The Trick to Success

by Hakuno

7. Entice

Chapter 7. Entice.

Rainbow eyed the wall wearily. It was completely covered, from floor to ceiling, corner to corner, with meticulously placed sheets of different colors. Yellow, blue, green, and pink adorned the once white wall with several red strings attached to some sheets, connected to others, turning and swirling in what looked like a chaotic turmoil of craziness.

It wasn’t the only wall, though, the rest of the living room, dining room, and part of the kitchen were in a similar state. And each of the sections, that were separated for easier inspection, though some strings connected them here and there, was supervised by one of the remaining seven girls of the group.

“Seriously though,” Rainbow said, looking at one of the sheets near the upper right side corner. “A massive shooting? Do they really expect that to happen?”

Rarity scoffed. She was sitting on the couch, looking at the next wall. “Don’t complain, Rainbow Dash. You’re not looking at the ‘Natural Disasters’ wall.”

“Evil magical transformations here,” Applejack said, looking at her section.

“I’m sure most of this was just to appease Shimmer,” Trixie said, trying not to laugh at a sheet that described a contingency plan in case the sirens turned out to be minions of some greater evil. “You know what they say, if you can’t beat them…”

Twilight huffed and leaned back on her chair. “I still can’t believe they’re still planning on kidnapping one of them.”

“That is pretty serious,” Fluttershy agreed meekly.

“What are we even supposed to do then?” Applejack asked. “The other two sirens will notice right away, right?” She sighed heavily. “We fell deep into the well…”

“I mean, as long as we take the gems from them, they can’t do anything, right?” Rarity offered with a nervous smile. “So, no real point on keeping them as hostages once we make sure they can’t do anything evil... right?”

“While I’m afraid Shimmer might take things even further,” Trixie said. “I can’t think of a better way to deal with this situation.” She lazily threw her head back. “Trust me, I tried.”

“Surprise muffins!” Pinkie yelled excitedly, barging into the living room with a tray full of treats. She placed it upon the table and went back to the kitchen.

Applejack was the first to take one as she looked at the kitchen door closing behind Pinkie. “Poor gal,” she said under her breath.

“She’s taking it even worse than Fluttershy,” Rainbow noted.

Fluttershy had been sitting on a corner, her knees up her chin and attempting to use her hair to hide her entire body. She looked at Rainbow for a moment, then back at the floor.

“I just hope everything turns out alright,” Trixie said as she looked at her phone. “The concert is about to end... “ The air around the room thickened as she pronounced those words, and she saw the girls slowly turning to their respective sections of Sunset and Shimmer’s multiple plans.

“So this is it,” Applejack sighed. “There’s no turning back now.”

Twilight shook her head. “If everything goes according to Sunset’s plan, we won’t have to do this for much longer than strictly necessary.”

~~~~~~~~

“Knave,” Shimmer said. Her voice resonated into Sunset’s ears, muffled and distorted, as if it was coming from a pair of walkie-talkies. Once again, Sunset noted, even if Shimmer was three feet away, she could only hear her voice through the earphones.

They had been hiding in one of the many bathrooms within the arena, and just like Sunset had accounted for, not a single soul had left the concert area since it started. Even the guards had left their stations to attend.

“Espousal,” Sunset replied. She could hear her own voice, too, if a little faint and distant. She was sitting on the sinks, staring at Shimmer’s phone, which was zooming in to the platform where the sirens were singing. Sunset noted they barely danced, sticking to slow, seductive movements.

“Laver,” Shimmer said. She was leaning against one of the separations of the stalls, also looking at her phone, slightly fidgeting with her feet.

“Can we stop now?” Sunset asked with a tired sigh. “We’ve been doing this for two hours. The concert’s about to end, and we need to focus.”

“So you’re giving up,” Shimmer replied with a grin. “I knew the only thing you could beat me at was chess.”

Sunset stared at her for a moment. “Ruth. And I could beat you at any game any time.”

“Hither,” Shimmer continued with a satisfied smirk. “I bet you a thousand dollars we can keep this up even while putting the plan into motion.”

“Recreant. And no deal,” Sunset added quickly. “As much as I could use the money, we need to stay focused. This is no laughing matter.”

“Tithe,” Shimmer said after rolling her eyes. “And you’re a chicken.”

Sunset opened her mouth, but closed it when the stage suddenly went dark. “Crap, they finished early! We have to begin!”

Shimmer quickly gathered her bearings as Sunset grabbed the phone and dialed Trixie’s number. Since it was somehow connected to the receptor in both their gears, both of them heard the tone and Trixie’s answer.

“Hey, Sunny!”

“Concert’s finished,” Sunset said hastily, getting off the sinks. “Phase one is on.”

“Hah! I win!” Shimmer celebrated as she walked to the bathroom’s exit.

“Expiry,” Sunset said. Shimmer looked back at her with a surprised look. “Bet’s on, bitch.”

Shimmer’s grin widened as she got out.

“What?” Trixie asked after a pause.

“Nothing, baby, I was talking to her,” she replied.

“Still not wanting to say my name, huh?” Sunset heard Shimmer through her earphones. “Yclept.”

“I think I’ll win some much needed money,” Sunset told Trixie. “Don’t get weirded out if I say random words, I need you to put me on speaker so we can concentrate on the plan.”

Trixie made a small pause. “Sure…”

Sunset sighed heavily and smiled to herself. “Timbrel.”

