Chapter 2
School had let out by the time Hunter arrived, the students either heading home or to whatever after school activities they partook in. As he began heading inside he stopped at the sound of his name.
“Hunter?” Flash’s voice called.
Hunter looked over and saw he, Bulk and Derpy by the far side of the stairs. “Hey, All Star.” He altered course. “Long time.”
“Yeah.” Flash held out his hand as he neared. “I thought you moved away?”
“I did.” Hunter took his hand. “But much like herpes, I have returned.” He looked up at Bulk. “Bulk, still buying your shirts in the children’s department I see.”
“Hey, this is a 2X.” Bulk shook his hand.
“And D.” He smiled. “What are you doing hanging out with these unsavory characters.”
“Bulk and I are going out tonight.” She answered with a quiet giggle.
“What!?” Hunter’s eyes widened. “When the hell did that happen?”
“A few months ago.” Bulk smiled down at her.
“Is he taking good care of you?” Hunter leaned closer.
“Yes.” She held onto Bulk’s arm.
“He better.” Hunter looked up at him with a faux intensity. “Or I'll buy him an outfit that fits properly.”
“So what are you doing here?” Flash asked.
“I’m here to meet with Sunny.”
“Sunny?” Flash paused. “Sunset?”
“Hunter!?” Sunset called out as she came down the stairs.
“Speak of the gorgeous devil.” He grandly gestured to her.
“Hey.” She hugged his side.
“So… you two… are dating now?” Flash asked.
“Yeah.” Sunset nodded. “Sorry, I was going to let you guys know.”
“Congratulations.” Bulk praised.
“Yeah… that’s, that’s news.” Flash said with much less enthusiasm.
“Listen.” Sunset pulled Hunter’s attention. “I need to talk to you about something.”
“Sure.” He glanced back at the others. “Hey, I’ll be around so I’ll see you guys later.”
“Cool.” Bulk waved. “See you around.”
“Bye.” Derpy waved as well.
Hunter followed Sunset back inside the school grounds, waiting till they were out of earshot to find out what was going on. “What’s up?”
“Twilight found out that there might be more to that bank robbery.” She began. “One of the people involved blacked out after hearing a song and woke up in the vault along with a bunch of others. We think it might be the Dazzlings.”
“The Dazzlings?” Hunter tried to recall the name. “You mean those three girls that either got too few or too many hugs from their fathers?”
Sunset couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Yes.” She stopped their walk. “Listen, I know we just went through a lot and you said you just wanted to focus on us, but I need to check this out.”
“I understand.” He nodded.
“You do?”
“You’ve got a lot more soldier in you than you realize, Sunny.” He smiled. “I know what It's like to feel that you have to do something. What do we do?”
Sunset laid her hands to his chest. “Thank you. We need to go to one of their shows and see if we can talk to them. All I have to do is touch one of them to know if they’re telling the truth or not.”
“Ok, that shouldn't be a problem.” Hunter looked up at the ceiling in thought. “When is their next show?”
“Wednesday.” She answered.
“Okay, I’ll work on getting the two of us in.” He promised. “We’ll write it off as a date night.”
Sunset laughed and nodded. “Okay, sounds good.”
“So, what are we doing In the meantime?”
“Well, Rainbow Dash has practice this afternoon and Twilight is working on a project.” Sunset led him down the main hall. “We’re just waiting for Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack, Pinkie said she’d buy us some pizza. We can wing it from there.”
“She means real pizza right?” Hunter asked as he draped his arm over her shoulder. “Not some kind of crazy, candy pie that looks like Willy Wonka threw up on it?”
Sunset reluctantly laughed. “Do you have any comparisons that aren’t awful?”
“I’ll work on it.” Hunter vowed as they wandered the school grounds.
