It was late in the afternoon by the time Sunset and Starlight entered the city. But as they were driving, the streets were filled with people laughing, dancing, and drinking. Sunset had to continuously honk her horn so that people would let her pass. Eventually, Sunset managed to park in front of a nearby inn, and she and Starlight went in to find the place to be as crowded as the streets. The two of them looked at each other concerned before they walked over to a man behind the front desk. He was wearing a purple suit and had a dark orange mustache.
"Greetings, madames," the man said. "I am Monsieur Gustave. How can I help you?"
"Would you happen to have a two-story bedroom?" Sunset asked.
Gustave smiled and said, "You're in luck. We have one left."
"Well, that's a relief," Starlight said. "I was worried we'd have to sleep in our car or something."
"You probably wouldn't be the only ones," Gustave said. "It's incredible how much everyone is excited about the wedding."
The women looked at him, confused, and Sunset asked, "What wedding?"
Gustave gave Sunset a baffled look and said, "You're joking, right? I thought everyone was here for the wedding between Queen Adagio Dazzle and Prince Rough Draft."
At that moment, Sunset's heart stopped, and her pupils shrank. Starlight looked at her friend worryingly as the amber woman stood still like a statue. Gustave tilted his head as he looked at Sunset, finding her reaction to be strange. Starlight snapped her fingers in front of Sunset, and Sunset jumped and shook her head.
"Sorry," she said. "Why does the queen want to marry the prince?"
"I'm afraid I'm not entirely sure, madame," Gustave replied. "The two of them have never met up until a month ago, then suddenly the queen appears to be besotted by Prince Rough Draft. Next thing you know, the queen's officials have announced the wedding, and the whole country is going crazy over it. They say having the descendants of Queen Celesia and Queen Luna getting married will be the biggest moment in our history. That's why even foreigners are here to witness the occasion."
Sunset resisted the urge to show any anger in her face as she took in the information. Starlight glanced at her friend worryingly as Sunset's hands turned into balls of fists. But then Starlight glanced past her friend and noticed a gray bald man sitting on a chair over at the inn's lounge, pretending to be reading a newspaper. His eyes were fixed on the two women with a look in his eyes that made Starlight suspicious. Knowing that her friend was too focused on what might happen to the man she loved, Starlight cleared her throat and asked, "When's the wedding?"
"This Saturday night," Gustave answered.
"Saturday? But that's the whole week away," Starlight said. "Why is everyone celebrating this early?"
"Well, it's like I said. This wedding is going to be a big part of our history," Gustave replied. "As such, the town is holding a week-long festival to celebrate."
"I see," Starlight said. "In that case, we'll stay for five nights."
"Excellent, madame," Gustave replied with a smile.
With that, Starlight paid for the room, and Monsieur Gustave gave her a key. The purple woman then elbowed Sunset, snapping her out of her thoughts again, and they walked up the stairs. As they were going up the stairs, however, Starlight stopped and looked at the bald man, who folded his newspaper and left the building. The purple woman frowned before she caught up with Sunset, who unlocked the door to their room. Once they were both in and Sunset locked the door, her controlled demeanor turned into a fit of rage.
"Married?! She's planning to marry my Rough Draft?!" She growled. "I oughta rip her hair out for even thinking of that!"
"Easy, Sunset. Remember what I said about your emotions getting in the way," Starlight said calmly. "Don't forget the prince isn't 'your Rough Draft' anymore. You don't even know if he still feels that way about you."
"I know, but that doesn't stop me from being jealous," Sunset said. "Besides, this makes getting him out of there more important than ever if he also tried to escape to avoid marrying Queen Adagio."
"No argument there," Starlight said. "In any case, it looks like she wants both the prince and the ring. Either that or she's only marrying him to get the ring."
Sunset's look of fury turned into a look of realization. She raised her eyebrow and started pacing back and forth, deep in thought with her hands in her jacket pockets.
"I think you're right, Starlight," she said as she paced. "Monsieur Gustave did say that Rough Draft and the queen never met until recently, and then suddenly she's crazy about him, and they're engaged. If they get married, that would technically mean that the ring belongs to her."
"I guess that makes sense," Starlight said. "Though maybe she wants the prince to be her husband for political reasons too. If having the Celestial and Lunar families be reunited after centuries through marriage is as big of a deal as the town is making it, that would look good for her image. Heck, maybe she sincerely has the hots for him too."
Sunset stopped pacing and glared at her friend. Starlight waved her hands and said, "I'm just brainstorming, Sunset. I mean, you were talking about how cute your ex is, so I don't see why someone else wouldn't feel the same."
