Three Little Visitors: Pt 4
The following hour was total pandemonium. Sunset’s first aid kit was a small thing that came with the apartment, and thus mostly consisted of plasters, pH measuring tags, and anti-bacterial ointment. She did have a bottle of aloe vera, as she herself had been burned a few times whilst cooking, but otherwise she had little in the way of medical supplies.
Pinkie returned from Mr. Ferry’s room across the hall with an armful of bandages, dropping them down and hopping on the spot as Sunset undid the make-shift covering on Aria’s arm. Aria struggled not to move, held in place by the other sirens whilst Sunset had firm hold of her wrist, and peeled off the cloth. It came away with a sticky, puss residue, but the burn seemed to be relatively minor. The skin was largely intact, and only a few small areas were burnt away. Still, it couldn’t be said to look painless. Aria tried to pull away several times as Sunset moved to put the green gel to the burn.
“Pinkie, will you please explain what this is?” Sunset asked after the fourth time Aria had yanked her arm back.
“I have. Like, twice now,” Pinkie exclaimed.
“And what did she say?”
“She said to keep your witchcraft magic away from her. And then she called you a... well, she said to keep your magic away.”
“Tell her it’s medicine, not magic,” Sunset suggested.
“What do you think I’ve been telling her?” Pinkie complained. “That it’s candy? If it was, it’d be terrible candy. It tastes like cactus and cough sweets.”
“How do you know—“ Sunset cut herself off, deciding not to ask. “Look, it’s not magic,” she said calmly to the sirens. She squirted some onto her hand and rubbed it into her own arm, and held it up. “See? Nothing magical. Just medicine.”
Pinkie translated, but Aria at least seemed unimpressed. Sonata hurriedly said something to Adagio, who seemed to be wavering. Eventually, Adagio spoke a few strict-sounding words in Aria’s ear. Aria scowled, but closed her eyes and stretched out her trembling arm. Gently taking her wrist, Sunset began to spread the gel over the wound. Aria’s arm jerked a little, and she held back a gasp of pain, which then relaxed into a tremulous deep breathing. She opened her eyes, evidently surprised; Sunset imagined she had not expected the cool feeling that the aloe vera induced. This had the positive effect of calming Aria down a little as Sunset tenderly rubbed the gel into the wound.
Once Aria had been properly bandaged up, she inspected her bandaged arm and shot Sunset a few furtive looks.
“She said thanks,” Pinkie told Sunset when Aria muttered something.
“Oh,” Sunset said, slightly surprised. “You’re welcome.” She smiled at Aria.
“Well technically she bid the gods to bless you, but it’s basically the same thing,” Pinkie amended.
“Yes, thank you, Pinkie.”
“Although if you look at it in a philosophical sense,” Pinkie began again.
“Could you ask them if they want something to eat, please?” Sunset interrupted before Pinkie could really get into her stride.
Strangely enough, despite the fact that all three of them looked as though they were still literally starving, Aria and Adagio proved to be a great deal more picky about what they ate than Sonata was. Whilst Sonata eagerly devoured the apples, bread, and cake, and downed her grapefruit soda in under three seconds, Aria eyed her cake as though she thought it was poisonous. That is until Sonata snatched it out of her hand and scoffed it down before Aria could get a word in edgeways.
Adagio refused to eat anything beyond the apple, and pushed the soda away so forcefully it fell off the table and splashed over the carpet. Ignoring Sunset’s look of outrage, she sat with her arms folded, face set like a stone.
“I don’t get it,” Pinkie sighed after several fruitless attempts to get Adagio to speak.
“I get that she doesn’t trust me,” Sunset said sadly, “but I don’t understand why that means she has to act this way.” She wrung the rag out into the sink and put the stain remover away, eyeing the three girls sitting on the couch. Despite Aria and Adagio’s reticence in being in Sunset’s home, neither could be entirely aloof to the concept of television.
With a sly smile on her face, Sonata had switched the television on, making sure the volume was high. Adagio leapt back and pressed herself hard into the couch, her face going paler than goat’s cheese. Aria, who’d just been tearing apart her crusty bread with her teeth, inhaled a chunk of it and began to choke.
