The Trick to Success

by Hakuno

5. Reconnaissance

Chapter 5. Reconnaissance

Rarity had worked with many girls, and some boys, in the past. She had come to know that many people would move around, talk, glance at their phones, or do anything that would force her to be extra careful when applying makeup, lest she make a mistake and have to restart.

Sunset Shimmer was not like that. If Rarity had to describe her, she’d use the words “demonic statue”. Shimmer wouldn’t move except to blink and breath, and her eyes, at first untrusting, progressively turned bored and uninterested, and only stared right back at Rarity.

Of course, Rarity was thankful that Shimmer wasn’t speaking at all, since she slipped insults into every sentence, but the more she looked at Shimmer’s stare, the more uncomfortable she got, and the more she wanted to at least have small chit-chat with her, as much as the mere thought sent a chill throughout her body

Fortunately, she had only started to apply some cream to Shimmer’s face when the thankfully obnoxious and impatient Rainbow Dash addressed her model.

“So, you’ve been on full stalker mode on the sirens for the past week,” she said, nibbling on a chocolate donut. “and you bought some top notch spy gear. You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Partly, yes,” Shimmer answered without even trying to look at Rainbow.

“She’s also trying to rescue her friends,” Trixie noted, sipping on her mug of coffee.

“Whatever the reason,” Sunset said, adding some sugar to her smoothie, “at least she’s on our side, and not theirs.”

At that, Shimmer flashed a grin. “Afraid of playing against the big kids?”

“As if,” Rainbow said. “Sunset just doesn’t want to hit herself, but I’m up for hitting two Sunsets!”

Shimmer could help but raise an eyebrow, much to Rarity’s discontent.

“You hit her?” Shimmer asked, stifling a chuckle. “Now there’s a story I want to hear.”

Rainbow was about to refuse, but Sunset spoke up first. “It was just a misunderstanding that escalated too quickly,” she said. Rainbow shot her a confused look, and Sunset shrugged.

Shimmer clicked her tongue. “That’s it? How childish.”

“Look who’s talking,” Rainbow said, crossing her arms in front of her.

“Oh yeah, I was childish alright,” Shimmer said, and her voice was two parts sarcasm, one part honesty. “But hitting people over misunderstandings is just plain stupid.”

“It was more than just a misunderstanding!” Rainbow said between gritted teeth. “But you wouldn’t understand.”

“If you tell me, I can tell you whether I understand or not,” Shimmer replied.

“Why do you want to know so badly? You don’t even care that much!”

Shimmer closed her right eye as Rarity started applying some more makeup on it. “Amuse me.”

Rainbow looked at Sunset, who only shrugged, then at Shimmer again. “Fine, if you want to know so bad, I’ll tell you. But only if you tell us something about you first. It’s a fair trade.”

“Alright. I’m a D-cup.”

Trixie coughed in her cup of coffee, spitting some over the table. Sunset groaned and rubbed the bridge of her nose, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks. Rarity shook her head and sighed through her nose.

Rainbow only deadpanned. “I meant something we care about.”

“Lollipop cares about it,” Shimmer said amusedly at Trixie’s beet-red face.

“The rest of us don’t!” Rainbow groaned. “Tell us what’s up with you not wanting to spend money even if you’re rich.”

Shimmer huffed and rolled her eyes. “If you don’t remember correctly, I was sent to prison. Now that I’m out, my family’s checking up on me a lot. So, for the little things I’m buying, like the transmitters, I’m using my personal savings in cash, so they don’t know.”

“And they don’t care about you skipping school?” Rainbow asked.

“I already told you one thing about me,” Shimmer said, closing now her left eye to let Rarity work. “It’s your turn.”

Rainbow frowned. “Sunset was a major bitch, I was an even bigger bitch. We argued, I hit her, we made up, we’re friends now.”

Shimmer shot her a look that said ‘are you serious?’ for a few seconds before speaking up. “Well, wasn’t that thrilling? You almost lost me with all the drama.”

“As much as I dislike it,” Trixie said as she finished cleaning the table with a napkin, “I have to agree with Rainbow here. That’s actually the best way to describe what happened.”

Shimmer looked at Sunset, finding a single nod headed her way. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Please don’t move that much,” Rarity said, holding a folded napkin with two fingers.

“You’re taking too long,” Shimmer grumbled. “You’d better not be messing my face with some ugly makeup!”

At that, Rarity managed to pale, gasping loudly and recoiling back. “Why I would NEVER!” Shimmer raised an eyebrow, and Rarity cleared her throat. “Ok, I’m not going to deny the thought crossed my mind, but if that were the case, I think you would’ve noticed.”

