15.0 … In Which A Gillette Starts To Find Her Place …
“So, how’s it goin’ over at tha Castle, ya finally startin’ ta settle in?”
“Fair enough,” Sunset replied as she tried to work a kink out of her shoulder, “Still trying to find a decent cover, but I’ll think of something, and I think I might be getting the hang of this whole telekinesis thing.”
“‘Cover’?” Rarity frowned at the orange unicorn as she, Futtershy and Sunset took a short breather from helping Applejack with the family farm, “Really, darling, there is no need to treat everything as another street job.”
“Well, unless I want to start from scratch, I have to rely on my street op skills to get by, don’t I?” the razorfilly countered, “And I don’t have the right kind of discipline to make it in the Guard, so that leaves mercenary work or hiring on somewhere as a private bodyguard. So, why not combine them and be the agent of Princess Twilight and the Elements of Harmony that no one notices until it’s too late?” Sunset suddenly chuckled, “‘Princess Twilight and the Elements of Harmony’, God, you girls sound like the newest idol-pop band when I say it like that,” she observed, causing her friends to break into giggles.
Fluttershy glanced up from where she was giving AJ’s dog, Wynonna, a belly rub, “Um, you do realize that you don’t really blend into the background, don’t you?”
“Doesn’t matter, Flutters,” the former human waved her hoof dismissively, “Let’s be honest, how much attention does anyone, even you and Rares, really give the staff when you’re not directly interacting with them? The problem is, the best positions to explain me always being around are either Twilight’s personal assistant, which Spike handles quite well already, or as her … what was the word … a ‘handmaiden’, I think, and, well, Sparky just isn’t the type to have personal servants, a castle staff, sure, but not her own, private, retainers.”
“So, what’s yer plan? Ya’ll jus’ be around like?” the farmpony asked with a vague wave of her hoof, “An’ what, when somepony tries ta start somethin’, ya’ll jump on ‘em?”
“Something like that,” Sunset agreed, “I’ll let everyone focus on you girls and the guards in their shiny armor, and they’ll never think that me and my network, once I get it built, are waiting behind them with knives ready.”
Fluttershy frowned at her bloodthirsty friend for a moment, before turning to the fashionista, “Would you pass me that copy of the Foal Free Press, Rarity? Thank you,” turning back, she whapped the razorfilly on the muzzle with the paper, “Bad Sunset! Bad! Stop thinking like a criminal! Bad filly!”
“What? Ow! Flutters, stop I’m – Ow – I’m trying to help!”
“By creating an underworld empire, darling?”
“No,” Sunset growled, “By getting contacts and favors among the kind of people who know what’s happening in a town, but don’t talk to the guards, and doing what I can to protect all of you!”
The other three mares stared at her for a moment, “Sugarcube, ya don’t have ta look out for us no more,” Applejack pointed out gently as Fluttershy nuzzled the orange unicorn’s shoulder.
“Is Miz Sunset a’right?”
The razorfilly gave a strangled yelp as she spun around to see the three Cutie Mark Crusaders blinking up at her, “Where did you come from?!”
“Uhm, our clubhouse?” replied Scootaloo, exchanging confused looks with her two friends.
“It’s okay, fillies,” Rarity assured the foals, “Just a few things Sunset needs to bring up with her therapist. Perhaps a change of subject is in order?”
“Oh, oh! Could you tell us a story about what you did in the other world?” Sweetie Belle’s eager request brought instant agreement from the other Crusaders, and uneasy looks from Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity, who were still uncomfortable telling their friends and family about the less-than-legal activities they had gotten up to.
“Hey, I’ve got a bit of a tale, or a boogeyman story, I could share,” Sunset offered, drawing the fillies’ attention away from the relieved mares, “Just a quick question first, can your Equestrian magic raise the dead?”
“What? No, darling, of course not, you've played too many trideo games.”
“Just checking,” shrugged the razorfilly, “The story wouldn’t be near as impressive if you could. So, back through the mirror, there’s a guy named Ran … Rarity might have run across some word on him when she was learning about espers.”
The fashionista pursed her lips in thought, “Ran … Ran … oh, the … mentally unstable gentlecolt who lives in the Neo York Zero Zone.”
“That’s him,” Sunset nodded, “The world’s most powerful esper weapon with a mind like a bag full of cats. Rumor is that even The Empress walks a little softer if there’s a chance he might be around,” seeing the Crusaders’ confusion, she quickly explained, “Espers is what we call the folks with powers back home, kinda like how unicorns have magic and pegasi control the weather here.”