Laughing raucously whilst Adagio unstuck herself from in between the cushions of the chair, and Pinkie Pie heimliched the bread out of Aria’s windpipe, Sonata flipped the channel a few times. Naturally enough, once the other two had discovered that the TV was no terrifying magical edifice, they smoothly proceeded to arguing over the remote control.
Before either Pinkie or Sunset could intercede, the other two leapt upon Sonata and began a furious battle for control. Holding the remote out of reach, Sonata kicked out, only for Adagio to bite Sonata’s ankle. Seizing the fallen appliance from Sonata’s slackened grip, Adagio leapt up, and then fell spectacularly over Aria’s outstretched leg. Before Aria could act, Sonata yanked her back by the back of her dress.
“Hey!” Sunset barked, as Adagio grabbed Aria’s bandaged arm. “That’s not on!” She seized Adagio’s wrist and pulled her away from Aria, who backed away, nursing her arm and biting back tears.
Rather to Sunset’s surprise, Adagio reacted a great deal more violently than she expected. Twisting like a wounded snake, she gave a guttural, animal cry and tore her arm from Sunset’s grip. Sunset almost stepped back at the fury in Adagio’s face. Breathing heavily, she made for the door, only to be brought up short as Sonata cried out to her.
“What are they saying?” Sunset asked Pinkie, as the two girls had what seemed like a heated dialogue.
“Well,” Pinkie began, “she’s begging her not to go,” she indicated Sonata and Adagio respectively. “And promising that she can have the godly box wand. But she says she doesn’t want to stay,” she pointed to Adagio again over the top of her other arm. “But she says they don’t have anywhere else to go,” she continued, folding her other arm under the first one. “And now she’s saying that she’s not going to stay another minute in this place with the creepy witch woman and her babbling pink homunculus.”
Pinkie frowned suddenly, unknotting her arms.
“Creepy witch woman?” Sunset asked, feeling kind of hurt.
“Babbling pink homunculus!?” Pinkie erupted. “Why I oughta—“
“Not now, Pinkie.”
Sonata was wringing her hands, and giving Adagio the big puppy-dog eyes. Cheeks regaining colour and rolling her eyes, Adagio gave a snort of impatience and flopped down onto the sofa again. Folding her arms so tightly one might have supposed she had an invisible straightjacket on, she glowered at the floor and ignored everyone.
Sunset watched her closely, unsure what to make of this behaviour. She looked to Pinkie, but her friend only shrugged, evidently as clueless as she was. Eventually, Sonata sidled up to Adagio and spoke soft words to her, which according to Pinkie, was a press for her to eat. Apparently to stop Sonata pestering her, Adagio huffily bit into the apple she was given, snapping off great rough chunks with a brutality that suggested the apple had wronged her at some point.
Sunset kept an eye on this whilst tending to Aria’s arm again. “Pinkie, could you text everyone and tell them what’s happened, please?”
“What should I tell them?” Pinkie asked, whipping out her phone.
“What?”
“What should I text?”
“Err... they’re safe? They’re here? I don’t know, common sense stuff.”
“Huh,” Pinkie said, thoughtfully. She tapped away at her phone for a bit. “Okay, done.”
“Thanks. Now—“
“Hey Sunset,” Pinkie interrupted.
“What?”
“If you’re going to be a mom now, does this mean you’re not going to school anymore?”
Sunset stared at her. She was about to ask “What?” again, but she was aware that she’d been forced to say that several times already in response to Pinkie’s irrepressibly arbitrary nature. She looked at the three sirens, all staring at the television with varying degrees of interest on their faces.
“Pinkie, I’m not going to be a mom to them,” Sunset said, frowning. “That’s just silly.”
“Why?”
“Because,” Sunset gestured vaguely, trying to find the right words. “Because, like... well, first of all, I’m not their mom.”
“Yeah,” Pinkie agreed, waving her hand. “Go on.”
Sunset made an impatient noise and spread her arms. “Pinkie, I don’t know what you want from me here. I can’t be a mom. In this world I’m just a kid.”
“In this world?” Pinkie asked, narrowing one eye.