Shimmer crooked her mouth to the side to give Rarity an unamused glare.

“In any case, I’m almost done,” Rarity assured her. “So, if you stop moving, I can finish.” She then continued working.

“I think you just like touching me,” Shimmer said, grinning sideways. “Not that I’m complaining, but I’d rather you touch my-”

“Anyway,” Sunset interrupted her a little too loud. “What are you expecting to find in the sirens’ apartment? And how are we going to use it against them?”

Shimmer hummed. “Well, we can try sabotaging them by making them miss concert dates or business meetings. You know, so we hinder their chances to spread their hypnosis.” She sighed through her nose. “But that’s going to be meaningless on the long run, unless we step up and actually try confronting them.”

“And how do you suggest we do that?” Trixie asked with, frowning. “Last I checked, we don’t have magic like they do.”

“But we have an advantage,” Shimmer replied, eyeing Trixie by the corner of her eyes. “They don’t know we know about them. They won’t expect anyone trying to get near them with a purpose other than praising them.”

Rainbow huffed. “Does anyone other than me hate it that she’s being reasonable?”

“Sometimes, the craziest people get the most sensible ideas,” Rarity muttered as she gave Shimmer the last touches. She leaned back and narrowed her eyes, analyzing her job, and when she was satisfied, she nodded to herself and held up a mirror in front of Shimmer.

“I’m not crazy,” Shimmer said, leaning over to look at herself on the mirror. “I’m just mentally unstable.” She stared at her reflection, and couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth going up, morphing it into an honest smile. “Not bad, Sweetcheeks.”

“Will you stop calling me that?” Rarity said with a frown, angrily putting away her makeup.

“No,” Shimmer said simply. She leaned back on her chair and sipped on her own cup of coffee.

“You still haven’t answered,” Rainbow said. “Say we get close enough to them with their guard down. What then?”

Shimmer raised a hand in front of her and started using her fingers to count. “We could poison their food, ‘accidentally’ push them down the stairs, trick them into drinking bleach…”

The girls paled as Shimmer went on her list.

“I’m pretty sure rat poison can be hidden in brownies, but we’d have to make sure no one else eats them, right?” Shimmer raised her thumb and looked at the girls. “I was thinking, but it might not be a good idea to push them from their penthouse.”

Before Shimmer could continue, Trixie addressed her. “You’re kidding, right?” Shimmer raised an eyebrow. “Ok, just- What the heck?”

“What?” Shimmer asked. “I only mentioned indirect ways!”

“You’re asking us to commit murder!” Rarity had to use every drop of willpower she had to not yell at the top of her lungs.

Shimmer raised her arms in a confused manner. “Well yeah! How else do you want to defeat them? If what Sunshine says it’s true, then we can’t afford to let them get more powerful, right? And we don’t exactly have magic to counter them.”

“Listen,” Sunset said, rubbing the bridge of her nose and forcing herself to look at Shimmer. “We aren’t killing the sirens, and that’s final.”

“And I suppose you have a better plan to beat them, then?”

“No, I don’t!” Sunset replied, and she stopped a few seconds to consider. She felt a void in her stomach when she realized, right there and then, that she had been thinking about beating the sirens, but she hadn’t given a single thought to how to beat them. “But there must be something we can do!”

Shimmer snorted impatiently. “Yeah, well, when you have a better idea, let me know.”

“Why is it that you want to kill people so easily?” Rainbow asked, and immediately after shut her mouth as she realized she could’ve angered Shimmer.

But Shimmer only looked at her with an annoyed expression. “Because fuck you.”

Sunset sighed heavily. “Ok, look. You’ve been stalking the sirens for a while,” she said, looking at Shimmer tiredly. “Have you noticed anything strange? Something that greatly differs from your friends? Aside from the obvious evilness, that is.”

“Aside from them dressing like they’re stuck in the 80’s? Not really, no.”

The girls looked at Shimmer, then at each other, and Sunset noticed that even if there was silence, there was an awkward feeling around the table. Shimmer wasn’t making insulting remarks since she was distracted with looking at herself in the mirror, but she still made everyone uncomfortable.

Sunset felt a small tug in her chest. She wanted to help Shimmer, but she always made it difficult; but Sunset had to try, she had to heed her own need to see herself, and any version of herself, not destroying their lives. She was conflicted with the fact that Shimmer was, even now, a serious threat to go against, and at the same time, a sad and miserable husk of a human being.

It was difficult to see Shimmer as a normal girl, but Sunset wasn’t going to give up until she had tried everything.

“So… I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” Sunset said, addressing Shimmer as much casual as she could sound, while sneaking a hand around Trixie’s. “You know, since we’re technically speaking the same person, but very different at the same time.”

