right onto the main street, Trixie asked, “So where to next?”
“Back to Pappalardo’s,” answered Sunset. “Princess Twilight was able to find some useful information on where the Memory Stone might’ve been, so I’ll need to pass this information on to Vinnie and his guys if we’re gonna have any hope of finding it within the next few hours.”
With no time to lose, the two girls in their performance car disguised as a police cruiser quickly headed south towards the Fresco district.