“Well in Equestria I’m an adult. Ponies come of age quicker. But I still wouldn’t be a mom there.” Sunset paused, looking at the floor. “I mean, I don’t think I would be.”
“You didn’t know anyone your age who was a mom?” Pinkie asked. Leaning on her hands on the back of the sofa, she tilting disturbingly close to Sunset’s shoulder.
“W-Well...” Sunset said, edging away. “I guess there were a few with a special somepon—I mean, special somebody. But I wasn’t one of them. Anyway,” she said, regaining her composure. “This discussion is academic anyway. I have school; I can’t be a stay-at-home mom.”
“True,” Pinkie agreed. “Which brings me to my point. What are you going to do with them whilst you’re at school?”
Sunset’s shoulders slumped. She looked at Pinkie, feeling a chill come over her, not the least because Pinkie had actually made a coherent point. Sunset hadn’t considered what she’d do with the sirens whilst she was at school.
“Are you sure this is a good idea, Sugarcube?”
“No. But it’s the only choice we have, I think.”
Sunset gazed at the opaque glass of the door, her eyes flowing over the words engraved into it. The name did not make her feel any easier about the situation.
“If we don’t want people knowing because they might tell the authorities,” Rainbow said, doubtfully, “do you really think it’s a good idea to tell them? Of all people.”
“Again,” Sunset said heavily, “no, I don’t. But it’s the only choice we have. And they know about the sirens and about what they did as the Dazzlings. They know we were the only ones who could stop them. If anyone can help us and understand, well...” She sighed. “They’re the only ones I can think of.”
“But what if they decide to inform the authorities anyway?” Rarity asked, chewing her thumb nail.
Sunset tugged Rarity’s hand from her mouth before she could mess up her nail polish. “Then there’s nothing that we can do. But like I say, who else can we ask? We can’t risk asking any of your parents; they don’t know about what we’ve done.”
All of her friends looked at each other, sighing and nodding. None of them had told their parents about what Sunset had done, or what the Dazzling had done. They couldn’t hide the magic, but that didn’t mean having to put their parents backs up to people who could no longer do harm. Or so had been their opinions.
Sunset looked down at the sirens. Adagio and Aria were looking around at the school in mild interest, spotting all of the bright, primary colours, pictures, banners, and trophies. Sonata held Sunset’s hand. Although Sunset hadn’t noticed it, Sonata had watched her stare at the door, and was now regarding the door with suspicion.
“Are we all ready?” Sunset asked. Her friends all set their expressions.
Pinkie pulled out a pair of shades and set them in front of her eyes, her chin thrust out. “I was born ready.”
“Hey!” Rainbow snapped, snatching the glasses back. Pinkie grinned innocently, dodging Rainbow’s intended smack to the head.
Sunset raised a hand on the door, and repressing the instant desire to turn around and walk away, she knocked three times.
“Come in,” said a voice from within, and Sunset pulled the door open.
The inside of the office was the sort of place where fears either rested, or spiked into terror. It wasn’t the room itself that had this effect as such, but what the room contained. A large wooden desk sat in front of a tall school flag, and a shelf crammed with books and trophies. Strip lights hung from the ceiling, casting an iridescent light upon the occupants as the sunlight failed to penetrate the blinds on the window. To an adult, these surroundings, and the distinct smell of warm paper from the printer, would have the feel of an office or other such mundane location. To a student however, should they care about such things, there were few things through the school day that could inspire more trepidation. Mostly because of who occupied the office.
Principal Celestia didn’t look up at first; she finished scribbling something on some formal piece of paper on her desk, and placed it into a tray before looking up. Her eyes roved over Sunset and her friends, and then down at the sirens. Her brow creased ever so slightly, but she looked back up at Sunset specifically, and smiled a polite smile.
“Hello girls. Is there something we can help you with?”
Sunset held Celestia’s gaze, but could feel all of her friends giving her sideways looks. Behind Celestia, running through a filing cabinet, was Vice Principal Luna. At Celestia’s words, she looked around as well, directing a more suspicious look at the three sirens.
“I... hope so,” Sunset answered. She bit her lip as Celestia raised her eyebrows a little, catching the hesitancy in Sunset’s tone.