“Ah, finally some real conversation!” Shimmer said, putting the mirror down and looking curiously at Rarity quickly snatching it away from her reach. She dismissed the action and turned to Sunset. “Ask away, Sunshine.”

“Obviating the fact that we’re from completely different realities, I want to know just how our lives differ from each other, and how they are similar.” She shifted a little. “For example, a similitude might be that we both were born in wealthy families, and a difference is that, at some point, I was taken under the wing of my country’s sovereign ruler as apprentice of magic, whilst you’re still in High School.”

“What do you mean with “still”?” Shimmer asked. “As far as I know, you were attending High School not long ago.”

“Well, I, uh…” She looked at Rarity and Rainbow, then at Trixie, then at Shimmer again, and swallowed. “I’ve only told Trixie… and Principal Celestia, too, about this, but…” Her eyes darted from side to side as she smiled nervously. “I… I’m quite a bit older than you guys.”

“What?” Rainbow asked while tilting her head.

“I’m twenty-five years old, but when I came to this world, the portal gave me a younger body,” Sunset explained. “Since Twilight told me about you,” she addressed Shimmer. “I’ve been theorizing that the portal created a human body for me, taking into account an already existing one, that better matched my existence.”

Shimmer blinked twice and mouthed silent words for a moment. “So you’re saying that we’re the same person, physically and causally, but not metaphysically?”

“More or less,” Sunset replied. “If I think of the portal as a physical plane of existence, I’d say my original body is there, aging along with this borrowed body… Or more precisely, with me.” She pointed at herself with her free hand. “I was given an exact copy of what you looked like five years ago, but that’s it. Our lives, while similar, diverted due to the differences of our own worlds.”

“Like the existence or inexistence of magic,” Shimmer said with a nod.

“Yes,” Sunset said, and couldn’t help but grin. She had managed to make Shimmer talk without her insulting or making bad taste jokes!

“Is our sexual preference also the same?” Shimmer asked, and Sunset’s grin faltered. She shot an appraising look at Trixie. “Hmm, yeah we share that. This one’s a little dim for my tastes, though.”

Trixie scooted a little farther from Shimmer.

Maybe, Sunset thought, if she played her cards well, she could deviate the current subject to something more meaningful. “I’m pansexual, actually,” she replied. “Maybe that difference has to do with our upbringing. Are your parents as easygoing as mine?”

“Probably,” Shimmer answered with no real intention of following Sunset’s plan. “So you can bed anything that moves? That’s neat, I guess. I don’t really care for boys, I prefer the female anatomy, if you catch my drift.”

Shimmer sighed heavily. “You’re making me regret ever wanting to talk to you.”

“Oh, come on, like you’re not interested in these trivial things,” Shimmer said, amusedly shaking her hand. “For example, I think Lollipop is cute, yes, but I prefer girls like, say, Sweetcheeks over here.” She turned to Rarity and winked.

“I’m straight,” Rarity said, trying her hardest to hold her frown.

“So is spaghetti until it gets hot and wet,” Shimmer said, wiggling her eyebrows as Rarity only looked away in an attempt to ignore her. She looked at Rainbow, and then immediately at Sunset. “In any case, the most insignificant variables are normally the most valuable. That’s why today’s expedition to the lion’s den is so important.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve visited my friends’ house several times in the past,” Shimmer continued. “Today I’ll see how different and similar they are from the sirens. That way we’ll be able to get closer to beating them up.”

That sparked an idea in Sunset’s mind. “Hey why don’t you describe their house? That’ll help me notice anything astray that you might miss.”

Shimmer gave Sunset a curious look before shrugging. “Sure, why not?”

And that was Sunset’s first win over Shimmer’s antics. For the following hours, Shimmer went on and on about how the sirens’ human counterparts used to act and react, how they organized their rooms and how they would interact with others and each other. It was a very thorough explanation, to an extent that made Sunset remember how she used to keep records of students at CHS.