~~~~~~~~

Shimmer walked down the aisle, her backstage pass bumping against her hip with every step. She eyed the open doors that gave way to the arena. People were still fighting even though the sirens had already left. Still, she made sure to remain in the opposite part of the aisle, just in case.

“Laud,” she said. Sunset had been talking to Trixie and the rest of the girls, making sure everyone knew what to do in case anything went south.

“Drab,” Sunset replied.

Shimmer made a turn. A pair of big muscular goons dressed with barely fitting tuxedos stood in her way, each guarding an end of a red band that served as reminder that not everyone was allowed.

She casually showed them her pass. One of them, the biggest one, leaned in to look at it a little closer, then nodded and lifted the bar so she could pass.

With a nod, she strutted her way in. “Baseborn,” she muttered.

According to the small croquis she had received when she bought the backstage pass, the lounge where the sirens currently were was at the far corner. She had thought at first she was lucky; she could make a lot of noise and none would be the wiser.

But as she got nearer, her heart started to bump faster and faster as she realized that it would also make it harder for her to escape in case the sirens saw through her plan. She swallowed a knot in her throat.

“Numbles,” she heard Sunset say. “How’s it going?”

“Almost there,” she replied under her breath. She noticed how shaky her voice sounded, and she bit her lip in an attempt to stop it.

She was barely a few meters away when the door labeled “backstage” suddenly opened. Shimmer felt her mouth dry up, chills running down her spine, and sweat beginning to form in her forehead. She hated feeling like this. “Sciolist,” she said quickly before taking a deep breath.

The sirens stepped out the room, dressed not with their flamboyant costumes, but with surprisingly normal jackets and jeans. Adagio, whose massive hair almost entirely covered the other two sirens, was the first to lay eyes on Shimmer.

“Taiga,” Sunset said. “Be careful, ok?”

“Look what we have here,” Adagio said with a sultry voice.

Shimmer forced a stupid smile, one she’d seen many people make when listening to the sirens, and made a herculean effort to step forward.

“O. M. G!” She said loudly. “I can’t believe I’m in front of you! I’m, like, super excited!” She prayed to all conceived deities in any number of worlds that her nasal voice, sweaty body, and acting skills were enough to fool the sirens.

Aria walked past Adagio’s hair and curiously eyed Shimmer from top to bottom. “Great, another ‘groupie’?” She asked lazily.

Shimmer could barely hear what they said since her earphones were both blocking and distorting sound. But she couldn’t risk them noticing.

She offered a wide smile. “I’ve been waiting, like, a long time for this!” She took out the poster of the concert, which she had neatly folded and kept inside her hoodie, and showed it to the sirens. “Can I get your autographs?! Oh my god can I touch your hair?!”

Adagio gave her a disgusted look and was about to answer when Sonata stepped forth and took a good look at Shimmer.

“Hey, she’s pretty!” She said with such a high pitched voice Shimmer could perfectly hear her. “Can I keep her? Pretty please?”

“No!” Adagio answered angrily. “I don’t want to have to throw away another corpse!”

Shimmer’s heart stopped for a moment. Were they seriously talking about it so lightly and so in the open like that? Even she had tried to keep her crimes away from public knowledge as much as possible.

“How was I supposed to know I had to tell him to eat?”