“Might I ask who these children you have with you are?” Celestia asked, not looking away from Sunset’s face.
“That’s actually what we came to talk to you about,” Sunset muttered, resisting an urge to tug at a lock of her hair.
In short order, she explained who she and her friends believed the three girls to be, and the odd circumstances and characteristics that they had discovered since encountering them. Principal Celestia remained seated with her hands steepled in front of her, a thoughtful expression on her face. Vice principal Luna on the other hand looked very shrewd. Her eyes flickered between Celestia and the three children, and once to Sunset’s face.
When Sunset had finished explaining, Celestia interlaced her fingers, staring at her desk a while.
“I have to wonder, Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia began, “why you’ve come to me about this matter.”
“Well, that’s the thing,” Sunset said awkwardly. “The thing is, we sort of need your help.”
“I’d figured that much out,” Celestia said, smiling. “But with what exactly? And more to the point, why have you come to me?” She sighed at Sunset’s look of confusion. “Twice now, in recent time, I have failed to spot and stop threats to the safety of this school and its students.”
“Sister—“ Luna began, but Celestia cut her off with a raised hand.
“Perhaps I could not be expected to counter the... supernatural aspects of these encounters, which you and your friends have been able to deal with, but I, as an adult, and the individual responsible for all of your safeties, should have been at least aware of the mundane signs of danger.” She exhaled slowly. “Under these circumstances, I hope you’ll understand why it is I am surprised that you would come to me for any sort of help in this particular area.” She nodded towards the sirens.
Sunset looked at her three wards. As Celestia lowered her elbows to her desk and leant forward, Sonata stepped nimbly backwards and behind Sunset’s legs. Adagio, who’d been glaring at Celestia with great suspicion, narrowed her magenta eyes and folded her arms. Aria stared at the floor, apparently taking no interest in the conversation at all.
“Extraordinary,” Celestia mumbled. “It certainly looks like them. Do you have any idea how this came about?”
At that moment, Adagio let out a derisive sound and turned her head away, saying something in her native language. Whatever she said, the tone was scathing enough to let everyone in the room know the intent.
“Some things don’t change, apparently,” Rarity whispered, her lip quivering.
Sunset gave Pinkie a questioning look. Pinkie cleared her throat. “Something about, err... well...”
“Pinkie can understand what they say,” Sunset said in answer to Celestia’s slight frown.
“I see,” Celestia said, looking rather impressed. She gave Pinkie an indulgent smile. “What did she say?”
“Oh, nothing really,” Pinkie trilled, grinning toothily. “It wasn’t important.”
Celestia blinked, and then shared a raised eyebrow with her sister. Both women looked back to Pinkie, their expressions meaningful.
“I’d really rather you told me what was said, Ms. Pie,” Celestia said levelly.
Sunset at least registered the usage of Pinkie’s surname rather than her given one, and the shift in atmosphere this inspired.
“It may be important,” Celestia added more kindly.
Pinkie cleared her throat, giving the most nervous giggle Sunset had ever heard. “Well, she asked a question.”
“And what question did she ask?” Luna inquired, her voice full of foreboding suspicion.
Pinkie cleared her throat again and swallowed. “Erm... she asked if this, err... if Principal Celestia was...”
Sunset stared at Pinkie in bewilderment. She came over with an idea that perhaps she didn’t want to know what it was Adagio had said, as it was something that could make Pinkie turn so brightly red.
“It’s okay, Pinkie,” Sunset said encouragingly. “If it’s something shocking, I’m sure she’s just saying it out of anxiety.”
“Indeed,” Principal Celestia said, smiling pleasantly. “Speak freely, Ms. Pie. Whatever it is, I’d like to know.”
Pinkie looked around with desperate eyes, and Sunset could tell that she was hoping someone, anyone, would come to her rescue. But no one said anything. They simply stared at her with varying degrees of interest on their face. Apparently realising she had no way of not saying what was asked of her, she licked her lips, and then spoke in a rush, as though to get it out before her tongue decided to cut her off.
“She asked if this is the brothel Fire-head is selling them to. And she called you a... um...” Pinkie’s explanation sputtered to a halt.