That evening, Hunter returned to his apartment and went to work. He went online and paid for tickets to the Dazzling’s show to be picked up on site. Hunter then logged into the secure database where he kept files on all his past missions; looking back through his time in Canterlot before meeting Sunset, he brought up all the information he had collected on the incident involving the trio. He had not looked into them much, as Sunset and her friends had caught his eye far more. Sunset herself filled in the blanks, that they were not ordinary girls but sirens from Equestria who once held the ability to control others with their voice. With their past filled in, he began looking into their recent activity; back-peddling through their recent tours and reading reviews on fan pages about their shows and various interactions with them. Combing through photos of the girls as well as their available social media, he began to profile them to get a feel for their personalities. At close to eleven at night he stopped due to a knock at his door. He stared at the door for a moment, a follow up knock coming not long after; he went to the pantry and pulled out the 1911 he had hidden before approaching the door.
“A peephole would be nice.” He muttered to himself as he realized the door lacked one. “Remind me to complain to the landlord.” He told his gun as he parted the door.
“Hello, Hunter.” The man on the other side offered a light wave.
“Ajax?” Hunter fully opened the door. “Well, I figured someone would drop in on me eventually but I didn’t expect you.” He walked away from the door and let him enter.
“I had to see this for myself.” Ajax chuckled as he closed the door. “The most lone wolf of all suddenly deciding to settle down.”
“I’m not as lone as I used to be.”
“I know, her name is Sunset, right?”
Hunter turned at the mention of her name. “Already prying too much I see.”
“That is our job, you know that more than anyone.” Ajax countered. “Especially when one of our field agents is involved.”
“So, did you come here to chew me out?”
“Not exactly.” Ajax joined him in the kitchen. “You certainly turned some heads and irritated some noteworthy names though.”
“Nothing's changed.” Hunter hid his weapon once more. “I’m still on full duty for missions whenever they come up; and until my performance in the field suffers, which it won’t, I really don’t care who’s irritated at my decision.”
“That’s what I figured you’d say.” Ajax sighed. “But this was a bold decision and one that the higher ups aren’t too happy you made without running it by anyone; they’re more pissed off about the disrespect than anything else. I just don’t want to see you get in trouble by acting bigger than you are; you’re one of the best we have but you’re still under the same jurisdiction as all the other field agents.”
“This was important.” Hunter responded simply. “They’ll huff and puff but it’ll die down when more important shit comes along. Like I said, I still intend to do my job.”
“She’s really special, isn’t she?” Ajax asked.
“More than you know.”
“Wow.” He slowly nodded. “I never thought I’d live to see the day you started talking like that.” He headed for the door with a laugh. “Well, that’s all I wanted.”
“Hey.” Hunter stopped him. “I don’t care if you and everyone else want to look over my shoulder, but you tell the agency to keep their bullshit away from Sunset. She’s just a civilian.”
“For your sake, I’ll phrase it a bit more politely.” Ajax smiled as he opened the door. “Lily says hi, by the way.” With that, he left Hunter in the quiet of his apartment.
The Tuesday school day went by normally. By the cusp of the evening, Sunset set up her live stream and sat on her bed before the camera.
“Hey everyone, welcome to Shimmer Code.” She greeted. “Hopefully everyone saw the post about the stream tonight, I know it’s a day early but I actually have plans for tomorrow. Speaking of which, I have someone I’d like to introduce you all to” She waved an off screen presence over.
“Hey everybody!” Hunter bounded onto the bed beside her.
“This is Hunter.” Sunset informed as she stopped bouncing. “He’s… my boyfriend.”
“Sunny, don’t tell them that.” Hunter looked over at her in shock. “You’ll lose your lonely, single male demographic.”
“Hunter, don’t be mean.” She eyed him.
“Just being honest.” He glanced down at her laptop which was displaying the live chat. “See, I heart Sunset forever agrees with me.”
“Anyway.” Sunset resumed. “Since Hunter is a part of my life now, I’ve invited him to meet all my fans… we’ll see later whether or not that was a smart move. Now, normally I give my guest the chance to choose what game we play but since I know Hunter way too well, I’ll be choosing.”
“You see how she treats me?” Hunter smiled into the camera.