It seemed like the need of controlling everything and everyone for stupid reasons was also something they had in common.

~~~~~~~~

By the time Shimmer had said everything Sunset asked for, even answering all follow-up questions, it was already time to put their plan into motion. They exited the coffee shop and got into Shimmer’s car, and just as Sunset was taking the earphones from the box, Rarity spoke up.

“Girls, the sirens are here.”

Everyone turned around, and true to her words, the three girls were walking next to the conference center.

Sunset remembered the first time she had seen them, up on a stage, singing and dancing, pouring magic and absorbing energy. Now, from far away, they almost looked like normal girls, but there was still something uncanny around them. Sunset couldn’t put her finger on it, but at that moment, she thought they looked different somehow, even though they were wearing the same wine colored uniforms of Manhattan’s Academy.

“There they are,” Shimmer said, almost hissing. She turned to Sunset. “Get ready, Sunshine, once they get out, we’re going in.”

“So, those are the sirens?” Rainbow asked. “They don’t look that strong. Come on, we can beat ‘em up right now!”

But before Rainbow could open the door, Rarity grabbed her by the ear and pulled her away. “Rainbow Dash! Will you stop being so reckless?!”

“Ouch! That hurts!”

“Rainbow, please,” Sunset said, making sure to hide the earphones below her hair. “I need you, Rarity, and Trixie to be on watch, so please act like a sensible person for once.”

Rainbow frowned and stroked her ear, but said nothing.

“Alright, listen up,” Shimmer said, pulling her hoodie around her head. Sunset thought she sounded more serious than before, and she wasn’t sure how to interpret it. Shimmer put on her own pair of earphones, making sure to hide them with her hair. “Five minutes after the sirens get out and disappear around the corner, Sunshine and I’ll go in.” She turned around and gave Trixie the transmitter, pushing a button that made a little lightbulb shine a friendly green. “Now, we’ll hear everything you say.”

Sunset made a weird face, having heard what Shimmer said from two different sources. “That’s so creepy,” she said, and cringed a bit more at her own voice.

Trixie turned off the transmitter, and Sunset gave her a thankful look.

“Ok, let’s wait for them to get out so you two can do your thing,” Rainbow said, crossing her arms and looking annoyed. Sunset thought it was because she had been denied the opportunity to hit the sirens.

The girls fell silent, with the exception of Trixie and Rarity, who were fiddling with the transmitter, since it had many more buttons and dials than just a turn on/off button. Rainbow was just huffing to herself, and Sunset was carefully eyeing Shimmer, curiously noting how she was fixed on the entrance to the sirens’ building. She clearly was very focused on this, but although Sunset knew the reasons behind that, she thought that maybe there was something else.

But she had no time to dwell on it, as the sirens reappeared from the entrance of the building.

And they looked very different now. While the wine colored uniforms gave them a certain vibe of normality, their current attires made them stand out much more, with intricate and flamboyant costumes that accentuated their eccentric hairstyles. They certainly looked like they belonged to the past, and anyone passing by would at least steal a glance at them, even without any magic involved.

Sunset tried to make out their features, but they were far enough that she could barely see their faces, especially since they were moving as they talked and walked to the corner. And finally, they made a turn and disappeared behind the building.

A few minutes passed in utter silence inside the car; only their breathing could be heard. And then they were startled by Shimmer, who suddenly opened the door and got out. She turned around and looked at Sunset.

“Move, Sunshine!” She barked, then shut the door.

Sunset turned to Trixie. “Turn it on,” she said before getting off the car. By the time she caught up with Shimmer, she could hear a small buzz as the transmitter was activated.

“Let’s go over the plan again,” Shimmer said as Sunset got to her side. “We go inside, find anything useful, take pictures, and leave.”

“I thought you wanted to poison their food and set explosives,” Sunset said sarcastically.

Shimmer grinned sideways. “I still do, but not before we rescue my friends.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow and eyed Shimmer curiously. Rarity’s makeup work on Shimmer had made a great change on her semblance, making her look much more lively, much more similar to her.

And Sunset didn’t exactly know how to feel about it.

They entered the apartment complex, and it was every bit as elegant and fancy as she had pictured it to be. Shiny dark gray walls, marble pillars, and shiny black tiles on the floor decorated the lobby. A dark brown mahogany desk stood proudly as a reception, with a single lady of pale lavender skin and brown hair that was focused on what Sunset assumed were reports and schedules.

At the immediate sides of the reception there were staircases that were wide enough to fit four people using them at the same time. And a little further from the reception, to the left, there were four elevators placed inside what looked like a room of glass walls, and at the front center of them, a single tall desk the color of the walls, were a single guard was sitting and looking like he’d rather be anywhere else.