An almost comical silence fell over the scene. Celestia’s mouth was slightly open, and a sort of braying sound escaped it before she managed to close it again. Luna apparently went to say something, but was so surprised that it caught in her throat. Both women looked down at Adagio, eyes wide.
“Wh... I...” Celestia coughed politely into her fist. “Why would she... how does she know what a brothel is?”
“What have you girls being filling her head with?” Luna snapped angrily.
Sunset and her friend erupted in protestation.
“Us?” Rainbow exclaimed.
“How could we fill her head with anything?” Rarity huffed indignantly. “Only Pinkie can understand what she’s saying!”
Fluttershy let out a miserable little squeak, although actual speech seemed quite beyond her.
“I-I assure you we haven’t said anything to her that... I mean about...” Sunset stuttered to a halt.
“Luna, I doubt very much that Sunset or her friends have done anything to pollute the minds of these young children,” Celestia said, quellingly. “I think it more likely they learned about that sort of thing whilst living on the streets.”
Luna’s lips thinned. “I suppose that is more likely, sister,” she conceded.
“Ms. Pie, please explain that this institution is not a brothel,” Celestia said, her tone curdling a little on the last word. “Please explain that this is a school, and that no one is going to be sold to anyone else. Sunset Shimmer,” she said, turning to her, “what help is it that you want from us? I’m assuming that if you wanted to hand these girls to the proper authorities, you would have done so yourself.”
“Yeah, that’s the thing,” Sunset began.
She explained about her and her friend’s misgivings about the nature of the siren’s apparent transformation. Celestia hummed a little when she had finished, giving herself over to some serious thought.
“What you say does have some merit,” Celestia agreed. “This strange transformation of theirs does make them an unknown variable. And as much as I hate laying responsibilities upon you all, it has became quite apparent that you are the only ones capable of handling such situations.”
“What we need is for them to come to school so that we can keep an eye on them,” Sunset explained. “And so that they don’t just sit around my apartment all day.”
“Or try to steal anything,” Pinkie said, nodding.
“They steal?” Luna asked icily, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, well...” Sunset swallowed, giving Pinkie a sideways scowl. “Like I said, they were homeless when we found them, so they were stealing to survive.”
“It was all in the news,” Pinkie went on eagerly. “Lots of burglaries and—Mmph!”
“What Pinkie meant to say,” Rarity interceded as Rainbow and Applejack slapped their hands over Pinkie’s jabbering mouth, “is that they’ve had a very hard time recently, and I don’t believe that they understand how wrong they’ve been. But if we took them in and let them go to school, they may learn better.” She gave a winning smile which all of her friends emulated. Except Pinkie, who gave a thumbs up, and muffled something that Sunset thought might have been
“Yeah, that’s what I meant to say. Didn’t I say that?”
Luna didn’t seem impressed by this display, but Celestia looked faintly amused.
“I understand your concern, girls,” she said, a hint of a laugh in her voice. “And I appreciate it as well. It speaks well of you to concern yourselves with their welfare.” She gestured to the sirens. “And the welfare of those they might harm. However, you have to understand that I can’t simply allow them into the school.”
“But—“ Sunset began to protest, but Celestia raised a hand again to cut her off.
“Sunset Shimmer, I assume that they don’t have any form of identification?” She waited expectantly for Sunset to answer her, but Sunset could say nothing. “Anything that might prove who they are? Who their parents are?”
Sunset bit her lip. “N-No...”
Celestia steepled her hands again. “I’m sorry, but I can’t allow them to simply enter the school. Should anyone look into their backgrounds, however remotely, and find that they’re three orphaned children on the street, or,” and here she looked pointedly at them all, “under the care of a group of teenagers, then I would be at the very least be suspended from my job for not having reported it.”
“Ah,” Rainbow summed up. “Hadn’t thought of that.”
“Isn’t—“ Sunset stammered. “Isn’t there anything...” Her hope died at the look on Celestia’s face.
“I’m sorry, Sunset Shimmer. At worst I’d be arrested. You have to see that from the law’s point of view; you’re a group of teenagers. In the eyes of the law, you’re children yourself, not responsible even for your own lives. How can you be expected to look after three little children whose language you don’t even speak?”