"If she does, then that just builds up my determination to get him out of there even more," Sunset said. "Rough Draft might not feel the way I still feel about him anymore, but I'd rather live with that than him getting married for his looks or someone's political image."
"I hear you," Starlight said. "Still, the only thing we know for sure is the queen wants the prince's ring. The question is, why? What makes it so essential that she would send guys in an armored car just for one ring?"
Sunset frowned and scratched her chin in thought as she said, "Good question, Starlight. It does seem strange to go all these lengths just for a ring. All Rough Draft told me about it was that it was passed down in his family for generations. I can't see Queen Adagio wanting the ring for any special reason unless…"
Sunset’s eyes widened, and she let out a sharp gasp. She reached into her pockets and took out Rough Draft’s ring and a monocular. Starlight watched curiously as Sunset inspected the ring with the small telescope. The amber woman studied it carefully until she saw ancient text surrounding the moon crest.
“There are letters in here,” she said. “Letters from the gothic alphabet.”
“Gothic alphabet? But that’s a dead language,” Starlight said. “Can you read it?”
“Yeah, I think I can,” Sunset replied. “It says, ‘When light and shadow are one once more, it shall surely be restored.’ There’s a date too. 1483.”
“1483? But that's over 500 years ago,” Starlight said.
“Not just that, but that’s roughly around the time the Celestial Family overpowered the Lunar family,” Sunset said.
Starlight hummed in thought and said, “I guess that means Prince Rough Draft’s ancestors made the ring after they lost their political power, huh?”
“It's possible,” Sunset said. “It’s strange, though. If light and shadow represent both families since they represent the sun and moon, respectively, it sounds like someone from that time wanted the families to be reunited someday."
"If that's so, then what's supposed to be restored?" Starlight asked. "Could it be that it's talking about restoring political power for the Lunar family? It was made when they lost their ability to rule the country. Maybe they were hoping that they'd get it back through marriage when relations between descendants are so distant that they could marry."
"Maybe," Sunset said. "But if that's true, then why is Queen Adagio the one forcing Rough Draft to marry her? It could be that she knows that there are inscriptions on it, but it seems a little too extreme to need to marry Rough Draft just for that. There has to be something else about Rough Draft's ring that's very important to her. Something that explains why she's taking all of these measures just to obtain the ring legally. Something that could be more valuable than any political or financial gain from the Horse Bills or marrying Rough Draft."
Sunset looked down and began pacing again, feeling more perplexed by the mystery. Starlight hummed, trying to brainstorm new theories until she remembered what she saw at the lounge.
"Speaking of which, there was something fishy while we were talking to Monsieur Gustave," she said. "There was this bald guy at the lounge who was acting suspiciously."
"How so?" Sunset asked, still pacing.
"He was pretending to be reading his newspaper when he was really looking at us," Starlight explained. "And he conveniently left the building while we were going upstairs."
Sunset stopped pacing and turned to her friend with a raised eyebrow.
"That does sound fishy," she agreed.
"Do you think he's a spy for the queen or something?" Starlight asked.
Sunset turned to the bedroom window where Castle Everfree could be seen with a suspicious glare and said, "Yes. It sounds like he was a spy. They know we're here, and they know we have the ring."
***********************************************************************************************
Later that night, the festival ended for the day. The moonlight was shining on the city, showing no soul outside on the streets. Some of the tourists were forced to sleep in their cars, just as Monsieur Gustave predicted. Others had camps set up in the grass outside of the city walls. Nothing but the sound of crickets in the distance was heard.
But up in the rooftops, six shadowy figures were jumping from building to building. They were clothed in black suits that covered their bodies from head to toe, hiding their faces. They wore iron gauntlets with pointy edges on the tip of their fingers, and they hunched as they moved, making them look like apes moving from tree to tree. Their movements were as quiet as a whisper as they made their way to the roof of Monsieur Gustave's inn.
The smallest of the shadows walked over to the skyline and carefully cut around it with its pointy fingers. It slowly removed the glass from the frame before the group jumped into a two-person bedroom. The shadowy figures scanned the area until they saw two lumps lying down on the beds. The blankets completely covered the bumps, and a loud snore could be heard from the bed on the left.
The shadowy figures looked at each other and nodded before they divided into groups of three and surrounded the beds. They straightened their hands so that the points in their fingers were aligned, and held them up for a moment before they started jabbing at the beds. The sound of iron bursting through the mattresses was heard as the group stabbed relentlessly.
