“Just a little bit more and … done!” Snips smiled as the last of the bindings fell away from Sunset’s body. He and Snails both held out their hands and helped pull her back into a standing position.
“How do you feel? Can you move around?” Snails asked while handing Sunset the lab-coat from before.
She buttoned herself up, outstretched her arms and then took a series of experimental steps around the room. “Everything hurts, and I still can’t open my right eye all of the way,” she announced after getting a feel for her body's current condition. “I can still walk, but I think that might be about it. And there’s another problem too,” Sunset continued. “I still don’t have any ideas about how we’re getting back home. And if someone else comes back here looking to see what’s up, we’re going to be in trouble …”
“Oh, that’s not a problem! Take a look at what I snatched from Dumbbell!” Snips reached into his pocket and pulled out a key that dangled back and forth from a chain.
Sunset stared in amazement; her two companions were proving to be surprisingly competent today. “Nice work! I was worried for a minute there, but it looks you came through after all!” She looked at the two teens that had come to her defense and nodded in gratitude. “Thanks. I really mean it. You guys took a huge risk in helping me out like this. And I really am sorry if I ever made you guys feel like I abandoned you.”
“Aw, don’t mention it!” Snips said with a smile. “We weren’t gonna leave you here like that, you're our boss. Even if you said that you wanted to stay put, we would have come to the rescue anyway.”
“You can say that again,” said Snails. “We’re a team, Sunset, which means that we stick together.”
“Speaking of being a team, we need to figure out how we’re going to sneak past Gilda and whoever else might be waiting out there. Did any of you happen to see any other exits besides the front door? I wouldn’t want us getting spotted as soon as we step outside.”
“Well, we could always try the back door. It’s down that way over there, and I don’t think anyone else knows that it’s there besides me,” Snails said while pointing a finger towards the end of the hall that they were standing in. “With any luck, maybe no one will see us?”
“Hold on.” Snails and Sunset turned towards Snips. “If the plan is to take Dumbbell’s car then it really doesn’t matter which exit we take, because everyone parked in the same spot. It doesn't matter what we do because we're just going to end up in the same place anyway." He paced around for a few seconds, until he got an idea. "Hold on, I think I remember seeing an emergency exit somewhere. The only thing is that this place looks like it’s been out of business for a really long time, so I'm not sure if the alarms still work. If they do then maybe we could scare everyone away?”
“Oh, I already tried that,” said Snails. “I walked past one of those doors after I found that coat for Sunset. Not sure about the rest, but the door I tried using didn't do anything.”
While Snips and Snails debated back and forth on what to do, Sunset stood with her arms folded in deep thought as she began to formulate a plan.
Taking either the front or the back door both sounded like bad ideas. She wanted to take a stealthy approach and not draw any attention to her two helpers. No one knew that they had switched sides, and Sunset was determined to keep it that way.
Using one of the emergency exits didn’t seem like a bad idea in theory, but based on what she had heard from Snails, it didn’t sound all that reliable. She needed something that was guaranteed to work, something simple, and something that would keep Snips and Snails out of harm’s way.
After a long moment of internal deliberation, Sunset slowly turned towards her two teammates, her mind had been up. “Snips, Snails, I know what we’re going to do. It’s risky, but as long as you guys do exactly as I say, then everything should be fine.”
Snips and Snails both exchanged a brief glance with one another before turning back to their leader.
“What do you need us to do?” asked Snails.
***
Gilda, in general, wasn’t a very happy person. The emotional spectrum representing her personality usually only consisted of two possibilities: angry or apathetic. It was either one or the other with her, and that was the way that it had always been.
This didn’t mean that Gilda was incapable of feeling joy. She felt it occasionally, but not in the same way that most people did.
Watching bugs flail about helplessly before dying from exposure to pesticides made her smile. Dressing up in costumes and making small children cry on Halloween filled her with a type of exhilaration that transcended beyond words. Delivering her own twisted sense of justice to Sunset and leaving her to rot had been euphoric … but now her high was beginning to fade.
All of the other students had gone home, leaving her all alone. That, however, wasn’t what had her in such a foul mood. The current source of her anger was the fact that she had been waiting outside for over an hour. It had been nearly twenty minutes since Dumbbell had gone back inside the factory, it had been at least twice as long since she had last seen Snips or Snails, and she couldn’t call them to see what the holdup was due to her phone not having any reception.
She stood about thirty yards away from the abandoned structure, pacing back and forth in front of her car, which was parked directly in front of a dark green pickup truck that belonged to Dumbbell. Her gaze was locked onto the front door of the factory. She checked her phone and saw that the clock read 9:36 PM.
