“…and let’s not forget, we have a very special meeting scheduled today with the national news! So remember to be on your best behavior today here at Crystalline Perfumes,” Ms. List said cheerfully into the intercom.
With her message done, she flipped the intercom switch off, and all aspects of joy she had before were thrown out the top floor window of the fifty story skyscraper her office was in.
Ms. List was the CEO of the largest perfume and beauty products company across the globe. Naturally, a perk of such a position meant she herself was quite immaculate. She was quite a vision with well-groomed cobalt blue hair, pristine forest green skin, and lime green eyes. This was matched with a well pressed, tailored pitch-black suit that looked and felt like silk, though it felt more like stiff cardboard when being worn.
Her office, by contrast, was as stark and bland as they came. If the walls got any grayer, it would start leeching the color out of anyone who entered. The lighting from the fixtures above also helped with that. Somehow they managed to emit a glowing light so pale everyone who basked in its glory looked like a corpse of themselves.
The charcoal desk didn’t even hold a paperweight to its name, all it contained on its reflective surface was the telephone and a desk nameplate. The only other décor in the room was a loudly ticking clock, a portrait painting of herself, and a lava lamp on a shelf just below.
Utterly alone, List dropped her head into her hands and started to grumble out of frustration, “I gave him one job, and they—” The phone buzzed. She answered it, and calmly said, “Yes?”
“Ms. List, your intercom is still on.” The head secretary said on the other side of the line.
“What?!” She flipped the switch again. “There, I could have sworn that I—”
“It’s still on,”
Ms. List looked at the switch, and it was back in the on position. This time, she held it down. “How about now?” she said, irritation starting to slip its way into her joyous words.
“Better, and just so you’re aware the press just walked in, should I send them up?”
“Why are you asking me?” Ms. List lifted her finger from the switch, “Send them up here immediately!”
“Do I need to also send IT to fix your intercom as well, mam?” The head secretary said in a slightly raised voice, sounding nervous.
The switch was once again on, She jammed her finger down on the switch and replied, “Yes.” The word squished itself through her clenched teeth like jelly, clearly stating her level of annoyance, “If you would. Please.” Ending with a venomous remark.
A moment later, the door to Ms. List’s office opened, and her friendly mask returned.
“Hi, sorry about the technical…”
It wasn’t the press or an IT. It was an enormous man, who looked like he had to duck under the door frame and come in sideways to fit, but somehow, he managed to avoid doing that. When he stood in the room, the black trench coat he wore made him look bigger than the door.
How did he get here without being noticed?
Ms. List gave a smug grin and released her hold on the intercom. “Security, you’re needed in my office. We have an intruder.” Talk about too easy.
“Faulty set up?” Riot said unperturbed by the fact security was on its way.
Her smile faded, He knows something. Ms. List turned off the dysfunctional intercom, knowing full well something incriminating might be said if she wasn’t careful.
“Who are you, and why are you here?”
He gave Ms. list a hard glance, one she could feel through his sunglasses. “Are your informants really that incompetent? You sent Tirek to hunt down the magic users, didn’t you?”
Riot started walking towards the portrait. “You should’ve known by now that I’m the one who stopped him.” He stopped in front of the painting and placed his hand on the glass of the lava lamp.
Ms. List immediately jumped out of her seat and yelled, “Hands off!”
“Intercom.” Riot said in an alarmingly calm tone.
Realization crashed like a tidal wave on Ms. List. It wasn’t by chance her intercom decided to act up now, this man wasn’t just randomly grabbing any object. He already knew, and if she tried to stand in his way, he would talk, and the press would overhear. If she just stood there holding the switch down, he could go anywhere and grab anything he wanted.
Between the two choices, she chose to not allow the press to eavesdrop and slammed the switch down. When she turned to look back at Riot, he had finished rotating the glass unlocking the secret compartment behind the large painting, inside were rows and rows of vials.
How? Miss List was the only one who knew the combination. “You’re not going to get away with this!” Ms. List hissed.
Riot said nothing as he took one vial and placed it into a pocket before closing the secret door, and began to leave.
List looked ready to act when she felt something brush against her finger. When she looked, there was a small metallic bead that catapulted itself onto Riot’s shoulder. She tediously lifted her finger, and the intercom switch didn’t move.
Ms. List rushed after Riot and entered the hall.