When the figures were done, they checked to ensure there was no movement under the bed covers. They turned around to leave, satisfied with their work until they realized that there was still snoring coming from the bed on the left. The figures looked at each other in confusion before the one closest to the bed pulled the blanket to reveal a pile of torn pillows and a soundbox. The figures stared in shock before they removed the blanket from the other bed to find nothing but torn pillows.
The intruders looked at each other, unsure of what was going on. Then the smallest one noticed a medieval shield hanging on the wall. Behind the shield were parts of the wall that showed the shapes of an ax and a mace. The small figure's eyes widened before hearing the sound of two women yelling and charging into battle.
Sunset swung her mace at the figure closest to her, but the mysterious figure turned around just in time to block the weapon with its iron hand. The figure then made a jab for her head with its other hand, and she moved her head back just in time. The figure continued to jab at her while the figures closest to it joined the fight, forcing Sunset back.
Starlight didn't fare better as blades came from the side of the gauntlets from the figure she was attacking, and it used the edges to block her ax. It took a swing at her with one of its blades, and Starlight countered it before she took out her magnum. She fired the pistol at her opponent and then fired at its companions with a cocky grin. The bullets forced the figures to move back, but they were otherwise unfazed by Starlight's attack. The purple woman looked at them, confused until she saw metal behind the torn cloth where she shot her enemies.
"Seriously? They have bulletproof armor? That's just unfair," she complained.
Two more of the figures took out blades from their gauntlets as they ganged up on the thieves. Sunset and Starlight struggled to hold their ground as their enemies kept them on the defense. Before long, they were being forced back as the figures jabbed, clawed, and sliced at them.
"Looks like they were more prepared than we thought," Sunset said while dodging claws left and right. "Time for plan B."
"You got it, boss," Starlight said.
Sunset and Starlight jumped back before their opponents could attack again and quickly took out sunglasses from their jackets. They threw their weapons at the figures, distracting them long enough for Sunset to take out a flash bomb and a match. Before the attackers knew it, the amber woman had lit the bomb and thrust it into the ground, exploding in a blinding flash. The figures covered their eyes, while Sunset and Starlight burst through the two-story window and landed on top of their car below.
They quickly got inside the car through the sunroof, and Sunset turned on the ignition. The red slugs bug's engine stalled for a moment before it sputtered to life, and Sunset slammed on the gas pedal. But then, two figures recovered from the blast, jumped out the window and landed on top of the car.
"Oh, for Pete's sake! Knock it off!" Starlight growled.
She took a wrench from the back, opened the sunroof, stood up from her seat, and started hitting one of the attackers in the head repeatedly. The wrench didn't affect the figure's helmet, but it was all Starlight could do to keep it from attacking. The second figure crawled to the left side of the car and thrust its arm through the driver's window. It grabbed the driving wheel with its other hand and tried to force the car to spin out of control. Sunset struggled to keep control of the wheel until she moved the wheel left, making the car move close to the wall and start crushing the figure between the car and the wall. The enemy struggled until it let go of the car, the gauntlet grasping the wheel slipping out of its hand.
Starlight continued to hit her opponent with the wrench in vain as it held on to the roof. Then she noticed holes on the figure's helmet for its eyes, and she grinned and took out her gun again.
"Block this!" She shouted before putting a bullet through the person's eye.
The attacker's body went limp, and Starlight pulled its claws out of the car, causing the figure to fall off. The purple woman sat back down on her seat while Sunset removed the gauntlet holding the wheel.
"Gotta say, Sunset, this job is getting more and more exciting," Starlight said. "That said, having the ring might not be as big of an advantage as we thought."
"I agree," Sunset said. "Those guys were professional assassins. We're lucky that we got rid of them."
"So, what do we do now?" Starlight asked.
"First, we're going back to the Castle of Luna and hide there," Sunset said. "Then, we're going to make a call for equipment necessary for rescuing Rough Draft and dealing with anything Queen Adagio throws at us."
"Good idea," Starlight said. "Plus, they have no idea who they're messing with, which gives us an advantage."
"Uh, that's not entirely true," Sunset said.
"What do you mean?" Starlight asked.
Sunset looked away hesitantly and said, "I might have left a message on one of those guys reveals who I am to the queen."
Starlight raised her eyebrow suspiciously and asked, "What kind of message?"
Sunset paused for a moment, struggling to find the right response and she said, "Call it a declaration of war."
**********************************************************************************************
Meanwhile, back at Castle Everfree, Queen Adagio was in her office with one of her butlers. She was examining the latest prints of fake money through a large magnifying glass installed on her desk. The butler stood in front of the queen's desk, struggling to hide his unease with a professional look. Finally, Adagio put the bills down and moved the magnifying glass away from her to glare at the butler.