Shimmer approached him, moving her hips in wide circles that made the guard immediately notice her and produce a smile on his face.

“Excuse me,” Shimmer said, using a slightly higher pitch in her voice and a cadence that made her sound like a needy bimbo girl. Sunset had to admit she was impressed at how Shimmer could convey that image on herself with only a short sashay and a couple of words.

The guard, a young looking boy, not much older than Sunset herself, with a light brown skin and bluish white hair, smiled at Shimmer and straightened up. “Good afternoon, miss,” he said, audibly swallowing before continuing. “How may I help you?”

Shimmer bent over on the desk, having casually opened her coat just enough so, in her current position, her cleavage was very pronounced. “My sister and I lost our ID cards,” she motioned to Sunset, and the guard’s smile widened even more. “Can you make an exception and let us in? Just this once?”

The guard looked nervous, and he started to sweat. “I-I’m sorry, b-but I can’t…”

Shimmer frowned, and Sunset felt a sudden rush of adrenaline. She hadn’t even formed a thought when her body had already moved to Shimmer’s side.

“Are you serious, Sunstroke?” Sunset told Shimmer. “Did you lose the card just so you could get in someone’s pants, again?” She scoffed and crossed her arms. “This is why people think I’m the harlot!” She then visibly eyed the guard and faked a smirk. “I can see the appeal to this one, though.”

That did it. The poor inexperienced boy couldn’t stand it anymore. He blushed and flushed and looked like was about to faint right then and there. “I-I-I s-suppose I c-can let you i-in just t-this once… I-I just need y-you to r-register… Y-Your p-phone numbers s-should suffice!”

In the time it took the stuttering guard to stop talking, Shimmer had already caught on on what Sunset had done, and she only got a little closer to him, making the most seductive bed eyes she could produce.

“My, aren’t you a smart one,” Shimmer said, casually reaching for one of the pens that were lying on the desk, then began writing a phone number. “Call me, and I’ll repay this favor… tenfold.” Her voice was like a purr, and almost a whisper, as she was so close to his face that, had he moved just an inch closer, he could’ve stolen a kiss from her.

When the guard nodded, Shimmer and Sunset entered the glass doors and went straight to the elevators without looking back. Once inside one of them and on their way to the penthouse, Sunset leaned on the wall and sighed heavily.

“Not bad, Sunshine,” Shimmer said amusedly. “You avoided me hurting someone, gave me a nickname, and also called me a whore. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Just shut up.”

Just being in the same building as Shimmer made Sunset have contradicting feelings about her, but being in such a small place like the elevator, even if it was bigger than a normal one, made Sunset feel uncomfortable. Shimmer was overbold, looking at her with a smile that she couldn’t quite discern, and the fact that she wasn’t able to know what Shimmer was thinking made Sunset feel both very excited for the scientific connotations, and very scared because of Shimmer’s volatile nature.

Fortunately, the elevator proved to be much faster than what Sunset had thought, and they were in the highest floor possible in no time. The bell rang and the doors opened.

They were met with a hallway that went all the way across the area of the building, with other three hallways crossing it in a perpendicular way, giving the floor a tiled appearance. But, as Sunset soon noticed, the many apartments marked with expensive looking doors that lined up were not, by any means, a penthouse.

“This isn’t the penthouse,” Sunset noticed with such obviousness that she felt stupid just for saying it.

“Well, no,” Shimmer answered as she got off the elevator. “There’s a video camera in the elevator, and I don’t want them to see us going all the way to the penthouse.”

Sunset looked up, and true enough, a single black orb attached to the small space that was the left upper corner was recording her every movement. She suddenly felt observed and exposed, and her heart skipped a beat as she quickly stepped into the hallway.

“Why didn’t you tell me there were cameras?!” Sunset hissed.

“Relax, the elevators’ are the only ones,” Shimmer said with a shrug and walked up to the stairs.

Sunset huffed and followed her. Shimmer really seemed like knowing what she was doing, but Sunset couldn’t brush off the feeling that everything was going to go wrong so fast she wouldn’t be able to see it until it was too late.

She tried to ignore those pessimistic thoughts, and shaking her head, climbed up the stairs with Shimmer.

It wasn’t long before they arrived to their destination. At first glance, it looked like a single square that only housed a single elevator door, the staircase, and in front of them, a wall and a lone door just in front.

“Welcome to the sirens’ evil lair,” Shimmer said as she approached the door.

Sunset looked at the it. It seemed like any other normal door, but upon closer inspection, she noticed it was pretty heavy, and it probably had a very modern locking mechanism.

“So, how are we supposed to go in?” Sunset asked. “I don’t suppose you know how to pick locks.”