“A no is a no, Sonata,” Adagio said. “If you want to play with her that’s fine, but I want her away from the house.” And with that, she walked past a stunned Shimmer, not even bothering to look her way.

“But I can still have her tonight, right?!” Sonata yelled, but Adagio was already gone.

Aria rolled her eyes. “You know what? Don’t even bother coming home until you’re done with this human.” She then followed Adagio.

To say Shimmer was shocked was a serious understatement. None of her plans or ideas had accounted for this to be so easy! Here she was, virtually alone with only one siren, wanting to spend some private time with her, and she hadn’t even had to suggest it! It was too perfect to be real.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Sonata asked. Shimmer thought she had never heard her friend, the real Sonata, use such a seductive voice before. “If you’re half as a good as my last pet, I’ll make an effort to keep you well fed.”

It took every bit of willpower Shimmer had to keep smiling. She stepped closer, actually looking down at Sonata, and quickly engaged her in a deep kiss. Suddenly, Sonata clinged to her, literally, encircling her arms and legs around Shimmer, forcing her to carry her.

Shimmer knew she had to act quick, so she made her way, as quickly as possible, into the backstage room. She used a foot to slam the door close. She had to turn and look sideways to see where she was going, and after spotting a couch, she walked over and let Sonata fall on it.

“You’re a good kisser,” Sonata complimented her. Without wasting another second, she grabbed Shimmer’s hoodie and unzipped it. For a moment, Shimmer feared Sonata would notice the microphone attached to the collar of her shirt, but it didn’t happen. Instead, Sonata grabbed her by the back of her head and pulled her into another kiss.

Shimmer decided to play along for a bit. Even though she looked and sounded exactly like her human counterpart, this Sonata acted very differently, so she had to be extra careful to help lower her guard. And so, she climbed upon the siren, deepening the kiss, and began caressing her curves with her hands.
Sonata moaned, and suddenly Shimmer’s whole body trembled as it exploded with passion. Sonata was, surprisingly, a very good kisser. Her hands were all over Shimmer’s body, making her shiver and moan as pleasure spread over her like a fire.

~~~~~~~~

Breaking the kiss, Shimmer leaned back. Her body was hot, she looked down, both of them were completely naked, covered in sweat, and panting heavily. Their clothes were scattered across the room.
When did that happen? Last Shimmer remembered, she was leading Sonata on and then... A kiss? But that shouldn’t have done anything like this.

Realization hit Shimmer like a train.

A moan.

It had taken one single moan to make Shimmer completely lose her mind. For a moment, she had completely forgotten about the situation she was in. She had forgotten about her mission, the threat, and everything else; for a moment, all that had mattered to her was the siren.

For a moment, she had completely fallen under her spell.

She tried to look around, but it only made the world spin, forcing her to look down at Sonata again. She was gorgeous. Her smooth skin, her cute messy hair, her green eyes. Everything about her was a wonder. Shimmer felt lucky to be where she was, to be nothing but Sonata’s precious pet. She felt grateful when Sonata grabbed a handful of her hair and forced her into another kiss.

It was everything she had ever wanted in her life.

~~~~~~~~

Sonata pushed her away again, making her stare once more into those beautiful eyes, magenta, like the color of the clouds during those ephemeral minutes of a summer sunset. Sonata blinked, and her eyes were green again, like the grass of a beautiful day upon a hill.

Shimmer blinked. She felt like waking up after a nightmare as her own breathing startled her.

For a split second, she came back to her senses. She spotted the red gemstone resting on the middle of Sonata’s collarbone. It shone brightly, and Shimmer felt a primal need to let go of all her worries, of everything she thought she cared about. After all, Sonata was the only thing that truly made her happy.

But then again, something else, deep inside her brain, told her she was wrong. Shimmer wanted to ignore it, to let herself fall into Sonata’s embrace again. She wanted to make love to her once more, and many more times. And yet, that little voice in the back of her mind screamed at her, desperately demanding her attention.

Shimmer brushed a finger against the gem, and it felt hot, like a sharp knife that was left for hours into a bonfire. Her mind barely registered the pain, but it did. And it made her wake up.

She leaned over again, smiling to the siren, then, as fast as she could, she wrapped her hand around the gemstone and, with as much strength as she was physically capable of, she pulled.

There was a ripping sound. Sonata’s eyes widened in horror and her pupils shrank. Shimmer managed to jump out of her way before she could hit her with her flailing arms. The world had finally stopped spinning, and Shimmer was ready to run away, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the writhing siren.

