Every joint in Sunset popped loudly as she stretched. Shoulders, back and limbs all cracked in sync with one another from the days spent sitting and sleeping on the bus seat. She's finally here after all this time. Stepping off the bus, she can see that she is next to the shuttle bus station. 8 hours before she need to report, but she do not know where she is. Better to find where she need to report before finding a place to settle in
She look around her surroundings, and to say that the area is big was an understatement. Many roads interlinked together that is just asking for accidents to happen, there is a balanced amount of concrete and grass laying flat on the ground, and she can see a few rich homes from far away. The only thing that is blocking her view is the shuttle bus station behind her. Making things more difficult, this place has no map for her, which means she have to ask people all over again where to go. She then first started asking one of the staff from the station's counter. She pulled out the flyer, "Excuse me, Where is this place?".
Due to the size of Hollywood, it took a couple of hours for Sunset to find the place. It is a small white building, looking like it is less than 10 storeys high. It looks like a place people can live in when they want a affordable price but at the same time comfortable enough for them to stay in, places suitable for independent filmmakers like Sebastian. Looking at the flyer again, she already know what floor Sebastian is staying at based on the unit number printed on it. Knowing where he is staying now, she now needs to find a place to stay.
After some more asking, she finally arrived at one of the nearest hotels. 'Best Western Plus Hollywood Hills Hotel', a red and much smoother concrete infrastructure taller than Soho in Manhattan, but the windows are roughly arranged the same way. Rather than a wooden door this time, it is a glass swinging door with a metal frame surrounding it. Through the glass pane, she can see that the first level's interior is painted yellow on the walls and its white ceiling with a series of circular soft yellow lighting from the halogen light bulbs embedded on it. Right on her left, she can see the counter shaped in a half circle near the entrance, the material made out of heavily lacquered wood and on it she can just see just a simple bell and a pen. The right side is just a notice board shielded by a glass door with information about the hotel and a few about Hollywood, right below the board is a step bin. Down the hallway, is a couple of elevators and a staircase in between it.
Sunset opened the door and the bell above made a sound. She can see a couple of people wearing identical polo shirts with a name tag each, one female and one male. The woman, the one at the counter's front proceed to greet, "Welcome to our hotel, how may I be of service?", "I want to book a room, 2 nights.", "$300", Sunset pass the amount. The woman nodded and bring out a book for Sunset to fill out her particulars, and she fill out Mia Sutherland's. "Johnny, bring me a key.", the woman informed the man who is on the computer, and he nodded and went to one of the hooks and pick the key from it. "Here's your room, enjoy your stay.", the woman said with a smile. Sunset nodded and went to an elevator.
'12-016', the room number Sunset entered. The room is almost the same size and colour as the one with Manhattan, but most the other looks are different. Right beside her, is as door that is obviously the entrance to the bathroom, and right behind the wall she can see the foot of a king size bed, in front of the foot is a long table with both drawers on each end of it having drawers that act as legs also. On top of the table is a small television in between, an electric kettle, a small towel with a few cups stacked together, metal utensils and a couple of bowls and plates on it. Near such amenities is a small basket with some beverage and oatmeal packets. "At least there is something different for me to eat and drink.", Sunset thought as she look into the basket.
Sunset then stripped down to her birthday suit, and lay the clothing on her bed. Despite the decently chilly weather, Sunset still felt slightly sticky, so her first thought now is going to wash herself.
She opened the bathroom door. It is larger than the bathroom in Manhattan, her right is a medicine cabinet with a mirror attached to it, and sink right below the cabinet, and a toilet bowl. On her right, is a bathtub with a tap below and the shower tap above, along with a white shower curtain. Considering the long trip she just took, she decide to settle on taking a bath.
The balanced amount of hot and cold water is filling the ceramic tub, and Sunset take this opportunity to squeeze a generous amount of soap in it which is included in the hotel. After the soapy water is filled to the brim, the girl proceed to climb into the tub, forcing some amount of the liquid to leak out to make way for her body. She dipped her own head down into the tub to soak her hair and face, then move it upwards. With a sigh of relaxation, she rested her head against the wall behind her and enjoy the water's embracing feeling, its warm temperature and the scent of lavender and jasmine from the soap. Sunset closed her eyes, deciding to daydream her own heaven for a while.
Sunset is back in Equestria but in her human form. She is walking around the castle gardens bare footed on the grass, enjoying the nostalgic feeling of coming to this place when she wants to be alone, which is frequently. Sunset feel everything: the warm sun that her mentor always raise daily, the pleasant blue sky and green fauna for her eyes to rest onto, the sound of the fountain spraying out water, the smell of the plants, and the pleasant pricks of the grass on her foot.
Sunset let out a heavy sigh, she felt weightless in this place, like all the presence of her negativity is gone. She sat down on the grass, her hands trailing on the dirt and green, before lying down with them behind her head. She closed her eyes and enjoy the sunlight shining down her skin.