“Give that back!”
“What’s going on?” She looked at the origin of the voice and saw the press standing there.
Removing his shades, Riot turned around and said, “I have a single item that I took from her.” He then locked eyes with Ms. List. Without the extra barrier, his intimidating gaze felt like a mental blow to her psyche. It was at that moment she knew she was staring into the cold yet fiery eyes of a natural born killer, a fearless predator looking at its next meal.
His eyes gradually drifted to the various press standing nearby, cameras and microphones at the ready. A telltale hint of a smirk seemingly formed on his mouth. “If you would like, I can return it to you right here, right now.”
Ms. List raised a fist to clear her throat, which had suddenly gone dry, and found that she was mildly shaking. Regardless, she still managed a calm response, “Yes, I would very much appreciate it if you did.”
Riot reached into his coat and pulled out a handful of vials. “Care to tell me which one it was and what it does, we wouldn’t want a mix-up to happen now would we.” He picked one up and read the label, “Was it formula J33-57E Rose Dew scent enhancement?”
Miss. List felt her entire body shake as she fought to maintain her composure. He’s blackmailing me… in front of the press? She quickly fought back a vicious remark and calmly tried to shoo him away. “Just keep It’s yours. I have plenty anyway.”
“Okay, then.” He returned the bundle of vials to his pocket. “In that case, I’ll take my leave. Good day.” Putting his shades back on, Riot turned around and entered the elevator.
The reporter exchanged glances between the two figures. “Is this a bad time?”
“No! No, uh, please just wait in my office for a moment. I need to make a quick call, then I’ll be right with you.” Ms. List forcefully shoved the news crew into her office and slammed the door. She then got her phone out and hit a speed dial number.
It rang twice to her annoyance before it was answered, “Yes, my queen?” said a shrill raspy voice that sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
“My office—” she quickly lowered her voice. “Was just broken into. I need you to follow them and retrieve the vial they took.”
“Not to question your security, but I doubt that they just waltzed in, grabbed it, and waltzed out. What do I need to be ready for?”
“It doesn’t matter how he got it!” She said in a harsh whisper. “He’s still in the building going down the elevator. When he leaves, follow him and do your job…” Ms. List smiled knowingly as a thought popped into her head, “I believe there was someone who wanted one last chance to prove themselves? Bring him along and show him how it’s done.”
Ms. List hung up and took a deep breath before releasing it, still slightly shaken by what she saw in him. Regardless, she kept her composure, entered her office, and greeted herself, “I am so sorry to keep you waiting, I’m glad you could make it. You probably know who I am already, but allow me to introduce myself anyway, my name is Crystal List.”
“No… No no… NO, STOP!! AH!” Sunset awoke in a panic, wildly flailing for a moment as she tried to catch her breath. Her heart was racing as she scanned her surroundings. She was against the wall of a hospital room. There was a sink on the wall in front of her, a window to her left, and a door to her right. On the wall she was clinging to, was a door to the bathroom. All of her friends were there with worried looks on their faces.
“Easy there. Yer safe here, Nuttn bad’s gonna happen to ya. I promise,” Applejack said reassuringly. “And, I’m really sorry bout what ah did earlier.”
Sunset’s breathing slowed down as she lowered herself down the wall she backed herself into. “Wha— what happened? Ho— How did I get here?”
Her friends looked at each other before Twilight answered, “Why don’t we start with the last thing you remember?”
Sunset tried to think back to the last memory she had. “I… I remember the mall. We were looking for— Tirek! He came and… Sir E fought…” Her memories were coming back piece by piece. “Then Riot stepped in and… Afterward, I wanted to ask him about… and he… he.” The color drained from her face. All of the memories she saw through his eyes came flooding back to her.
She placed a hand over her mouth before making a mad dash for the bathroom. Sadly, despite hoping she would make it to the toilet in time, she only got as far as the sink before she puked and continued to retch even after there was nothing. Eventually, she slumped over, fell to the floor, went into the fetal position, and started bawling. The transition of her demeanor was flawless.
Nobody knew how to react to this strange behavior, but it wasn’t going to stop them from reaching out to help in any way they could. Fluttershy crouched down in front of Sunset and started rubbing her back in a comforting way.
“Go away,” Sunset choked out past her sobbing while wiping away tears and snot.