"These bills are horrendous," she said. "The printing is poorly aligned, the red and blue marks are in the wrong places, and you mixed the numbers with the ones for Mt. Aris doubloons. This is amateurish work."
"I apologize, Your Excellency," the butler said with a bow. "With all the orders we've received, it's hard to print everything in such a short amount of time."
"I don't want to hear your excuses," Adagio snarled. "You will do them again and have all of them ready for delivery on time."
The butler fought the urge to ask the queen to be reasonable before bowing again and saying, "Yes, Your Grace" before leaving the office with his head hung low. Adagio groaned as she shut her eyes, and rubbed the area between her eyes, irritated.
"First, Rough Draft tries to escape, his ring is gone, and now this," she grumbled.
Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Adagio commanded, "Enter" with her eyes still shut. The door opened to reveal one of the short shadowy figures entering the room with a straight posture. The figure took off its helmet to reveal itself to be Cozy Glow.
"Your Highness," she greeted with a bow.
Adagio opened her eyes and said, "Cozy Glow, you better have good news for me."
"I'm afraid not, Your Majesty," Cozy Glow said sadly. "I took five of my best Shadows with me, but the foreigners escaped."
"What?!" Adagio screamed, standing up from her chair. "How could two women escape with five of your deadliest assassins with you?"
"The women were smarter than we anticipated, My Queen," Cozy Glow replied. "They even severely injured one of my Shadows with their car and killed another by shooting him through the eye hole on his helmet."
Adagio raised her eyebrow and said, "Strange. First, they took down one of our armored cars and figured out how to kill one of your Shadows despite their impenetrable armor. Who are these women, and what is their agenda?"
"I will use all of my resources to find out, Your Highness," Cozy Glow claimed with another bow.
"See that you do," Adagio commanded. "I don't want to hear from you again until the ring is -"
Adagio stopped herself in mid-sentence and tilted her head. Cozy Glow lifted her head while still bowing, wondering why Adagio stopped talking.
"Cozy Glow, what's that stuck to your back?" Adagio asked.
The teenage maid stared at the queen, confused before she stood up and reached behind her back. She felt a piece of paper taped to her back, and she took it out, shocked that it was there without her noticing.
"It's a message for you, My Queen," she said.
"Read it," Adagio commanded.
Cozy Glow hesitated before she read out loud, "'I'm going to steal your groom away, Queen of the Horse Bills. You may use all you have to stop me, but no matter what you do Prince Rough Draft will be mine.'"
Adagio raised her eyebrow and asked, "Is that all?"
"No. There's a symbol at the bottom. I think it's one of the women's cutie marks," Cozy Glow replied.
"Let me see it," Adagio commanded.
The young maid walked over to the desk and handed the note to the queen. Adagio looked at it carefully until she saw a red and yellow sun at the bottom. She raised her eyebrow again as an amused smirk entered her face.
"Interesting," she said as she sat back down on her chair. "Who would have thought Sunset Shimmer of all people would be here?"
"You know this person, Your Highness?" Cozy Glow asked.
"I've heard of her," Adagio answered. "She's an incredibly skilled thief who has stolen countless money and other riches across various countries. Word is she recently robbed that idiot, Gladmane, in one of his casinos in Yakyakistan, which might explain how she knows about our secret."
"Do you think she's going to try something to our counterfeit operations?" Cozy Glow asked.
"I wouldn't rule out the possibility," Adagio said.
"You think she knows why you need the ring?" The maid asked.
"It's unlikely. No one outside of this castle knows about the mystery," Adagio said.
"Then she might use the prince and the ring against you for the counterfeit operation," Cozy Glow said.
Adagio frowned and said, "Maybe, but the note said she's going to make Rough Draft hers. That implies that she intends to keep him rather than use him against me."
"Why would she do that? You said she steals money and other sorts of riches, and the prince has no money left to his family's name," Cozy Glow said. "He possesses little value to a thief."
"True. If Sunset Shimmer is after him and not the counterfeit money or the secret behind the rings, then there's little reason for her to kidnap him," Adagio said. "Rough Draft is more valuable to me than some thief."
"At least until you get the ring, anyway," Cozy Glow said.
Adagio raised her eyebrow and asked, "Now, Cozy Glow, do you think I'm going to getting rid of Rough Draft after I've used the rings?"
"Er, well, he certainly wouldn’t be the first person you've taken care of after they have outlived their usefulness, Your Excellency," Cozy Glow said.
"Granted, but even if I wanted to dispose of him, it would be bad for publicity," Adagio said. "After all, my subjects are thrilled that the Celestial and Lunar families are going to be reunited as one. It would be suspicious if the last descendant of the less powerful family were to disappear after marrying the ruler of the land."