There was a pause, during which time Sunset’s insides seemed to melt and fall away inside of her. She felt something take hold of her hand, and looked down to find Sonata looking up at her with concern, her tiny blue fingers holding her own.
“If you’ll all excuse me,” Celestia said heavily. “I have a lot of work to do.” She looked up at her sister. Luna looked faintly surprised, but then “Sunset Shimmer, a moment if you please,” Celestia said as Sunset was about to exit after her friends.
Luna said nothing, but gave Celestia a highly suspicious look. Celestia glared back at her for a moment. “Sister, you’re not thinking—“
“Luna, if you’d please excuse us a moment,” Celestia said calmly.
“Sister,” Luna said more forcefully. “If you’re thinking of having that woman—“
“Luna, if you must stay,” Celestia interrupted. “Then would you please not intercede in our conversation.”
Luna’s face grew slightly pink. “Celestia, if you’re going to do this, then I will be a part of it,” Luna growled. “As Vice Principal of this school—“
“As Vice Principal of this school, it is your duty to lead the faculty and students should I at any point become unable to do so,” Celestia said firmly.
Luna stood there, fuming. Eventually, with a violent exhalation of breath, she marched straight-backed from the room, shutting the door with a loud snap.
Sunset and the sirens watched her leave. Sunset felt an ominous tingle running up her spine, and Sonata seemed a little unnerved too. Adagio on the other hand merely looked disdainful, whilst Aria continued to show as much interest in everything going on around her as a cat takes of anything.
“Um...” Sunset began, turning back to Celestia.
Celestia regarded Sunset for a moment or two before speaking. When she did, she spoke in a slow, considering sort of way, as though she was weighing each word before speaking it.
“Sunset Shimmer,” she started, and then paused. “What are your eventual intentions for these girls?”
“Intentions?” Sunset asked nervously.
“Do you anticipate bringing them up? Caring for them? Are you going to raise them?”
“W-What?” Sunset blurted. “N-No, I—“ she broke off, trying to regain control of herself. “I’m not their mother.”
“I know that you’re not,” Celestia said kindly. “But if you intend to watch over them, and have them live with you, then I’m afraid that you cannot escape this responsibility. The fact that you live alone in an apartment without adult supervision is, I hope you’ll remember, due to a technicality in the law.”
Sunset felt the heat rush to her cheeks. This was perfectly true. Back during her days as the Queen Bee of the school, Celestia had confronted her about her living arrangements, and Sunset had set Celestia straight by discovering the said ambiguity that allowed her to live on her own. Celestia had not given her point up easily, but had eventually been forced to capitulate. The ambiguity did not, however, extend to Sunset having dependants, even if they were her own children. They would be taken and placed into care the moment the state found out.
“Are you going to report this?” Sunset asked, squeezing Sonata’s fingers a little. Sonata looked between Sunset and Celestia, evidently sensing the tension.
“No,” Celestia said eventually. She picked up a pen and began scribbling something on a sticky note, and then push it across the desk. “I can’t accept them into this school without paperwork. All that leaves is for you to get them some.”
Sunset’s eyes flickered to the note. “And this will help me get them some?” she asked, picking it up.
“I must ask you, Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia said in a surprisingly dark tone of voice, “not to speak of this to anyone. For both our sakes, and for theirs, it would not do to get out the favour I call in order to do this.”
“If you’re uncomfortable with doing it,” Sunset replied, going to put the note down. “I’d rather not put you in any danger.”
“Don’t be silly,” Celestia said, standing up and pushing the note back at her. “As the adult responsible for you all, any risks in this venture must be mine. I would simply prefer that that risk be minimised.” She smiled at Sunset. “That woman will help you; she owes me a favour. Simply do not inform anyone, even your friends, of what you do. If all goes well, you’ll be able to have these girls in school in a few days. I’ll even excuse you from school for it to be done. Just don’t procrastinate, alright?” She gave Sunset a knowing look.
As Sunset exited the office, she looked down at the note. It was an address followed by what Sunset imagined to be an office number, a telephone extension, and a name.
“Chrissy,” Sunset said aloud. She shrugged; she’d never heard of the name before.
Her friends, who’d been waiting outside, quickly crowded around her.