Fluttershy shook her head and stayed, “Friends help ea—”
“I SAID, GO AWAY!!!” Sunset stood up, aggressively grabbed Fluttershy, and shoved her out of the bathroom. Her friend tripped over her own feet, fell backward, and landed on the floor with a hard smack to the head.
While her other friends were stunned, Sunset slammed the door closed and locked it. More crying followed as they heard her slide down the door back to the floor.
Now angry, Rainbow tried the door, confirming that it was locked. “Sunset! Get out here and apologize to Fluttershy!”
“Leave. Me. ALONE!!” Sunset screamed behind the door between her wailing. “You don’t understand! *sniff* You could NEVER understand!”
“We’re your friends, dear.” Rarity said, “You can tell us anything. But, it would be nice if you did stop screaming and started with an apology to Fluttershy.”
“It’s okay girls, really.” Fluttershy said as Twilight helped her up, “I’m not that…” she lost her balance and grabbed the side of the hospital bed. “Not that hurt. Just… Phew, just a little dizzy, is all.”
Pinkie quickly grabbed a chair for her to sit.
“Rainbow, move over.” Applejack said as she approached the door. “Sunset, we can do this the easy way, where ya come out and talk to us, or we can do this the hard way. Now, the hard way is where I rip this door off its hinges and drag you out here so we can talk. What’ll it be?”
She and the others waited for a response, but none came. “Okay, hard way it is then.”
With a crack of the knuckles and shrug of the shoulders, she advanced on the door. “Yall better step back, I don’t wanna hurt none of ya by accident. That goes for you too, Sunset!” A whimpering mumble was heard from behind the door. “Suit yerself. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya, because I did.” Applejack grabbed the crack between the door and the frame and pulled.
Nothing happened.
“What in tarnation?” She tried pulling again but to no avail. She gave the door a hard punch, but all that did was make her hand sting. Irritated, Applejack began kicking it with no success, then resorting to a shoulder charge. Yet despite all her efforts, the metal door refused to budge.
“What the heck’s gon’ on here? How come I can’t…” she looked at her necklace and saw the blackened gem. “You don’t reckon that it’s got somthin’ ta do with them bullets Tirek used do ya?”
“Let me try,” Twilight said as she stepped towards the door. She activated her magic to unlock it from the other side. It seemed to work at first, only for the magical aura to fizzle out and die.
“Huh?” She tried again, and the same thing happened. After a few more experimental tries, she decided to stop. “Ugh, forget it! Sunset, this can’t go on forever, you’ll have to come out eventually and—”
To their surprise, Sunset unlocked the door and threw it open. Every inch of her body language showed pure rage.
“Do you know… the last thing Riot said to me!?” She said with a stomp of her foot. Everyone was too afraid to answer. “He said: ‘friendship fix this.’” She jammed her finger in Twilight’s direction, “Well, guess what! THAT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!” she said, punching the door frame.
“I thought that I could help him the same way you helped me, the way you’re trying to help me now!” She brought a hand to her face sounding like she was on the verge of crying again. “But, you know what? He was right. After I read his memories, I can’t believe just how idiotic I was!”
Despite the tears starting to form, her tone turned wrathful. “I can tell you every last stupid word that would describe what I saw down to the t! but that is nothing, NOTHING compared to how I feel!”
Sunset was heaving after her rant, tears streaming down her cheeks, all the while nobody spoke.
Rainbow broke the tension, “How you feel, or do you mean how Riot feels?” She was suddenly glad she was in the hospital because the look Sunset delivered nearly gave her a heart attack.
“Get out!” Sunset hissed, “Get out. Get out! GET OUT! GET! OUT!” Once she forced everyone out into the hallway, she slammed the door shut and crammed the chair under the doorknob. She then started pounding the door with every howling word so hard that her wrist would be bruised later. “I! DON’T! WANT! YOU!” to leave…
Her rage finally starting to cool, she melted to the ground and turned into a sobbing mess. Please don’t go… make it stop… don’t leave me... come back... make it stop…make it stop.
As if that will ever happen. The second voice in her head added.
Out in the hallway stood six dumbfounded girls, wondering how things turned sour so quickly. A medical assistant was hastily approaching them, responding to the rise in commotion.
“What’s going on?” she said with a concerned tone.