“Anyway, the story goes that about a year before I met your sisters, this group of folks gets it into their heads to kill him.
Nobody knows if they were acting on the orders of some megacorporation or government, or if they just wanted the reputation for being the ones who put down Ran, hell, nobody can even agree on who they were, but they had resources and they had a plan … the twelve of them were going to ambush Ran with enough firepower to turn the Atlantic ocean into sushi.”
“I thought you said that espers had all the powers,” protested Scoots, “That’d be like trying to ambush Princess Celestia or Princess Luna!”
“The Princesses are powerful, but they don’t know everything, that’s how Chrysalis got into the Palace, remember?” Fluttershy softly reminded the little pegasus.
“Flutters is right, plus Ran is known for crushing tanks by looking at them, not for reading minds or seeing the future, so getting the drop on him is a pretty solid plan, as far as it goes. Anyway, they went into the Zone, though it must have cost a truckload of money to get all those weapons past the guards manning the Brooklyn Bridge checkpoint, and headed for Southside, where Ran tends to hang out. Once they got into position, they set up a commotion to get Ran’s attention and bring him to them.
“Once Ran showed up to investigate, they hit him, and hit him hard. Multiple lines of attack to split his focus, gas and stun grenades to keep him off-balance and fra--mess with his concentration, when one part of the team had to reload or pull back to treat their wounded another would step in to keep the pressure on.
“And the fighting went on for hours, most of the people living in the Zone just went for cover and hoped they could wait it out. They say you could see the smoke all the way back at the Bridge, but, eventually, the strike team managed to wear Ran down, and finally, they dropped him, and because they’d seen a few horror sims, they put another dozen shots into him, just to make sure.
“After they gathered their gear and their dead, the three surviving members of the strike team went back to Neo York and started celebrating and bragging about how they had ‘killed the dragon’,” Sunset glanced at her audience, “Now this is where the ‘boogeyman’ thing comes in. So about three days after everything goes down in the Zone, the three survivors head off to their favorite bar to continue celebrating, but the bouncer isn’t at his post. They just shrug it off, figuring that he got called away to deal with something and head on in, but once inside, however, they notice that most of the lights are out and nobody seems to be around. They realize something is wrong, of course, but the door locks itself when they try to run back outside. Turning around, they see a light has turned on over one of the far tables, and sitting at it … is Ran, back from the dead and not looking like there’s a scratch on him. And Ran, he just looks at them and says, ‘So, I hear you killed me.’”
Fluttershy gave a small “Meep” while the Crusaders giggled, “Did any of that really happen?” Sweetie asked.
“I don’t know,” the orange unicorn admitted, “But I do know that Ran is very much alive, and right when that story first started going around, a club in Neo York was completely destroyed by an ‘esper event’ that Lone Star – that’s the guards – still haven’t bothered to really investigate.”
“Welp, time for us ta get back ta work,” drawled Applejack, drawing good-natured grumbles from Rarity and Sunset.
As they headed back into the fields, Sunset looked over at an approaching Big Mac, “Hey, AJ, about your brother ….”
“Sorry, sugarcube, tha answer is still no.”
“Enjoying your coffee?”
“Mmhmmm,” Sunset murmured, the mug clutched in her hooves as she nodded at the earth pony stallion sitting across from her, “You ponies have no idea how good your food is here. I’ve eaten more real food in the last three months than in the previous six years combined, and it was all wonderful,” she gave a contented sigh as she leaned into the mid-summer sunlight streaming in through the window.
“It’s good to see you embracing your new situation, Aurora,” Glacial Pond observed as he leaned back in his chair, ignoring the small glare the unicorn threw at him, “Perhaps it is time for you to welcome some more changes, to help you start afresh.”
“You’re going somewhere with this, I can tell.”
“Now, now, there is no call to be snippy,” the stallion chided her, “I just want to discuss your distaste for your given name, and your … potentially excessive efforts to ensure the wellbeing of your friends.”
“And just what is wrong with looking after my crew?”
“There’s nothing ‘wrong’ with being concerned for your friends, Aurora, but there is a concern that you may be taking it to unhealthy levels. Princess Twilight and the Element Bearers are quite capable of taking care of themselves, after all, as they have proven more than once.”