“Here.” Sunset handed him a controller. “Move your fingers, not your mouth.”
“Hmph, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard you say that.”
Sunset lowered her head with a sigh. “If you’re wondering what’s wrong with me for dealing with him, he’s actually incredibly sweet; but like most children he acts up when we have company.”
The two of them streamed for about three hours before calling it a night. After Sunset signed off, she began tearing down. Hunter went into the kitchen to grab them drinks, setting hers on the dresser as he returned. “That was fun.”
“Yeah, it was.” Sunset agreed. “It’s cool that we can do this together, everyone got such a kick out of you that I gained a whole bunch of new subscribers.”
“Does that mean I can come back?” He asked.
“Well, it was good for the stream so I guess so.” Sunset chuckled. “So, are we set for tomorrow?”
“Yep.” Hunter took a drink. “It’s an outdoor show so getting access to the backstage area should be easy.”
“Alright, I’ll meet you back here after school.” She went to him and laced her arms around his neck. “Plan on spending the night?”
“Depends, is the camera off?”
“Yes.” Sunset answered with a laugh.
“Okay then, I don’t perform for free.” He sat on the bed and pulled her back with him.
The next day, Sunset let her friends know what the plan was for her and Hunter after school let out. Once the day was done, she hurried home to change and Hunter arrived shortly after. The pair drove towards the outskirts of the city where Palisade Park, the venue for the Dazzlings' performance, awaited. There was a healthy crowd gathered and many local vendors had set up shop to cater to them as they awaited the show. The duo picked up their tickets at the entry booth and headed into the gated off grounds.
“Wow, they seem to be doing pretty well.” Sunset looked around at all the activity.
“Yeah, I researched their career so far and they’ve developed quite the following.”
“So how do we get to them?”
“I’m going to get by security by posing at Canterlot P.D., tell them I’m just running a check for the city to make sure everything is on the up and up."
“Think they’ll buy that?”
“I have one of their badges and a mock I.D.” He informed.
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“I’ve got others if you want one too.” He offered with a smile. “We can play good cop, bad cop.”
“I’ll leave the undercover stuff to you.” She laughed.
“Alright, we can save it for when we get back to my place.”
“Focus.” Sunset elbowed him.
They spent the next two hours enjoying the pre-show atmosphere; when the sky finally began to grow dark they assembled in the crowd with the rest of the fans. A light show started up to decorate the night sky and manufactured fog flooded the stage to the applause of the audience. The three stars made their grand entrance and after a introductory monologue began the show. Sunset and Hunter had to admit their music was nothing to look down on and the crowd ate up every syllable. They remained on stage for an hour and a half before breaking for intermission. It was at this time when they made their move, Hunter talked his way past security and led Sunset into the back stage area. The Dazzlings were seated in tall chairs discussing things but halted as soon as they saw their old enemy.
“You have got to be kidding me.” Adagio rose from her seat and eyed them harshly.
“Adagio.” Sunset greeted.
“What are you doing here?” Aria immediately queried. “Don’t tell me you’re a fan now.”
“Not exactly.” Sunset answered. “But, I will say the show has been great so far.”
“Thank you.” Sonata smiled. “We’ve been working on…”
“Sonata.” Adagio stopped her. “So, to what do we owe the pleasure.”
“Actually, we’re here to clear your name.” Sunset explained.
“What?” Adagio’s face transitioned from anger to confusion.
“We’ve got a crime that we’re keeping up with.” Hunter detailed. “Some evidence suggests you might have been involved.”
“I’m sorry, who is this human?” Aria looked Hunter up and down.
“This is Hunter, he’s with me and he knows what we really are.”
“So.” Adagio smiled. “Finally found someone with low enough standards to date you?”
“That’s quite the attitude you’ve got there, Hair Spray.” Hunter stepped in. “I thought the purple people eater here was supposed to be the bitchy one, or are you branching out.”
“Excuse me!” Adagio’s eyes flared.