“Even if I knew, it wouldn’t help,” Shimmer replied, reaching inside her coat. “This door has a magnetic lock, so no amount of lockpicks or bump keys are going to be of any use.” She produced a small black box with wires and levers attached to it. “So we’re going to need a special kind of key.”

Sunset eyed the object with curiosity. It looked dangerous. Then again, anything in Shimmer’s hands was potentially dangerous.

“What is it, and how does it work?” Sunset couldn’t help her inner scholar.

Shimmer flaunted the object. “It’s a jammer, and what it does is opening this door.” Sunset raised an eyebrow, and Shimmer huffed exasperatedly. “Look, I’m not going to give you a full presentation. Just know that it will act like an electronic key.” She placed the jammer over what looked like an infrared card reader. “You see, the door is locked because it’s energized. A key card disrupts the energy current, the lock opens, the door moves, and the energy returns. The process lasts only a second, but it’s enough to open the door.”

She pulled a few levers, the jammer vibrated, and after a few seconds, there was an electronic beep, and the door opened.

“And voilá!” Shimmer exclaimed, pulling her jammer close to her. “I knew it’d come in handy some time!”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “I don’t even want to know.”

“Yes you do,” Shimmer said with a halfway grin. “This jammer is Twilight and I’s first project ever. She wasn’t very sure about it at first, but once we got to it, she was giddy and vibrating out of excitement.”

Sunset hummed in acknowledgement and crossed the door.

She was immediately met with what could only be described as an oasis. Just one look was enough to tell Sunset that the penthouse was the size of the whole building’s area. The first thing she saw was a large living room consisting of three large black couches that looked as expensive as her whole apartment building, surrounding a glass coffee table with a single white leg that supported it, and a gigantic flat TV that reminded her of a movie theater’s screen.

To the right, a single step that gave view to a turned off fireplace, and next to it, covered only by an eccentric bar, a kitchen that looked too small for the size of the whole place.

To the left of the living room, a single hallway that gave way to what she assumed were the bedrooms.

And in front of the living room, separated only by a wall made entirely of glass, was an open place that had access through glass doors and another set of stairs. Beach chairs and umbrellas told Sunset that there was a pool there.

“Well, isn’t this pretty?” Shimmer’s voice snapped Sunset out of her reverie. “Kind of disappointing, really. I thought we’d see torture victims or something alike.”

Sunset decided to ignore her and grabbed her cellphone, dialing Trixie’s number. She heard Trixie’s ringtone through the earphones. “Hey, Trix. We’re in.” Sunset could hear herself talking, but fortunately, it was too faint that she could ignore it.

“How is it?!” Rainbow asked a bit too excited.

“It’s… expensive looking.” Sunset didn’t really know a better way to describe it.

“Hey, Sunshine!” Shimmer yelled from the hallway. “Move your bubble butt here and help me search this place!”

“Tell Shimmer to shut up!” Rainbow barked.

Shimmer laughed. “Gayhair is such an idiot!” She said as she opened one of the doors.

“She can hear you just fine, Rainbow,” Trixie said. “So just tell her yourself.”

“Shut up, Shimmer!”

Sunset scoffed and walked to the hallway. On her way there, she noticed that the white walls were very bare. Maybe the sirens had been there for so little time that they hadn’t had time to decorate, or maybe they just didn’t feel like it.

She entered the room Shimmer had gotten into, and saw her searching on a wooden drawer.

The room itself, whilst incredibly big, reminded Sunset of one of Fluttershy’s pictures she’d sometimes share where a lot of colors blended together in an hypnotic rainbow that made her feel like she was going too fast. But unlike those pretty pictures, this room was an utter disaster.

Furniture of all colors, sizes and shapes sent the room in a decor mess, and all kinds of clothes like blouses, socks, skirts, pants and other unidentifiable pieces of garments were scattered everywhere, making everything unidentifiable. And the wall sized window was covered by a thick curtain that didn’t let much light pass through. It reminded Sunset to Flash’s room, but if a whole football team shared it and were messier than the average male teenager.

On the simple bed, whose crimson bedsheets were tossed into a ball on a corner, there was one of the wine colored uniforms, also piled up carelessly.

“These sirens sure are pigs,” Shimmer commented as she closed the drawer. “I wouldn’t be surprised if a spider suddenly jumps on us.” She opened another drawer and a small smile appeared on her face. “Oh, found the underwear drawer!”

“You disgust me,” Trixie said, and Shimmer only snickered.

Sunset roller her eyes. “I’m going to search another room,” was all she said before stepping out of the room and going to the immediate one.