Sonata looked like she was having a seizure as her body had violent spasms. She barely turned to her side before she barfed, still convulsing.

When she stopped, Sonata simply laid there, seemingly unconscious.

After what felt like an eternity, Shimmer finally managed to gather enough strength to stand up. A cold breeze reminded her she was still naked, so she went to grab her hoodie. As she bent to pick it up, she heard a small buzzing sound. She looked around and found her earphones and microphone.

“Please!” Sunset’s voice came out of the earphones. “Answer! Yell! Anything!”

“Hey,” Shimmer said into the microphone. Her voice was raspy, and she noticed a piercing pain at the base of her throat. “I’m… I’m here.”

“Oh thank goodness you’re ok,” Sunset said with a sigh of relief. That’s when Shimmer noticed the voice sounded oddly clear. “What the…”

Shimmer turned around. Sunset was standing by the door, gazing at everything inside the room. Shimmer hugged her clothes closer, remembering, once again, she was completely naked.

“What the heck happened here?” Sunset asked before noticing the unmoving siren. “What-”

“Less questions, Bubbles,” Shimmer said, noticing she was still quite out of breath. “Tie her up while I get dressed. I’ll explain everything later.” And with that, she began dressing up.

As seconds passed, Shimmer began to notice the heat radiating from the gem. It was hot, but not unbearably so, thus she kept it in a tight grip within her hand. She still felt dizzy, and her balance was very much off, but she managed to at least put on her hoodie and jeans.

By the time she finished, Sunset had already dressed Sonata up and tied her hands under the hoodie. She also stuck a sock into the siren’s mouth and threw her hair over her face so it would be nearly impossible to spot. She carried her on her arms and looked at Shimmer.

“Coast is clear,” Sunset said, walking to the door.

Shimmer followed her, noticing her legs were weak and numb, her body felt heavy and a piercing headache was drilling away at her skull. But she paid it no mind, she had to get out of there before she could rest.

Carrying another person didn’t allow Sunset to walk fast, and yet, Shimmer couldn’t keep up. The floor felt like it was made of rubber, the walls constantly tried to escape her hand, at some point she could swear Sunset was walking on the ceiling. Fortunately, she still managed not to fall down.

When the exit was just coming into view, they were intercepted by a pair of guards, who looked a little beat up, with scratches, dirt, and some red spots all over their bodies, and their uniforms were a little ragged. Sunset stopped and looked up at them.

“What are you two doing here?” One of them asked while hovering his right hand over his club.

“We have backstage passes!” Sunset said a little too loudly. She turned around to let them see her pass hanging by the hem of her jeans. “Our friend here had too much beer and she passed out.”

The other guard looked past her and to Shimmer. “She drunk, too?”

Sunset turned around just in time to see Shimmer flail, barely catching herself on a column. “No, she got run over by the crowd. I’m surprised she avoided being hit on her face.”

The guard took another look at the passed out girl. Sunset’s heart sped up and hoped the mass of hair on her face was enough to hide the sock sticking out of her mouth. “Huh, she kinda looks like one of them Dazzlings.”

“I know right?!” Sunset said, forcing out a laugh. “She could earn good money as an impersonator if only she could sing half as good!”

The guards looked at each other for a moment, then shrugged. “Alright. Be careful, ladies. I’ve never seen a concert get this violent since Sapphire Shoes called the crowd a bunch of peasants.”

“Ain’t that a stupid thing to say?” The other guard agreed with a chuckle.

Both men walked away, talking and laughing as if their injuries were just minor nuisances.

Sunset and Shimmer seamlessly made their way to Shimmer’s car. Sunset struggled to get Sonata onto the back seats, but she managed. When she closed the door, she saw Shimmer leaning against the car and holding the keys in front of her.

“You know how to drive, right?”

“What?!” Sunset yelled. “No, I don’t! It’s your car! You drive!”

Shimmer huffed. “Listen, Bubbles. I can barely stand up. If I drive, I’ll crash. You want that?” Sunset only looked at her. “I thought so. You know how to drive bikes, right? A car is not much different, I’m sure you can figure it out.”

Sunset grabbed the keys and Shimmer clumsily got into the co-pilot’s seat. Sunset got into the driver’s seat and turned on the car. “What if I get pulled over?”