Suddenly, something felt wrong. Her surroundings instantly soar in its temperature, making her boiling hot but oddly not painful at all. Also, she hear things burning and screams of agony. She opened her eyes, and widened in realisation in what she is seeing.
She is now at the balcony of the castle, and the sky she is seeing is now a bloody red, and demon ponies and dragons are flying everywhere in the sky. She got up and look over the balcony, what she see below make her pale even more. Right below her is Canterlot City, but everything is on fire. She can see the pony citizens all panicking and crying. To top it all off, guards with red fur, black eyes and demonic wings are harassing the citizens, imprisoning or/and killing innocents.
Sunset reeled back in horror and though to herself, "Who would do this?". "You of course!", Sunset heard a voice replying joyfully in her head. "What?", she though as her face paled, "Look at yourself.". Sunset did so and look at her hands, they are red with claws. She is in her demon form, shocking her. She began to claw her face, "No! No! Stop it!" and blood began to draw from the areas she clawed.
Sunset's eyes went wide and she leapt out of the bathtub screaming. As her feet and the floor is slippery with soap, she lost her balance immediately and fell down hard on the floor. Her left arm and forehead made the hardest impact, and sunset groaned in pain. The world around her felt dizzy for a while, but she managed to regain her coordination and forced herself to lean against the bathtub. She rubbed her throbbing arm and forehead for relief, and also check for any bleeding. No bleeding, Sunset sighed at that.
She then let out a whimper when she recalled the dream she just had, her heart heaved as she know that this is the possibility of what may happen to Equestria if she is not stopped at that night. Hurting the people in this world is bad enough, but she will start to hurt her homeland if she succeeded at her plan. She tried to brush off the thoughts, even for a little. After a while, she is relaxed.
Suddenly, her eyes widened as she realised she lost track of time. She quickly but carefully stood up and go grab her clothes and items and exit her room.
'4:55', the time Sunset remembered displaying on the hotel's sole clock 10 minutes ago. She is running down the streets using all her effort, panting like a dog and perspiring a bit . She is late for her potential job, and she hated to be late. Punctuality is one of her habits and strengths that she apply to everything, even when she is a bully in CHS. This is the first time that she can recall being late.
After an elevator trip to the 7th floor, Sunset now found herself in front of Sebastian's door with unit number '07-13'. It is just a metre in front of her, but it felt like a mile for Sunset. What will Sebastian say? Will she still get the job? It is her first day reporting and she already left a bad image on her potential employer. There is only one way to find out the consequence.
With a stiff movement of her arm, she grabbed the door knob, twist it and entered the apartment. Sunset took off her shoes and place it on a shelf to her left, the nervously walked into the house. Walking into the living room, she can see a hallway to a few rooms closed by doors. Sunset proceed down the hallway, step by step planning to search room by room for Sebastian.
Before she can open the first door in front of her, it opened itself and caused her to yelp in surprise. Sebastian opened the door wearing a blue short and red shirt, jumping back in shock and screeched slightly at the sudden person standing in front of her. Seconds later, both of them composed themselves to face each other, although they are still pumping with adrenaline.
Sebastian said in between pants, "Jesus Mia, you scared me.". "Yeah, sorry about that. And sorry for being late.", Sunset rubbed the back of her head sheepishly while apologising. Sebastian then smirked, "I thought that you are not coming.", "Lost track of time.", Sunset shrugged and felt relief that he is taking the lateness well. "Just sit on my couch first, i'll get the documents.", Sunset proceed to the living room and sat down on a fabric bleach two-person couch to wait for further instructions.
As she is waiting for Sebastian, she looked around the house. The place is well kept with white walls, the flooring is made up of tiled and polished ceramic. She can see that in front of her are a list of items that made up a living room: a circular simple wooden coffee table and a cube television on the opposite side which itself is on top of a low height shelf. Right beside her, she can see a large window with the huge openings secured by gates. On the table, she only see a cork coaster, a newspaper and a remote. On and in the shelf, she only see a couple of plastic plants and a few books. Overall, the whole place is just lacking any flare, like it is emitting the feeling of loneliness. Most of the things she see here are just for the need, not for the want.
"Here you go.", Sebastian was standing beside her before she can see the room any further, holding a piece of paper and a pen. With a smile, Sunset took the items and read the application. After reading the common terms and conditions, she signed Mia Sutherland's signature on the paper. Sebastian then take the paper back and after scrolling through the signature, he then write what he needs to write.
With a smile, the brown-haired man said, "Okay, now you're my employee now. We will start shooting exactly next week. Report to this place at 7 in the morning.". Sunset took a small piece of paper from him which shows the address she needs to go. Sunset got off from the couch, and walk towards the front door as she greeted Sebastian a goodbye.
"And Mia.", Sunset turned around and saw Sebastian with a stern face this time. "Don't be late this time.", he said sternly, and Sunset just blushed in embarrassment, nodded before exiting his house. Even though she goofed a bit and made her first impression a bit of a downer, she is still glad that the rest of the process went as smoothly as expected. Also, the warm feeling of friendship inside her rise up again, makin her smile all the way to the hotel.