Sunset almost wished she hadn’t, because it was so pink that it put Pinkie’s own to shame. A bright pink bed with pastel pink pillows and dark pink diamond patterns. A soft pink carpet, fuchsia walls and a pale pink ceiling. The two night tables, also pink, sat comfortably at the bedsides. To the far left, a wall sized closet of pink doors; to the far right, a pink desk that looked like a triangle, occupying a corner and space of two walls, with a pink chair right in front of it. Over to the wall that separated the room from the hallway, there were two pink shelves with various objects placed at random.

“At least Pinkie uses some blue and yellow,” Sunset muttered as she entered. It was also pretty well organized and clean, sans the wine colored uniform carefully folded on the bed being the only non pink object in the vicinity.

“What was that?” Trixie’s voice came from her earphones.

“Nothing,” Sunset said pulling her phone close to her. “It’s just that one of the sirens is trying to beat Pinkie in the pinkiness contest.” She sighed. “I’ll start searching. I’ll call you if we find something and we get out.” She then hung up and looked at the bedroom again.

The desk was the perfect place to start, Sunset reckoned. When she got closer, she noticed a small pink laptop and a couple of DVDs carefully organized by color to the side. Upon closer inspection, Sunset realized they were various film genres, going from romance to action to horror. Sunset thought this particular siren was trying to understand human culture by watching and reading pieces of every genre imaginable.

She sat down and opened the laptop. It wasn’t locked by password, so she could easily access. Just like the room, everything was perfectly organized and labeled, and Sunset couldn’t help but smile at how easy it was.

But after a couple of minutes, she found nothing but movies, T.V. series, cartoons, and other stuff related with pure entertainment. Sunset thought of looking over the internet history, but not only was it completely clear, but the browser was very bare, as if it had never been used before.

Sunset closed the laptop and sighed. It wasn’t going to be that easy.

She stood up and began searching the night tables. She found lots of pink notebooks full with scribbles and what looked like words in pink tint. The sirens were clearly just adjusting to having fingers. Sunset quickly looked them up, but she just found more and more garbage.

She then walked to the shelves, and where she first thought were objects placed at random, she found that each shelf had a theme. A shelf with books, a shelf with board games, a shelf with movies, a shelf with videogames, a shelf with empty photograph frames, and a shelf with more pink notebooks.

Sunset started searching the notebooks, finding that all of them were completely new and unused. She had just begun taking out the books when Shimmer entered the room.

“Whoa this is so garish!” She exclaimed. “It looks like a toddler lives here!”

Sunset read the book title, “Quantum Physics”, it said. She raised an eyebrow and opened it. “It looks like whoever lives here doesn’t quite understand what’s going on.” She closed the book and grabbed another, this one read “Chooga chooga choo-choo and other children’s stories”. “These books were picked at random.”

“So it seems,” Shimmer eyed the laptop. “I’m assuming you already searched this?”

Sunset turned to see what Shimmer was talking about, then to the bookshelf again. “Yes. There’s nothing there, or in the night tables.”

“Did you search the bed?”

“The bed?” Sunset asked confused. “Why would I?”

Shimmer rolled her eyes. “Seriously? Children sometimes keep important things under their pillows.” She pulled the pillows and placed them away, finding a quite thick pink book with a small magnetic belt. “Voilá un journal!” She grabbed the book and opened it.

Sunset put the book away and walked to Shimmer. “What is it?”

Shimmer frowned. “I thought it was a diary, but this is just gibberish.”

“Let me see,” Sunset said, and Shimmer gave her the book. Sunset opened it and started reading. At first, it struck her as just gibberish, but the more she looked at it, the more she understood some words. Her eyes widened in realization. “This isn’t gibberish! This is old Ponish!”

“What?”

“Old Ponish!” Sunset repeated as she paid closer attention to the words. “The penmanship is horrible, but I can make out some words!”

Shimmer moved closer to take a look. “Can you really read that?”

“I… I think so,” Sunset replied. “I’m a little rusty, but give me time and I’m pretty sure I can translate this.”

“Well, we don’t have all day, so take pictures and put it back,” Shimmer said. She huffed and walked up to the closet. “Let’s see if we can find more pony shit over here.”

Sunset hummed as she recognized a few words, but without the whole picture, and being rushed, she wasn’t going to do anything. She decided to do as Shimmer said and took photos to all the diary. When she finished, she sent all the photos to Trixie’s phone and a message urging her to save them. She heard Trixie’s phone and the subsequent chatter through her earphones.

“Alright, i finished,” she said as she turned to her doppelganger. Shimmer nodded in acknowledgement and kept searching the underwear area. Sunset rolled her eyes, opting to ignore her, and went to the next room.

This one was, to her surprise, a recording studio. Or what looked like one, according to her knowledge. The room was divided in two parts: The first half had machines Sunset barely recognized as recording equipment and that stuff; and the second half, being separated by a single glass wall with a door, had a trio of professional looking microphones, and the three other walls had those panels that reduced sound.

