Consequences

by shallow15

Apologies, Strategy, and Unwelcome Surprises

The rest of the group arrived at Sunset's apartment about a half hour before the actual time they were supposed to meet. Finding room for everyone posed a small challenge. Sunset's apartment may have been tall, but there wasn't a lot of actual floor space. She basically only had five chairs.

Fluttershy and Pinkie were on the couch, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were on the two chairs Sunset had for her dining table, Rarity had her wheelchair, and Twilight had been given Sunset's computer desk chair. Sunset herself remained on her feet, standing in front of the TV.

“Okay,” she exhaled. “We have a couple of problems that I think we need to deal with.”

There was a general sound of agreement.

“I met Tempest Shadow today,” said Sunset.

“So did I,” added Rarity.

The other girls looked at them. Sunset herself looked at Rarity. “When?”

“This afternoon at the fabric store,” Rarity answered. Her expression darkened. “She attempted to abduct me. Fortunately, Vice-Principal Luna happened by and put a stop to that. That was when I texted you.”

“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked. Rarity smiled.

“I'm fine, thank you, darling. It was harrowing, but I got through it. That said, Agent Shadow does not appear to be a very nice person.”

“She's sharp, I know that,” said Sunset. “She came into the restaurant today. Asked me some questions. I'm pretty sure she suspects me.”

“She suspects all of us.” Rarity rolled herself forward. “She's seen the music video. Couple that with the mall security footage and she seems to be putting two and two together, if she hasn't already.”

“This is stupid! We haven't done anything wrong!” Rainbow snapped. “Without us, Firecracker Burst would still be on the loose, and who knows what other magic problems could have happened!”

“If I can play devil's advocate for a second,” Twilight began, “She doesn't know that. All she knows is weird things are happening around town and that we may possibly be involved.”

“So what do we do about it, then?” Applejack asked. “I'm pretty sure confrontin' her about it directly is just gonna be askin' for trouble.”

“I don't know,” said Sunset. “I hate to say it, but right now, our best bet is to play dumb if she questions any of us. We might be able to throw her off... for a while. Which brings me to our second problem.”

“The thing in the woods,” said Pinkie Pie. “It doesn't seem like it's going to lie low for our sake.”

“Right,” said Sunset. She turned to Twilight. “Before we get into that, though, I owe you another apology. You were right. Going to see Capper was just as dangerous as going after that thing in the woods and I shouldn't have lost my temper with you. I'm sorry.”

“I'm sorry too,” Twilight replied. “And you were right as well. It was dangerous and irresponsible to go after it without knowing what we were getting into.”

“Yeah, yeah, love, hugs, and all that crap. What do we do about all this?” Rainbow asked, folding her arms.

“The way I see it, the biggest problem right now is the thing in the woods,” said Sunset. She began to pace back and forth. “The longer it's out there, the more likely it is somebody is going to get hurt by it, and if that happens, you can bet Agent Shadow will come running to investigate.”

“So we focus on that for now?” Twilight asked. She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a small memo pad, and produced a pencil from her hair. She started making notes.

Sunset nodded. “We really can't do anything about Agent Shadow right now. Either she knows we're involved or she doesn't. If she doesn't, we play dumb if we encounter her. If she does, there's nothing we can do about it, except wait to see how she reacts. Either way, the thing in the woods takes priority. You four encountered it. Did you learn anything?'

“You mean, aside from the fact its breath smells like the dumpster outside the cafeteria on a hot day?” Pinkie asked. “Not much.”

“Um... I wouldn't say that,” said Fluttershy. The group turned their attention to her.

“What do you mean?” asked Sunset.

Fluttershy idly played with her hair. “Even though it attacked us, I don't think it's actually evil. I think it's an animal.”

“That... actually makes sense,” Twilight said. “It did stop to listen to you when you rescued me and Pinkie Pie.”

“I don't think it understood me though. None of us had our geodes. So it might have just been confused from my tone of voice. But I've seen animals act like that before. Usually when they're scared or hurt.” She looked over at Sunset. “I think it may have come in contact with some magic and it doesn't know what's happening. That may be why it's causing damage all over town. It's... hurt? Or maybe it's just scared of what's happening to it.”

Sunset considered this, her brow furrowing. “Okay. In that case, girls, I think we need to go back to wearing our geodes. We're probably going to need them if and when we find this thing.”

“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash reached into her pocket, pulled out her geode and slipped it around her neck. “What? Like you guys aren't carrying yours around too!”

There was an awkward silence as each girl, except Sunset, sheepishly produced her necklace. Sunset gave them a stern look.

“You all were just waiting for me to give you the go ahead, weren't you?”

“Well, darling, how else did you expect me to get my chair up here? This building doesn't have an elevator.” Rarity grinned and fluttered her eyelashes, causing the group to burst out laughing.

“Okay, fine,” Sunset said, smiling. “Just no using your powers unless it's an emergency, all right?”

There was a chorus of agreement.

“What about Capper?” Applejack asked. “You think he'll actually be able to help?”

“I don't know,” Sunset admitted. “If there's anything to find, he'll find it. But I don't know how useful the information will be. I'll be calling him after school on Monday. Once I hear what he's found, we can probably start --”

Sunset was interrupted as a loud echoing bang echoed outside the building, followed by the sound of a car alarm going off. The girls rushed to one of the large picture windows on the wall. Down in the darkened street, they could see a car listing to one side, as if the tires were flat. A figure was standing outside the car, kicking at one of the tires. The alarm continued to blare, and the figure started fumbling with something, presumably a key fob, trying to silence the alarm.

“I hope they have one of those alarms that shut off automatically after a while,” Sunset said, darkly. “I really don't want to have to break into another car this week.”

“You what?!” the girls chorused.

Thankfully, Sunset was spared having to explain herself when there was a knock at the door.

“That must be Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna,” Rarity said. “Luna mentioned they wanted to talk to us in private.”

Sunset pushed her way through her friends towards the door. “I hope they have some good news for us,” she said, unlocking the door and twisting the knob. “I don't know how many more surprises I can – what the hell are YOU doing here?!”

“You know, you guys really suck at being discreet,” said Adagio Dazzle. Aria and Sonata were standing on either side of her in the hallway. “Oh, and by the way? You're welcome.”

Comments

[CapNTilfy]

Of course they kept their geodes. I can't blame them.

Wasn't expecting that ending. I'm getting a "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." vibe here.

[Shadow_Wolf]

Objects of power aren't something you just leave lying around...

[DullDragon2070]

9513060

More like, “The enemy of my enemy is probably still my enemy.”

[CapNTilfy]

9513084
Probably.

[Arkonfleight]

9513084
The schlock mercenary version.
"The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy, no more, no less."

[RoboRed]

Uhhhh...uh-oh?

[DuskBreeze4]

Got to say this Trilogy is three-for-three in my Ultimate Favorites, I am beyond excited to see how this turns out