Gilda stuffed her hands inside of the pockets within her dark brown winter jacket and huffed in annoyance. She told herself that if she didn’t hear back from anyone within the next fifteen minutes or so, then she was going to go back inside by herself, and she was going to check to see what the heck was taking everyone so long. If she were to leave now without first making sure that everyone was okay, then there was a chance that the events that had transpired that night could get traced back to her and the other students. Getting busted by the cops was the last thing she needed with Christmas break being only two more days away.
Unbeknownst to Gilda, she wouldn’t have to wait around for too much longer. Somewhere in the distance she heard the unmistakable sound of a door slamming shut with a metallic clang. “Well it’s about time,” she mumbled to herself as she looked towards the front door of the factory.
Gilda could make out the form of someone exiting the building, but her vision was obscured by the night sky and the falling snow flurries. At first she thought that it might have been either Snails or Dumbbell due to how tall the person looked from a distance. That changed when she got a better view of the apparel that the other person was wearing. Snails was wearing gym shoes, not boots, and Dumbbell was wearing a dark green winter coat, not whatever it was that the other person was wearing.
When Gilda was finally able to see the long flowing red hair with streaks of yellow, her eyes widened in disbelief. “There’s no way,” she said to herself. Gilda began marching forward in order to meet the person halfway.
The two stopped a little more than a foot apart from each other, more than close enough for Gilda to confirm that it was indeed Sunset Shimmer. She looked a little rough around the edges on account of all the bruises and dried sores that now decorated her facial features, but it was her.
Gilda growled in annoyance. “I thought we got rid of you. How did you get out, where’s Dumbbell, and where are those other two knuckleheads at?”
Sunset’s monotone voice complimented the unreadable expression on her face. “To answer those questions in order ... One, I walked out the front door. Two, your guess is as good as mine. And three, I’m not sure.”
“Oh, so you’re getting smart now, eh?” Gilda unzipped her jacket, dropped it in the snow, and pulled back the sleeves of her shirt. “Fine by me. It’s just gonna make whaling on you a second time that much more fun. And since I’m the only one here, that means that I get you all to myself this time!”
Sunset matched Gilda’s aggression with an air of indifference. “Did you already forget what happened the last time you tried that? There were like, what, thirty-five of you who took part in that ambush back in the Gym Room? I didn’t have anyone helping me, and I still came pretty close to getting away. Speaking of which, how’s your face doing?”
Gilda raised a hand and gently prodded the skin where she had gotten hit and found that it was still sore to the touch. Fuming, she stepped closer until she stood only a few inches away from Sunset. “Are you trying to say that I can’t do anything on my own you piece of trash?!”
“What I’m saying is that you’re too impulsive. You don’t think things through all the way before you make a move,” Sunset clarified. “You planned out what you’d do if I walked into your trap, but what would you have done if I had fought my way out, or if I had found a way to leave here and get back to Canterlot City? I’ve seen your face. I can identify some of the students who helped you. If I went to the police then -”
Gilda cut Sunset off mid-sentence with a hard hit to the jaw; the impact sent Sunset crashing into the snow. Suddenly, a warm coppery tasting liquid began filling up inside of Sunset’s mouth.
“Hey, Ms. Know-it-all, I got a question for you!” A heavy stomp to the torso forced the wind out of her lungs, sending Sunset into a coughing fit. “What’ll you do if I get tired of hearing your mouth and start ripping you a new one?”
Sunset tried crawling away, but was eventually pulled back onto her feet after Gilda got a hold of her hair. The instant that Sunset regained her footing she was met with two quick jabs to the stomach. A third punch was aimed at her head, but Sunset was able to duck out of the way.
Gilda swung over with an elbow, but it got blocked. She followed up with an uppercut that successfully made contact with Sunset’s chin, causing the firey haired girl to stagger backwards. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Gilda charged forward and blasted Sunset back into the snow with a right hook.
“Pathetic. Aren’t you at least gonna try fighting back? Not that it would have made a difference.” She began kicking snow in Sunset’s face while she struggled to stand back up. “I wish everyone at CHS could see you now. Beaten, helpless, and even more alone than ever before. And to think that everyone used to be scared of you,” Gilda taunted. “I don’t know what you were thinking when you came out here, but you should have just stayed put. Because not only am I gonna beat you up again, but I'm gonna have to make sure that you can't walk away this time.”
Sunset spit out some of the liquid that had been filling up inside of her mouth and spoke calmly. “The thing is, I've been fighting back this whole time; you just don’t realize it yet. You’re actually losing right now.”
“Really? Because from the looks of it, I don't have a scratch on me.” Gilda cracked her knuckles, readying herself for another round. Sunset didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.
“You know, students like you are the reason why I used to get these really strong urges to go back to my old habits after the Fall Formal. Most of you are just so ... gullible and easy to manipulate. If there's anyone here who's pathetic, it's you.”