“For fuck’s sake…” Shimmer groaned. She took her wallet out and practically threw it to Sunset’s face. “I don’t care if you get a fine or two, just go!”

With a confident nod, Sunset put into practice everything she knew about cars, which wasn’t much, really. Flash had taught her a thing or two, but she never got interested enough. Yes, the car turned off a couple of times, and the gearbox made loud and definitely not normal noises every now and then, but by the time she reached the highway, Sunset felt like she could get them back without crashing.

All the while, Shimmer remained silent, lazily looking out the window, letting her whole body move and sway with the car’s movements. At first, Sunset thanked she wasn’t pestering her and making her learning process more difficult, but as minutes passed, she couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong.

“Hey, what happened there in the backstage room?”

Shimmer turned her head to look at Sunset, taking her time to adjust her sight and focus on the girl. She wanted to say something sarcastic, or make a joke. But she had no energy to think of anything smart to say.

So she told the truth.

“Turns out…” She began, and her voice was low, raspy and devote of all her usual sassiness. “The sirens are… a lot more powerful than we thought…” Sunset looked at her for a second with a questioning gaze. “I thought… the earplugs would give me at least a few seconds to react if they tried to hypnotize me, but…” She looked back at the passed out girl on the backseat and closed her eyes. “When I kissed her, she moaned…” Her voice became shaky and her jaw stiffened. “Next thing I know… We’re both…” She couldn’t finish the sentence.

Sunset cussed under her breath. “I knew ten minutes was too much time… I should’ve barged in after five.”

Shimmer shook her head. “Hey, at least we got what we wanted…” She lifted her hand, barely above her chest. The torn choker sneaked past her fingers, and a dim red light pulsed like a heartbeat. “She can’t hypnotize us anymore… We’ve got… the upper…”

“Whoa, hey! Hey!” Sunset yelled. “Don’t fall asleep! We’re almost there!”

Shimmer fought back the urge to close her eyes, but her body felt heavy and stiff, her migraine was like an overly tight helmet, and she couldn’t shake off the overall feeling of filthiness she had over her entire body. The only thing she wanted right that moment was to get a good night’s sleep, but her head kept bumping back every time Sunset pressed the brake too much, and she never could quite pass out like she wanted.

At some point, Sunset had called Trixie, put her on speaker, and started talking to her. Shimmer thought they talked about her and actually addressed her a few times, but she just couldn’t make out any of the words they said. Everything around her, sounds and light and colors, were just an incoherent buzz to her.

A sudden turn and halt made Shimmer’s head almost hit the side compartment. She looked up and realized they had arrived to her house. A look to her left and she noticed Sunset was gone. Her door opened, and sure enough, Sunset was pulling her by the arm. Shimmer felt too weak to even begin to dislike the idea of being helped to walk, so she just let her doppelganger practically drag her inside.

She thought it looked darker than she remembered, but maybe the girls just liked to play in the dark. She felt her legs about to give up, and she was about to ask Sunset to get her to the couch, only to realize she was already sitting there.

Silhouettes lined up in her field of view, and she took almost a whole minute to realize that it was some of the girls, looking at her and seemingly moving her. One of them grabbed her hand, and she remembered she was still holding the siren’s gem. She heard them say things, and another minute later she realized they were telling her to drop it.

She leaned over and stretched her arm towards the coffee table, where a plastic bowl sat comfortably in the middle. After opening her hand above it, she heard a clunk, followed immediately by a splash.

A round of gasps and screams followed, but Shimmer barely registered it before she collapsed.

Author's Note:

Do you know about the three B's?

Comments

[CSC]

That last paragraph didn’t look good. (By that I mean in the sense that things aren’t turning out well for the protagonists.)

[Cpt Creampuff]

Awwwww yeah let's get it on

[Hakuno]

8915342
This is certainly not the response I was expecting.

[Nali]

That went... better than expected? Aside from the severe magical poisoning and Sonata maybe being dead but haha what's the worst that could happen right

[Axle the Cobalt Exorcist]

I will admit that scene with shimmer and sonata was pretty hot. But yeah thing are looking grim

[JMP]

Hopefully Shimmer's alright. Sonata really got her good. Speaking of....they didn't just kill her did they? She still breathing?

[Noctis Prism]

Oh God, it burned a hole through her hand didn't it? Shit, this has gotten quite rough. What could've happened to the other versions of these Sirens too still?