You Will Never Escape

by Autistic Witch

You will never escape ch3

I was awoken by knocking at the door to my room. A doctor walked in with a fresh face, clearly now a member of the morning shift. I recognized him from that night, the worst and start of the best days of my life. The thought of my mother made me want to rip her apart and, simultaneously, caused my heart to ache. The part of me that was genetically programmed to love my parents, it refused to let go. It ached for their love, even though I very well knew they had none for me.

“Good morning. How are you feeling?”, Dr. Hooves asked.

“Like I was used as a punching bag and still abnormally tired and icky.”

“Your tests will be done in a couple days, and we’ll email you the results. You can go home and take some over the counter medication for the pain, but if you need something stronger, go talk to your regular doctor.”

“Okie dokie”

Dr. Hooves nodded and left my room. A nurse soon came in with a wheelchair and helped me get dressed then into the chair. It wasn’t that I needed it or the help. I could walk well enough, but we live in lawsuit land. The nurse wheeled me outside to Rarity’s car. Once we were outside the hospital, I was allowed out of the chair and got into Rarity’s car, and the nurse took the chair back inside.

I caught a look at myself in the mirror, and I looked like shit. Bags under my eyes, paling skin. I looked like that one dumbass in zombie movies that try to hide their infection.

“Get anything good?”, Rarity asked, then pulled out a doggie bag and a big bottle of orange juice. “By the way, we got you some real breakfast and a lot of OJ. You need the VD.”

“Thank you. No, Doc said over the counter stuff should work. We?”, I said as I took the bag from Rarity.

“I came here from dropping Rainbow and Fluttershy off at their homes. We were thinking that we’d hang at Twilight’s tonight, maybe find some place to play.”

“That would be nice. We should get to Wallflower’s apartment before Roseluck leaves for the day. Then I need to go back to my apartment. Then we should poke around Wallflower’s work. They were one of only four contacts in her phone.”, I said as I ate my breakfast.

“Alrighty” Rarity started the car, punched the address into Maps, and started us on our way. Once they got to Wallflower’s apartment building, I led Rarity to her hallway. “So, do you know what apartment-?”

“No, just start knocking.”, I cut in. We chose a side of the hallway and knocked on each of the doors, mostly getting no answer. It didn’t take us long, as apartment E proved to be the correct one.

Roseluck opened the door and seemed initially surprised to see me. “Sunset?” She then made the ‘right, that’ head motion. “Did you find Wallflower?”

“No, not yet. Have you seen anything strange over the last couple of days, stuff no one else can see?”

“No?” Roseluck looked past I and to Rarity. “Is she okay? She looks like she hasn’t slept in a week.”

“Grm, you’re not exactly wrong.”, I admitted.

“We’re, or at least I’m, worried that Sunset was exposed to something while investigating Wallflower’s disappearance.”, Rarity said. “It coincides with the worsening of her general condition, and she’s having the same hallucinations as Wallflower.”

Roseluck’s face twisted into something between concern and confusion. “N-no, I haven’t seen anything like that. As far as I know, everything I’ve been seeing was actually there.”

I scrutinized Roseluck for any sign of dishonesty or that she wasn’t telling the whole truth, causing Roseluck to take a step back from me. I’ve been told that my “judging face”, plus my clothing choices and general disposition, made me look like I was sizing someone up for a beating. “If you’re lying, you better have a real good way of keeping on the run, a very good and fast way.”, I snarled.

Roseluck scurried backwards into her apartment and quickly closed the door. I relaxed my posture and looked to Rarity. Rarity was looking up at me with a ‘you damn well better be sure’ look.

“I know. I know.”

“Are you sure she’s lying?”, Rarity asked. We turned and made our way down the hall.

“I’m not sure. My gut’s telling me something’s wrong, but I can’t say what.”

“Okay”

We got into the car, but instead of starting the car, Rarity just stared at me.

“What?”, I asked.

“Are you scared?”

“Scared of what?”

“Scared of whatever happened to Wallflower happening to you.”

I was, but how could I express it? I’ve only started seeing that thing after I learned about it, but I’m the only one that knows it’s not just a hallucination. That seems to be the deciding factor, or is it a hallucination? Some schizophrenics full heartedly believe their hallucinations are real. Can I trust my own mind?

I curled over in my seat, wincing in pain as the seatbelt put pressure on my side. Rarity unbuckled me and wrapped her arms around where they wouldn’t hurt. “It’s okay, Sunset. We’ll figure it out.”

I righted myself and looked at Rarity with reassuring eyes. “I’m okay. My stomach just decided it was going to flip.”

“Liar.”, Rarity said mirthfully, then her face turned serious. “Sunset, you don’t have to keep playing the protective mama role. We’re not kids anymore.”