“I think she just locked us out, by putting a chair against the door,” Twilight answered, trying to use what little magic she could to push the chair out of the way to no avail.
“Maybe you should come back later, at least until after things settle back down.” The medical assistant said before she began trying to convince Sunset to let her in.
Twilight gave up trying to move the chair. “You’re probably right. We’ll swing by later and see how she’s doing when she’s cooled down a bit.”
Feeling defeated, the six girls started to leave, footsteps echoing in the hall as they walked to the elevator, all their thoughts focused on the recent events from just moments ago.
“This don’t make a lick a sense,” Applejack said as they walked. “It ain’t like Sunset to be actn’ this way.”
“It totally makes sense,” Rainbow interrupted, waving her arms as she spoke to exaggerate her words. “Didn’t you hear what she said? She read Riot’s mind. That obviously means it’s his memories that are making her act the way she is.”
At the mention of his name, the young athlete made a disgusted face. “Riot, ugh just saying his name gives me the shivers. What is with that guy anyway? It’s like he found out somebody peed in his cereal after he ate it, and now everyone is on his hit list.”
The image of him nearly killing her still fresh in her memory and would most likely haunt her for years to come. Rainbow tried to hide the fact that her hand had begun trembling again.
“You’re just sayin’ that because ya did somethin’ stupid.” Applejack blatantly laid out.
“Okay, maybe I am, but that won’t change the fact that he still almost killed me twice in less than half a second. There’s obviously something wrong with that guy.” Rainbow pulled her arms close to her stomach as a tremble rippled through her body.
They were now in front of the elevator, Pinkie pushed the button, then pressed it again only to listen to the satisfying ding it made.
As they waited for the doors to open, Twilight added her thoughts to the conversation. “I get what you’re saying. But what I really want to know is, how is it that Riot seems to be more… uh, don’t get the wrong idea but for lack of a better word… sane? And Sunset, at the moment, is not?”
“Oh, oh-oh, pick me, pick me, me, me, me, me.” Pinkie stopped repeatedly pressing the elevator button to excitedly raise her hand.
Humoring her, Twilight gestured to Pinkie, giving her permission to speak. “I say he is a robot from the future, sent to the past on a mission to stop the human resistance leader from ever being born. Or maybe he was reprogrammed by the leader of the human resistance and sent back to protect his younger self by the other robot sent after the first one failed,” she said, looking like she was about ready to win a grand prize.
Naturally, it was normal for them all to hear outrageous claims from their hyperactive friend, and in her defense, she had a reputation for being right well over half of the time. That being said, she didn’t have a perfect streak.
“Pinkie,” Twilight rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Logically speaking, Sunset’s magic only works on living beings. Otherwise, she would be reading the mind of her toaster every time she used it. I doubt he’s a time-traveling robot.”
“Well, I think he is. I mean, have you seen his expression? It has ‘Killer Robot’ written all over it.” Pinkie proceeded to move in a mechanical way, complete with whirling engine sounds and mechanized clunking as if she had spontaneously swapped souls with a piece of industrial machinery.
She pulled her shoulders back, looked straight forward, and put her elbows at ninety degrees and spoke in an electronic monotone voice, “All humans must be destroyed.”
Continuing her little act, she moved her arm around as she made shooting motions. “Pew… Pew… Pew… laser beam BZZZZ,” Pinkie imitated a shoulder-mounted rocket’s action and made the sound of it being fired and exploding.
As Pinkie continued her imaginative human annihilation, Rarity joined the conversation, “If only we could really understand what she was going through… or rather, in this case, what Riot was going through.” She said. “But if she wasn’t willing to tell us, then what are the odds that he would?... Or maybe…”
A thought began to form in her head. As much as she didn’t like it, all the other alternatives were borderline impossible compared to what she was thinking. “I think I have an idea, but don’t get your hopes up just yet, just give me one moment.” Rarity pulled out her phone and began texting.
“Just as long as it doesn’t involve beating it out of him,” Rainbow firmly stated. “Because I swear, I am a hundred and twenty percent sure that guy can tear a tank apart with his teeth,” Rainbow said, pointing at her own teeth with both hands for emphasis.