“Hey, you want to run your mouth we can play that game.” Hunter said innocently. “But I promise you I’m better at it, so how about we just be civil?”
“I already hate him.” Aria said sourly.
“Hold on.” Sonata took his attention. “What crime are you talking about? Did someone accuse us of something?”
“No.” Sunset took over. “There was a bank robbery and an account of one of the people involved having no memory of the crime after hearing singing.”
“So naturally you thought of us?” Adagio scoffed.
“You know any other sirens?” Hunter asked. “If so, we’ll go bother them instead.”
“Well, it wasn’t us.” Adagio carried on. “You know we cant use magic anymore.”
“That's how it was last time.” Sunset held out her hand. “Would you mind proving that’s still the case.”
“We don’t have to prove anything to you, pony!” Aria shouted.
“Jesus.” Hunter looked at her with a hint of disbelief. “You are one angry lady. I bet you have exclamation marks instead of periods.”
Aria’s face flustered and she glared at Sonata who snorted from behind her hands. “Don’t laugh at him!”
“Calm down, Aria.” Adagio instructed. "And just how are we supposed to do that?"
"I can use my magic to see into your mind." Sunset explained. "Just give me your arm."
Adagio growled in frustration as she stepped forward. “Just get it over with.” She held out her arm and Sunset took it in her hands. Her eyes went white for a moment and she stepped back as they returned to normal. “Satisfied?”
“Yeah, thank you.” Sunset said graciously.
“Then leave.” Adagio waved them off.
“Hold on.” Sunset raised her hand to stop her from leaving. “Are there any other sirens?”
“Not that I know of?” Adagio looked back at her. “As far as we knew, even in Equestria, we were the only ones left of our kind.”
“We’re not even truly sirens now.” Sonata said with lament.
“I’m sorry.” Hunter offered. “I’m more than familiar with that type of isolation.” Sonata smiled kindly at his words.
“Don’t talk to us like you understand us, human.” Aria pointed at him.
“Come on Hunter, let’s go.” Sunset took his wrist. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you're innocent; and I’m glad things are going better for you now.” Adagio grumbled but left it at that as they left. Sunset and Hunter returned to the car and sat in the parking lot with the engine running.
“Well, what now?” Hunter looked over at her. “With them innocent, we’re out of leads.”
“I know.” Sunset sighed. “We should probably just drop it.”
“But?” Hunter smiled.
Sunset shook her head with a laugh. “There’s still a good chance that whatever is happening isn’t normal, and if magic is involved we might be the only ones who can stop it.”
“That’s why we make such a good pair.” Hunter said as he backed up and began heading home. “I’ll start seeing if I can find out anything new and get us a lead.”
“Are you sure?” She looked over at him regretfully. “We’re supposed to be focusing on us.”
“This is us, Sunny.” He glanced over at her. “Like you said, I get you and you get me; neither one of us would sleep well if we didn’t see his through.”
Sunset reached over and laid her hand on his thigh. “You know, I was afraid of what might happen if you and I started to have problems being a normal couple.”
“Trying to be that kind of normal would probably drive us crazy.” Hunter admitted. “I love being abnormal with you, it’s just so… normal.”
Sunset started to laugh and nodded. “It sure is.”
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Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!!!!!
That should have an apostrophe in it. Like this:
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Thanks. I read over this stuff till I'm cross-eyed and I still miss things.
10155035
I hope you enjoy this one as much as the last.
Adagio wouldn't have remembered that Sunset can do that. Due to the time loops during the Starswirl Festival, the meeting between them technically never happened.
Even so, it's great to see another story in this series!
10155602
Yeah, that's technically true. I went ahead and re-edited the scene. Good catch. 👍
With how often you updated the last one, I’m surprised this story is still only two chapters in. Also, I said it once, and I’ll say it again: this needs the Romance tag
“You are one angry lady. I bet you have exclamation marks instead of periods.” I heard choked to death on that line. It is so epic!
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Hunter's deadliest weapon is his mouth.