“What’s that?” Applejack asked, looking at the note.
“Nothing,” Sunset said quickly, hiding the note. “Just an excusal from school. You know, so I can sort this out.” She gestured to the sirens in answer to their questioning looks.
“Sweet.” Rainbow grinned. “Time to kick back!”
“Yeah,” Sunset said absently, not listening. “I’m gonna head back home.”
Rainbow made a jealous sound. “Typical. I guess we’ll see you after school, then.”
The bus stopped in the middle of the town square, right next to the large equestrian statue at its centre. The three sirens had apparently never seen this part of town, since no sooner had they exited the bus, then they tried to climb the statue.
“Stop that,” Sunset called, trying not to smile as Sonata scrabbled up the statue’s leg like a monkey. “Don’t even think about it!” She snapped, as she saw Adagio inching towards a woman’s purse on the bench next to the statue. Adagio looked around at the noise, and noticed Sunset watching her. She spread her arms and tried to look innocent, but then pulled a face and slumped her shoulders when Sunset beckoned them to follow.
The address lay in what Sunset knew to be the older side of the city’s main centre, where the oldest churches, shops, and government buildings lay. The city hall and the art gallery, two of the city’s most notable landmarks lay here in preserved glory, surrounded by the creeping imminence of time’s unforgiving march.
They passed by the city hall and into a long street of tall, grey buildings, all with faded white walls and tarnished plaques on their fronts next to impressive glass and steel doors wedged into their ancient faces. Following the number on the sticky note, Sunset and company stopped in front of a triangular shaped building on the side of a roundabout.
“This is the place, I guess,” Sunset muttered uncertainly, waving the kids ahead of her. Sonata and Aria seemed appropriately awed by their surroundings, probably because of the ostentatious shout-outs by the surrounding architecture to the classical design. Adagio maintained her perpetual look of grumpy disinterest, and simply fell into line as Sunset walked through the sliding doors next to the sign
Department of Social Services
The interior was every bit as antiseptic and businesslike as the school was, and a great deal less interesting looking. Whilst the school had the raucous and vibrant colours of children’s works plastered across its walls, this building did not. It had a withered looking money-tree in one corner and that was about it. A deserted desk stood between two doors, whilst two more doors to the left and right led to long corridors full of offices.
Adagio made a disgusted sort of sound, as though the building fell short of her expectations.
“Come on,” Sunset said quietly, ushering them ahead of her. The double doors behind the desk both led to a room with a set of lifts. The right wall had, for whatever reason, a picture of a colourful map, and the other side had a floor guide. Sunset referenced this against the sticky note. “Floor seven.”
Sunset had been braced for the trouble this was going to cause. Getting the kids into the lift wasn’t the problem; it was spacious for a lift, evidently meant to be able to carry things like cleaning trolleys and carts. When the doors closed and Sunset’s finger hovered over the ‘7’ button however, she took a deep breath, and braced herself.
To be fair, she thought that they took it better than she’d expected. Only Sonata was clutching the side of Sunset’s head with her arms wrapped like an overexerted elastic band around Sunset’s face. The other two had been too scared to move.
Adagio leapt out of the doors as soon as they opened and fell upon the floor as though trying to hold onto it, whilst Aria was plainly trying not to be ill. Her good arm was raised to her mouth, and she was twitching like someone trying to hold it in.
Sunset didn’t have the heart to tell them they had to go down again, and regarded with pleasure the fact that they wouldn’t understand her anyway. Giving them a moment to get their bearings, Sunset prised Sonata from her face, and shook Adagio a little to rouse her from the floor. Aria proved the more enduring, as she shook off her torpor and followed without additional fuss, although she still looked a little green.
The office in question lay at the end of the hallway, and was preceded by a small secretarial office that came as something of a surprise.
Seated at a desk was the most extraordinary person Sunset had ever seen. The person herself was small, almost meek looking, but her attire and hair made her appearance just eccentric. Her hair, a bright, bubblegum pink, was enormous, and seemed to hang around her like a second, larger person. She wore a crisp white business shirt underneath a bright pink suit and matching tie that was the exact same colour as her hair. She sat at her desk apparently writing something.