“I’m the alpha of this pack. I’m never not going to be protective over you all.”

Rarity gave me the ‘I’m not going to win this’ face then started the car. “Let’s get you some pain meds.”

I put my seatbelt back on, and Rarity drove me to my apartment. My apartment isn’t in the best part of town, but rent’s cheap, and I kept my valuables in my backpack or behind a false wall in my closet. The street was already cleaned up. One would’ve never known there was a crash if they weren’t there. Rarity pulled into the garage and parked in my allotted spot, and we headed to the garage door. I pulled out my keys, unlocked the door, and let Rarity inside. The garage door was made of glass and only led to a staircase and a couple vending machines.

“Why do you have vending machines in your building?”, Rarity asked.

“I’m not sure. I think one of my neighbors runs a vending machine company.”

I led Rarity to my floor, which was unremarkable. My building was built some seventy years ago. It’s mostly brown and dark green, but the lighting was acceptable. I just wished it wasn’t carpeted. They’re hard to clean, and in a common area, you couldn’t not wonder if it had been used as a urinal at some point. At least it didn’t smell like it.

Getting inside my apartment, my first stop was to check on Mustard, Ray’s son, whose terrarium was next to the window. Mustard was named that because that’s about the color of his skin. The sleepy gecko looked up at me with his goofy smile as I gave him a gentle head scratch.

“Hey, baby, you hungry?”, I said in a whisper. Naturally, he didn’t respond. I got out his crickets from the drawer and dropped a few in. He enjoyed hunting them and quickly became alert. Mustard watched the crickets, waited until one came close, and snatched it up. I giggled at how serious he looked. Mustard has his mother’s ferocity. He too was getting older, almost being ten, but he’s still got his spirit.

My apartment was small with my bedroom barely having enough space for my bed, a bathroom that was only slightly bigger than my closet, a kitchen that was more of a cooking nook, and a living/dining room that would have a good chunk of its space taken up by a TV, if I had one. It was beige and brown instead of green.

“I don’t get why you don’t just move in with Twilight already.”

“We’ll move in together when we’re good and ready, and I’m never living in her current apartment. I don’t want to live in a high school.” I checked Mustard’s water dish and heat lamp while he went back to sleep.

“Darling, I still don’t have the foggiest idea of what you mean. I’ve never felt that way at Twilight’s place.”

“Try speaking in your local accent.”

Rarity shrugged, and I grabbed my bottle of ibuprofen from my nightstand and stashed it in my pocket.

“Will it be easier to pick up my guitar later or take it with us?”, I asked.

“We can take it with us.”, Rarity answered.

I nodded and retrieved said instrument from behind the false wall.

Rarity scurried over and looked over my shoulder. “So, that’s where you keep it.”, she said in astonishment.

“False bottoms and walls were the only way I was able to keep things that were important to me.”

Rarity put her head against mine, and I returned the action. I couldn’t put it into words how liberating it was to finally tell someone what was happening to me and to have all the lies my mother put into my head shattered. To put it bluntly, everything I did back then was to gain some control and security over my own life, as I had none at home. The foster system wasn’t great, but it wasn’t the Hell on Earth my mother made it out to be. The five of them saved my life. I’m glad I was able to do the same for Twilight. Her family wasn’t abusive, but an abusive school could be just as bad.

The two of us separated, and I put the wall back then placed the guitar on my bed. “I’m going to change my pad.”

“Wow, you really are in a right lot of pain.”, Rarity joked as I headed to the bathroom.

“Aw, go gargle some vegemite.”

Once I was clean, I headed into the kitchen and got a cup of water and pulled out the ibuprofen. I did some quick mental math as to how long ago I’d last taken some and how much I could take now then poured out four tablets. I popped them in my mouth and downed them with the water. I placed the cup down as I looked off into space and compiled all my evidence. Only Wallflower and I could see the thing. Neither of us ever tried to touch it. Other people could walk straight through it without issue. Could I touch it? Would that cause me to die on the spot?

“Hey, space cadet, ruminate in the car. We’ve got places to be.”, Rarity said.

I put the lid back on the pill bottle and cup next to the sink. “Rarity, what will you do if I die next week?” My already artificially deepened voice was even more morose than usual.

“You mean aside from hide away from the world in the fetal position and close down the business, not much.”

“Are you really going to shut down the business?”

“I’d eventually go under without you. And you mean ‘would’, not ‘are’. You may treat your body like it owes you money, but you aren’t dying any time soon, darling.”, Rarity said sternly.

“Okay, I’ll put my will back in its hidey-hole.” I walked back into my room, gave Mustard a goodbye head scratch, grabbed my guitar and rejoined Rarity. “I’m ready to go.”