Their discussion was quickly interrupted as the elevator doors opened, revealing two men as large as Bulk Biceps but not quite half as muscular. One had dark green skin with black hair, while the other was light blue-gray with white hair, and both were wearing a plain uniform. Their size, sudden appearance, and nearly identical intimidating image excluding skin and hair color took the girls for surprise startling them.
The green one tilted his head down and looked at the girls. He gave a surface level smile and reached out his hand. “Greetings, my name is Al, this is Sent. We are here representing the insurance provided by Sir E and are tasked to protect the patient named Sunset Shimmer from harm.”
Sent’s focus was on the group of hospital staff attempting to open the door to Sunset’s room. He pushed past Twilight and Applejack, gliding his way down the hall, moving like he was in an autonomous trance. Curiously, his footsteps were way too quiet for a man of his size.
Rainbow hesitantly shook Al’s hand, it felt strong, stiff, and cold, “Hi~, I’m—”
“Rainbow Dash. Yes, nice to meet you.” The elevator door began to close but they bumped into Al who didn’t seem to notice.
Rainbow gave him an odd look as he moved his eyes to Rarity, who was still occupied with texting someone. He offered his hand to her. “And you are?”
She took his and said, “My name’s—”
“Rarity. Yes, of course.”
Al turned to Fluttershy. She said nothing as she took his hand, “Fluttershy, yes, it is nice to meet…” Al’s smile dropped, and he pulled her closer to him, causing her to yelp. He forced her eyelid to stay open with his thumb and pointer finger and stared into her eye.
When he spoke again, it was informative and direct, like he was giving a mission report to a commanding officer, “Head trauma, mild concussion, and swelling, no internal bleeding to the brain detected…” Al let her go, and his somewhat forced smile returned. “Yes, you should be fine.” He looked at Pinkie Pie and extended his hand to her.
“Who might you be?” He said as she took his hand.
“Take me to your leader,” she said, still using her robot voice.
“Pinkie Pie, yes, it is my pleasure meeting you as well.” He said, completely oblivious to her strange behavior.
By now, Twilight was beginning to see a pattern. There was a theory that she wanted to test for the sake of her curiosity. “What’s my name?” She asked when Al turned to her, not taking his hand quite yet.
Al stood frozen in place, very subtly, his eyes shifted to look down the hall, Twilight looked in the same direction just in time to see Sent turning away and back to the doctors. She turned around, seeing Al in the same pose as before but now looking back at her. Once again the doors of the elevator bumped into him.
“I presume you’re Twilight Sparkle, yes?” he said, finishing with a toothy, minutely unsettling grin.
Twilight hesitated to take his hand. “Okay…”
“Yes, Twilight, Pleasure to meet you.” Al turned the last of the gang, “And if I am not mistaken, you must be Applejack, yes?”
“Uh… Hi.” Applejack decided to wave at him instead of shaking his hand. Al’s smile sagged as hints of a menacing look began to surface. He brought his hand closer to her, making it clear she was going to shake his hand, whether she wanted to or not.
Applejack looked at his hand, then back at Al, “Afternoon.” She took Al’s hand with a nervous smile, and his intimidating look evaporated.
“Yes, this afternoon is indeed good, Applejack, now if you’ll excuse us, we have important business to attend to.” Just like his counterpart, Al noiselessly glided down the hall.
Wordlessly everyone filed into the elevator and waited for the doors to close. As they did, they watched Sent knock on Sunset’s room door.
“Okay Sunset, I’m going to be opening the door now, okay?”
He proceeded to easily open the door, making it look like an accident regardless of the crunching sound the chair made from being destroyed.
With the Elevator doors now shut, Rainbow felt safer to speak her mind. “Ever heard of too nice?”
“Not my choice of words, but you hit the nail right on the head. Somethin’ doesn’t quite line up with them fellers, and I don’t know if I like it or not,” Applejack agreed. “Yall saw the way he threatened me ta shake his hand, right?… Who even does that?”
Rarity had gotten off her phone and put it away before saying, “Okay, so I just finished making arrangements with Sir E.”
Seeing the surprised looks from her friends, she went straight to the point. “He did say it was an accident, and I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he was being apologetic for what happened. But when all is said and done, can you think of who better to ask about what Riot showed Sunset than him?”
It was a fair point, seeing as Sir E was one of, if not, the only other person who knew anything about Riot. In silence, they all unanimously agreed that talking to him was, at this moment, the best course of action.