She looked up as Sunset approached, but said nothing. Sunset glanced down, and was brought up short when she realised that this person was holding a crayon. Sunset looked left to the wall that the desk sat against, and saw that the corkboard there wasn’t covered in business-related things, but by crayon pictures, and the in and out trays on the desk were full of official looking papers all scribbled on by crayon.
She looked back down at the ostentatiously pink individual still staring back up at her, a pleasant smile on her face.
“Hello,” Sunset said.
The secretary didn’t say anything, but stuck her tongue out and blew a short raspberry. Sunset blinked in consternation.
“Uh...” Sunset scratched her cheek, utterly nonplussed. “I need to see...” she inspected the note again. “Chrissy?”
The secretary gasped in apparent joy and looked towards a pale wooden door with a small brass sign on it.
“Oh,” Sunset said. “Can I just go in?”
The secretary tilted her head to one side for a moment, and stared vaguely over Sunset’s shoulder. Sunset looked behind her to see what she was looking at, but there was nothing there. She seemed to be just staring into space.
After a few moments, the secretary seemed to come back to herself and pushed a button on a little speaker.
“Yes?” A voice said from the other end, muffled by static.
The secretary issued a series of raspberries into the receiver, as though this were a form of speech.
The person on the other end said something indistinct, and then “Send them through.”
The secretary smiled up at Sunset.
Then Sonata piped up. Too short to reach over the desk, she popped her head up as much as it would go, and blew a raspberry too. The secretary gasped again.
“Sonata!” Sunset chided. The secretary however, leaned forward to peer down, and again began to spit a number of raspberries, accompanied by several complicated and seemingly nonsensical gestures. Sonata giggled and responded.
Sunset watched this exchange for a moment, and then looked down at Adagio and Aria for help. Aria seemed to be trying to keep out of it, but Adagio simply looked up at Sunset just as confused. She shrugged and rolled her eyes.
“Well, we’ll be going then,” Sunset said in a forced, cheerful tone. “Come on, girls.”
The sirens followed, Sonata a little reluctantly, as the secretary waved after them. Sunset looked up at the name holder on the door.
Chrysalis
“I said you could come in,” said a voice from within. Suppressing a sudden lance of dislike in her brain, Sunset opened the door.
The interior was bright, well lit by the cold winter sunlight filtering through the windows, and the room itself was a few degrees colder than it was in the rest of the building. Aria shivered and held her burnt arm close. Sunset, looking around, felt vaguely that they might be in the matrix; everything was tinged with a greenish tint, as though the sunlight had bizarrely turned a sickly shade of lime.
The person behind the desk sat in a relaxed posture, leaning back in a comfortable chair, her hands clasped in front of her. Sunset had the immediate impression of visiting Principal Celestia’s office, but only if Principal Celestia had been the spawn of evil. Like Principal Celestia, this woman was tall and shapely, but her black business suit and dark skin were at complete odds with Celestia’s usual almost angelic glow. The woman had long, straight green hair, and bright, piercing green eyes. She wore a black clip in the shape of a crown to keep her hair from falling into her face, and had a devilish looking smile playing across her green lips.
Sunset all of a sudden rather felt like a child in the woods being followed by a wolf.
The woman extended a slender hand, gesturing to the chairs in front of the desk. Sunset noted the radiation green nail polish on them.
“Please, sit,” the woman said, in the tone of a Transylvanian aristocrat inviting a lost stranger into their mysterious and oddly out-of-the-way castle.
Sunset let the kids sit first, as there were only two chairs. They squabbled for a few moments over one of them, until Adagio and Aria crammed themselves in, excluding Sonata. Somewhat to Sunset’s surprise, Sonata didn’t whine or complain, but stood by looking...
What’s that look? Sunset wondered, narrowing her eyes at Sonata’s expression. Guilt?.
Seating herself, she pulled Sonata up and onto her knee.
Once they were comfortably seated, Chrysalis sat forward, and interlaced her fingers on her desk. She had the look of someone who knows a great secret, and is preparing to astound the room with it.
“I’ve had a rather interesting call today,” she said, barely keeping mirth from her tone. “So, what can I do for you today?”
- To be Continued