Gilda snarled and grabbed Sunset by the collar of her coat. “If I’m so easy to read, then you should be able to predict how badly I’m gonna split open that ugly little face of yours!”
Sunset smirked as she looked into the eyes of her attacker. “And if you have even half of a working brain, then you should be able to predict how long Snips and Snails have been destroying your car.”
Gilda got ready to throw another punch, but her fist stopped only centimeters away from Sunset’s face. “Wait, what?”
Sunset began pointing off into the distance. Gilda turned around and was shocked to see Snips jumping up and down on the roof of her car while Snails kicked away at the windshield.
“You really should get that car alarm fixed. I don’t think it ever went off the entire time they were over there,” Sunset jeered.
Realizing that she had been tricked, Gilda dropped Sunset and got ready to run back to her car, only to stop at the last minute. She looked back and forth between Sunset and her poor defenseless car. If she went after Snips and Snails, then Sunset might try running away. If she continued to attack Sunset, then her car was going to get ruined.
Sunset, as if reading her mind, offered a suggestion. “I’m not really in any condition to run away. Go ahead. Get over there and stop them before your car gets so messed up that you get stranded here.”
Gilda turned back towards Sunset, her heart seething with black passion. “I’m not finished with you, you hear me! You and your two lackeys are going to pay!” she shouted in warning before sprinting off towards her car.
As Sunset watched Gilda leave, a small smile spread across her lips. “I win.”
Gilda continued her mad charge, hell-bent on destroying Snips and Snails. She had nearly closed the distance between them and herself by the time that the two friends had finally jumped off of her car and made a beeline for the dark green pickup truck that she knew belonged to Dumbbell. As if that wasn’t confusing enough, Snips and Snails were actually able to climb inside and start the ignition.
Before Gilda could question what was happening, she was blinded by a pair of headlights, and then Snips and Snails sped past her, and drove off towards Sunset.
‘They’re gonna get away!’ Gilda thought to herself in a panic as realization began to hit. She ran over to her own vehicle, intending to go after Snips and Snails on a highway chase. She pulled out her car keys, ready to unlock the door and spring into action, but stopped when she noticed that all of the windows on her car had been smashed. To make matters worse, her front left tire had been completely deflated, making it impossible chase after her targets.
“Gilda!” A voice shouted in the distance.
She looked over and saw Sunset getting ready to climb inside of the truck with Snips and Snails. “You might want to go back and check up on Dumbbell! He’s going to need you to give him a ride home! See you later, and better luck next time!” Sunset climbed inside the truck, and then she was gone.
“No way …” Gilda said to herself. “How?!”
***
A Few Minutes Earlier
“You guys are going to go out the back door. After that, make your way towards where everyone parked at,” Sunset said to her two partners.
“And what about you?” asked Snails.
“I’m going to wait here and count to one hundred. That should to give you two enough time to loop around the building. After that, I’m going to walk out the front door and act as a distraction so that the two of you won’t get seen.” Sunset reached into her pocket and pulled out the metal piece that Snips had used to cut her free.
“While I keep them busy, I need you to take this and deflate a single tire on every car out there except for Dumbbell’s. And if you break a few windows and smash some mirrors, that’d be great too - the more banged up the better. After you send me a signal, I’ll point you guys out to everyone else. Chances are good that they’ll turn away from me and then try to stop you two instead. As soon as they get so close that running back for me is impossible, start up the car, pick me up, and then we’ll be in the clear,” Sunset explained.
“Don’t you think that’s a little dangerous?” questioned Snips. “You’re gonna get hurt again.”
“We don’t have much of a choice. Time is short. Dumbbell could wake up at any second, which would throw everything off if he warned Gilda about us. And besides, I’m the one that they want. As long as we get a move on, you guys should be fine.” Sunset reasoned.
“I’m still not sure if I like this plan,” said Snails. “It was bad enough seeing you get beaten up the first time …”
“Oh, do you have a better idea? Because I’d love to hear it.”
Snips and Snails still looked uncertain, but they eventually agreed to go along with Sunset’s idea.
“Snips, Snails, you guys know what you have to do. We’ll only get one shot at this. And if something goes wrong, then I want you guys to drive off without me. Don’t try anything heroic again. Do you understand?”
“Yeah, yeah, we hear you. Just … be careful out there, okay?” Snips pleaded.
“I’ll be fine. All I have to do is stand there and take a few more hits. You two are the ones who are gonna decide whether or not we make it back to Canterlot tonight.”
With those parting words, Sunset broke away from her two companions. They all knew what their assigned tasks were, as well as the risks that came with it.
Sunset quickly located the front door to the factory. After she had completed her countdown, she pushed the door open and stepped outside. Immediately afterwards, she saw Gilda standing in the distance.
“Snips, Snails, I’m counting on you.”