Sunset had no idea of how to use any of those things, let alone retrieve information, so she decided to leave it to Shimmer. As she got to the hallway, she told Shimmer to search the recording studio. Shimmer answered with a grunt, but that sounded like a yes.

Deciding it was enough, Sunset got into the last and farthest room.

She didn’t know what she had been expecting, but she certainly hadn’t thought it would be so bare. White walls and ceiling and the same tiled floor as the rest of the common area of the penthouse. A single king size bed with gray brass frame and yellowish-white sheets. White night tables to its sides, a white dresser to the far right, and a dark gray desk to the far left. The closet’s doors were white, and the wall sized window was covered by white blinders.

It looked like this siren had no particular interest in decor, but still wanted to be tidy. Or at least that’s what Sunset thought, since, unlike the other two sirens, this one hadn’t left her uniform anywhere visible.

Sunset began searching the place. There was no diary under the pillows, or scribbles in the night tables’ drawers; she did find some documents in the dresser with what she assumed was falsified information about the sirens, just like her own. She took photos and sent them to Trixie before putting them away.

On the desk, there was a desktop computer, which Sunset tried to use, but it was blocked by a password, so she searched the desk to see if the siren had wrote it down. She found random office supplies in the first two drawers, but the third and last one proved to be more interesting; It had contracts with radio stations and one for an official recording. She took her phone and began taking pictures.

When she was halfway done, Shimmer came in.

“The recording studio is there just to show, I think,” Shimmer said as she sat down on the bed. “They haven’t used it.”

“Maybe they’re just practicing,” Sunset replied as she kept taking pictures.

Shimmer raised an eyebrow. “What did you find, Bubbles?”

“Bubbles?” Sunset asked with a confused voice.

“Cuz you have a bubble butt.”

Sunset stared blankly at her for a moment. “That sounds like you’re jealous,” she scoffed.

There was a slight glimmer in Shimmer’s eyes that told Sunset she wasn’t far from the truth.

“Would you rather I call you ‘Impersonating whore’?” Shimmer asked a little too harshly.

Sunset decided not to play with fire and returned to taking photos. “These are contracts. You know about these things, right? You can tell us exactly what are the sirens next steps.”

Shimmer hummed, and Sunset could feel she was more relaxed.

“Yeah I can,” Shimmer replied. She got up and went to the closet, where she started rummaging through the clothes. “Anything else?”

Sunset took the last photos and put the papers away. “I found their personal documents. They may be falsified, but I think they can be helpful.”

“Interesting.”

Sunset and Shimmer kept searching for a few more minutes, hearing Rainbow, Rarity, and Trixie talking and discussing about what Sunset had sent them. Most of it was Rainbow wanting to get physical with the sirens whilst Rarity and Trixie ignored her and actually commented on the information.

At the end, Sunset felt bad she couldn’t find the password to the PC, but at least they had found what they had been looking and a little more. Contracts, ID Documentation, and a Journal in Old Ponish. And feeling like they had finished, they made sure to leave everything exactly like they found it, and get out.

Shimmer was very insistent in walking down the same amount of floors through the stairs they had used when they came in, saying something about police T.V. shows or something. Sunset didn’t quite understand, but she didn’t want to upset Shimmer, so she did as was told.

They got to the lobby, where the guard waved them goodbye, and they quickly crossed the avenue and got into the car.

“That’s it?” Rainbow asked once both Sunset and Shimmer had gotten in. “I really thought the sirens would show up before time and you’d have to get out all sneaky and stuff!”

“Shut up, Gayhair,” Shimmer said.

But before Rainbow could start arguing with Shimmer, Trixie intervened. “So, what was all that gibberish you sent me, Sunny?”

Sunset turned around, unable to keep her excitement out of her grin.

“That’s Old Ponish!”

Author's Note:

I'm struggling to write less than 8k words =|

Comments

[CSC]

As usual, Shimmer comes off as a bitch. When is Sunset going to give up on her?

[Axle the Cobalt Exorcist]

No suprise Sonata's room was the most childish

[Seether00]

8591207
She's mentally ill and on meds.

[LaTorpeJefe]

Ooooooh !!!!! Shipping...... I like it. I’ll be cheering Shimmer on
How do you get your writing to be hilarious and edgy at the same ? It is so free flowing

[Noctis Prism]

And thus, the powers of us needs are validated! We decipher your enemies ancient language!

[lazyreader19]

Looking forward to when this eventually starts updating again.

[ponyponipon3]

“I’m not crazy... I’m just mentally unstable.”

I need to have that tattooed on my forehead

[ponyponipon3]

“I’m straight,” Rarity said, trying her hardest to hold her frown.

“So is spaghetti until it gets hot and wet,”

[Pr1deM0rn1ngstar]

So is spaghetti until it gets hot and wet

Oh God she did not just go there