“I know that the girls can handle themselves!” snapped Sunset, “Hell, I ran with them for three years, I’d have to be blind not to know what those girls are capable of when pushed.”
Glacial shook his head, “You know intellectually that the Princess and the Bearers can look after themselves,” he disagreed, “But you haven’t accepted it yet. You continue to act like an overprotective big sister, and you’re allowing this drive to protect them to push you back into the same sort of extra-legal activities and relationships that you once engaged in because you had no choice, even when this is your chance to move beyond such ill-advised entanglements.”
The unicorn chewed on her lip as she considered the earth pony’s words, “Maybe, maybe I have been going a bit overboard trying to keep the girls safe ….”
“Making that realization is a good first step, Aurora,” the stallion nodded approvingly, “All I ask is that you try to think before you act, and if your first impulse when confronted with a situation or a problem is to do something illegal or immoral, please take a moment to reconsider your options,” he smiled at the mare, “Now, about your rather hostile reactions whenever somepony calls you by your name ….”
“Damn straighteners, always have to find a meaning in everything,” growled Sunset, “Maybe I just don’t like my name? And why is this such a big deal, anyway? What, is there a law against having two ‘Sunset Shimmers’ or something?”
“Of course not, that would just be silly, but you clearly desire to distance yourself from the pony you once were, even as you insist on clinging to the criminal identity it would benefit you to shed.”
“And maybe I like being ‘Sunset’? I worked my hoop off building a reputation with that name, and even if that rep doesn’t mean drek to all of you, it’s still important to me,” the razorfilly retorted, before taking a deep breath and visibly forcing herself to calm down, “As for ‘Aurora’, she was a worthless little slitch who ran away when her only family needed her the most, why would I want anything to do with her? Let her stay dead, were she belongs.”
“Failing to perform a meaningless sacrifice is not something to regret, Aurora,” Glacial reproached her, “What happened to you and Miss Doo, and the choice you were forced to make, was horrible, but by refusing to face it, by denying who you once were, you are preventing yourself from truly moving on and fully accepting the possibilities offered by your new life. And this is doing a disservice to yourself and Miss Doo,” the earth pony glanced up at the clock, “We’ll have to continue our discussion next week, but please, think about what I’ve said?”
A crisp autumn breeze blew through Ponyville as Sunset made her way back to the Castle of Friendship, her saddlebags filled with fresh supplies of paper, quills and the mail, after bumping into Ditzy, occasionally stopping along the way to look at the Nightmare Night decorations that adorned the town.
Reaching her residence, a deep gong announced her arrival as she pushed the gates open, drawing an amused smile from the unicorn, ‘Sparky is really getting into things, I wonder what’s next, creepy music from nowhere, or the shadows moving in the corner of people’s eyes?’ “I’m home!”
“We’re in the kitchen!” Spike called back, “You’re just in time for lunch!”
“Hey, I … hello, Rarity, I thought you were still in Manehattan opening your new store?”
“Did you now?” the fashionista smirked at the other unicorn from behind her teacup, “But I’m sure Risky Task has kept you apprised of any changes in my schedule.”
“‘Risky Task’? Who’s that?” Sunset asked innocently.
Spike looked up from the sandwiches he was making, “Isn’t Risky Task one of the ponies you’ve been getting mail from?”
Sunset facehoofed, “Yes, yes he is, thank you Spike.”
“Now don’t go blaming Spike, darling,” Rarity chided her, “Risky did his best, but he was no match for a Lady of my skills, and once he described his employer, well, it was clear who had arranged for my ‘extra hooves’.”
“Really?” grumbled Sunset as she slumped into a seat next to Twilight, who reached over to pat her shoulder consolingly, “That obvious, huh?”
“I’m afraid so, darling,” the white unicorn apologized, “A unicorn mare with your coloring, calling herself ‘Mercy’, and with, I quote, ‘creepy eyes’? Anyone who knows you would recognize that description immediately.”
“So, how did the opening go?” inquired Twilight.
“Oh, it was just wonderful!” gushed the fashionista, “Celebrities, entrepreneurs, and I believe I may have even found a new market, Mr. Task was quite taken with the bowler hat I gave him.”
“Damn it, Rares, I already paid Risky!”
“But of course you did, darling,” tutted Rarity, “I merely gave him a bonus for a job well done, is all. Believe me, I have no interest in subverting your little ‘network’.”