"That's true," Cozy Glow admitted.
"Besides, what's wrong with having a husband for the rest of my life?" Adagio challenged with a devilish smirk. "I have no desire to share my political power with Rough Draft, but he's a nice-looking man, and I will need him to produce an heir eventually."
"Touché, Your Majesty," Cozy Glow said. "Still, why does Sunset Shimmer want the prince?"
"I think it hardly matters," Adagio said as she lifted her hand to look at the golden ring on her finger. "Sunset Shimmer was stupid to reveal that she's here and what she wants from me. Now I know what to protect the most while the wedding is still days away, and more than likely, she will have the ring with her. No thief, however cunning and resourceful, can sneak their way to my castle and live. All we have to do is wait for her to come to us, and I will take the ring from her corpse."
Cozy Glow grinned, silently agreeing with her queen. Unknown to either of them, however, a pair of vivid cornflower blue eyes were watching through the eyeholes of a painting hanging on the wall next to Adagio’s desk. From the other side, the grayish amber security man took the information he had just heard with a perplexed look. He stepped away from his hiding spot on the other side of the wall and walked down the halls to an empty, dark room, making sure that no one was around. Once he knew that the coast was clear, he took out his walkie talkie, adjusted the radio frequency, and held the device close to his mouth.
“Canterlot 4 to base. Canterlot 4 to base. This is Agent Flash Sentry. Do you copy?” he asked.
“This is Commander Harshwhinny, Agent Sentry. I read you,” said a stern female voice. “Report.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Flash Sentry said. “I have been checking all the files that are hidden in various areas of the castle, but nothing reveals where the printing presses are. If I had to guess, it’s likely hidden somewhere underground, but I can’t say for sure.”
“Find those presses, Sentry,” Harshwhinny commanded. “Chancellor Neighsay is still breathing down my neck, trying to stop his investigation. I won’t fail to have the Everfree government found out just because that imbecile won’t see to reason.”
“Yes, Commander,” Flash said. “There are also a couple of new developments in the investigation that I think you should know about.”
“And that is?” Harshwhinny asked.
“The prince tried to escape earlier today,” Flash said. “He snuck out of the tailor shop where he was being fitted for his wedding tux. The queen’s men brought him back, but his family ring was not with him.”
“What? What happened to it?” Harshwhinny asked.
“Well, that’s where the second development comes in,” Sentry said. “Sunset Shimmer has it.”
“Sunset Shimmer? What the devil is that woman doing here in Everfree?” Harshwhinny asked.
“Unclear, Commander,” Flash replied. “The queen sent her assassins to kill her and another woman, most likely her colleague, Starlight Glimmer, but they escaped and attached a note to one of the assassins for the queen to read. It said that she is going to kidnap the prince.”
“Ah. I suppose she somehow knows about the counterfeit money and hopes she could hold the prince and his ring for ransom,” Harshwhinny said. “That’s plucky, even for her.”
“Actually, Commander, while she has established that she knows about the Horse Bills, it doesn’t sound like she wants the operation,” Flash said. “If anything, the message made it sound like she just wants the prince.”
The walkie talkie was silent for several seconds before Harshwhinny asked, “Are you sure? That doesn’t sound like your ex’s m.o., Sentry.”
“I agree, ma’am, but that’s the impression it left on the queen,” Flash said.
“And do you really think Shimmer is only here just for the prince?” Harshwhinny asked.
“Honestly, Commander, I can’t give you a definitive answer,” Flash said. “Between the queen's strange obsession for the rings and Sunset Shimmer suddenly in the picture, there are so many things that don't make sense. The only clear thing is Prince Rough Draft doesn't want to marry Queen Adagio, and she's going to do everything in her power to make sure he does."
The walkie talkie was silent again. Even though he couldn't see her, Flash knew his commander well enough to know that Harshwhinny was frustrated with the lack of factual information he had to give her. He waited for about a minute before Harshwhinny said, "Alright. If you find out anything else about Sunset Shimmer or Queen Adagio Dazzle's plan, contact me again. Until then, keep all of your attention on discovering the counterfeit operation. That is still your primary objective."
"Understood, Commander," Flash replied. "Over and out."
Flash turned off his walkie talkie and carefully opened the door to check if there was anyone out in the hall. Once he was sure that the coast was clear, he exited the room and began making his way back to his post in front of Rough Draft's room. He had a perplexed look on his face again and put his hand on his chin as he walked.
"What is your game, Sunset?" He muttered.