“Sunset,” Twilight sighed, “Didn’t Doctor Pond ask you to think twice before engaging in … morally or legally questionable activities?”
“I did think twice, Sparky,” Sunset assured the academic, “I just decided to go through with it anyway,” she added with a cheeky smirk, earning her a bop on the back of the head, “Aw, come on, Sparky, it’s not like I’m actually doing anything ‘questionable’, Pond just has a bug up his hoop about me ‘falling back into old patterns’.”
The other three just shook their heads as Spike laid out lunch for everyone, before Twilight turned to the white unicorn, “Oh, Rarity, Fluttershy has agreed to come out with us for Nightmare Night!”
“She has, why that’s fabulous!” Rarity clapped her hooves eagerly, “I can’t wait to see what everypony dresses up as!”
“How can you girls get so worked up over a kids’ holiday?” wondered Sunset as she lifted her sandwich in a red aura, “Heh, telekinesis, gotta say, I see why you girls like it so much, this is fun.”
“Nightmare Night is for everypony, Sunset, not just the foals,” Twilight protested, even as she gave the razorfilly an approving smile for her improved magical control.
The fashionista nodded, “Indeed, Nightmare Night is a beloved tradition where, for one night, even the Princesses can embrace the carefree joys of foalhood,” she encouraged her friend, “You really should join us, Sunset, dressing up, games, a few harmless scares, it will be fun.”
Sunset looked at her three friends, their eyes brimming with hope and enthusiasm, and sighed, “Fine, I’ll join you, maybe I can throw something together.”
“You’ll do no such thing!” declared Rarity adamantly, “‘Throw something together’, really now!” she tapped her chin as she looked the orange unicorn over, “Hmm … yes! A police pony! It’ll be perfect!”
“A cop? Me?!” Sunset stared at the blue-haired mare, before sighing in defeat “I’m not going to win this one, am I? Can I at least be a sexy cop?”
Spluttered coughing, as Spike choked on his sandwich and Twilight pounded the young dragon between the shoulders while she glared at Sunset, filled the kitchen for a minute before Spike finally croaked out, “I’m okay.”
“Sorry there, Spike,” the razorfilly apologized sheepishly, “Sometimes I forget how innocent you are.”
“Hmp,” Rarity sniffed, “Well, darlings, I need to get back to Carousel Boutique, thank you for lunch, Spike dear, and I’ll see you all Thursday night,” as she headed for the door, the fashionista paused to look back, “Oh, Sunset, I’ll see you on Thursday afternoon to get your costume fitted, ta-ta, darlings.”
The two ponies began to clear the table as Spike headed off to enjoy his free afternoon, however, once the young drake was gone, Twilight put a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder, “Is everything alright, Sunset? The fillies and I have been a little worried about how well you’re adjusting to Equestria.”
Sunset cocked an eyebrow at the Princess of Friendship, before giving her a small smile, “Yeah, Sparky, I’m adapting, even if I have pulled a few gumbys, but hey, I haven’t fragged anything up to badly, huh?” she reached up and squeezed the alicorn’s hoof, “Don’t worry, I know you and the girls have my back, just like I have yours’, whatever your cutesy, magic world throws at us, we’ll get thought it. Together.”
Twilight returned the smile and nodded, “Together.”
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Will there be a sequel?
8879626
I can see the potential, but I don't currently have anything in my head, and I don't want to make promises I can't deliver on ... so, someday, hopefully?
Maybe?
*raises a mug of Or'zet in the author's general direction* Ripping shot there, chummer, cheers to you! Gotta say, I loved it
9135830
Thank you kindly, chummer
Not often one hears about Kazei 5, I should pass this to my friend Surbrook, he'd be happy to hear about someone using part of his world book!
Not oft you find another person who knows the HERO System
9245785
If you do, please tell him that I think Kazie 5 is an excellent setting book, and I look forward to running (a modified version of) it one of these days.
9247684
Certainly will, he's been a big help with the rpg book I created, having written a number of the creatures in the beestiary within it, so its always great having another pro to discuss game dev with!
Great story! Loved the plot development and the way you kept the characters! You somehow managed to make them to hard and brutal things while keeping their innocence! Great story, maybe you could write more on how things played out back through the mirror. Maybe a sequel. Still a great story on its own anyway!
10866719
Thanks
Amazing story man enjoyed the read
11193500
Thanks