We went back to Rarity’s car and drove to Canterlot Garden Labs. The place was unassuming from the outside, aside from the glass dome on the roof and a mural of what many people now call “Never Land”. Its official name is ‘Green Earth’ or something like that. I don’t remember. The reason people call it ‘Never Land’ is because “It’s never going to happen” and “It’s a fantasy”. I like to think it’s not so far-fetched, but looking up at the sky, it’s looking more like a fantasy each day.

Entering the building, we were greeted by two staircases to the sides and then a large, open space that only housed a desk in the center of it and a few chairs along the front wall. It was faint, but I could smell a mixture of soil, fertilizer, perlite, and foliage. We got our licenses ready as we approached the front desk man.

“Hello, I’m Dt. Rarity, and this is Dt. Shimmer. We’re PIs hired by Sunflower Blush to investigate the disappearance of Wallflower Blush.”, Rarity said as we presented our licenses. “May we speak to her direct supervisor?”

The man looked up at them with a disinterested expression. He wore a see-through mask, so there was no hiding it. “The cops already questioned us about her.”

“Well, we also need to question you, and we have a contract to fulfill.”

“Dr. Petals is very busy right now. You’ll have to come back later.”

I leaned over the desk and started snarling and growling at him. The man scurried backwards in his chair and, for the first time since we got there, looked anything other than mildly annoyed. “What the hell is wrong with her?”, he asked fearfully.

“Cops have dogs. I have her. Now, please, we need to speak with Dr. Petals.”, Rarity said while petting my hair.

The man looked between Rarity, me, and the phone on his desk. Without taking his eyes off me, the man picked up the phone and pressed a button, which got me to stop making noise. “Dr. Petals, there are two detectives that wish to talk to you about Dr. Blush.” - “These are private detectives hired by her mother.” - “As you wish.” The man put his phone down and quickly did something on his computer. “Dr. Petals will see you now. Please follow the floor lights.”

I leaned back into an upright position and followed Rarity. The floor lights, or will-o-wisps, fox fire, or spirit/ghost lights as they’re colloquially known as, indicates the building was built or renovated within the last five years. The concept’s simple but not practical in high traffic areas, relegating it to places like this. A strip or row of lights are embedded in a straight line along hallways, then a basic layout of the floor is inputted into the app, and then destinations are added and synched with the lights. At that point, any stationary computer can have the app installed, be designated as a terminal, and have its location added to the map. These maps can be 2D for a single floor or 3D for multiple floors and have elevators and stairs added. So long as one could find a terminal, anyone can either search the map manually or use the search bar to find their destination and then have the lights guide them. Some systems even have multi-colored lights for when multiple people are using the system. I once worked a case where the perp hacked one of these systems in a wealthy tech corp and used the map to aid in stealing some design prototypes.

The lights led us down a series of white hallways until we reached a door with “Dr. Sunshine Petals” on it. Rarity knocked on the door, and a soft “Come in” came from the other side. We entered and were greeted by a lot of plants and a woman with yellow skin, purple hair, and green eyes. She wore a green top with a flower mask.

“Well, you certainly aren’t wanting for oxygen.”, Rarity commented.

“I guess you’d need to be a plant nut to be a botanist.”, I added.

“You’re not wrong. Please, have a seat.”, Dr. Petals said with one of the softest voices I've ever heard. It was comparable to Fluttershy’s.

We sat in the two chairs in front of Dr. Petals’ desk, and Rarity pulled out the Wallflower notebook and a pen from her purse. “Dr. Petals, I’m going to get straight to the point. Do you know if Dr. Wallflower Blush works with or owns any poisonous plants, specifically ones that can cause hallucinations or psychosis?”

“I don’t know if she owns any plants like that, but I know for sure she wasn’t working with any. Given the current crisis, we’re working on either breeding or genetically engineering a plant species that’s, in layman’s terms, better at unfucking up our air. Hallucinogenic plants are not involved in that.”

“I have pictures of the plants in her home. Could you identify if they’re poisonous?”, I asked.

“Most likely.”

Rarity handed me her phone, and I logged it into my cloud account and handed it to Dr. Petals.

Dr. Petals took the phone and began scrolling through the photos, muttering the plants’ names as she did so. “Most of these won’t do anything good for you if you eat them, but they won’t kill you. Some of these are plants from Dr. Blush’s projects, but the majority are species you can get from the garden section of any home improvement store or a commercial nursery.” Dr. Petals returned the phone but had a perplexed look on her face. “May I ask where your line of questions are going?”

“Wallflower kept a diary, and in the last few entries, she mentioned seeing a shadow figure. Her mother never mentioned concerns about her mental health whenever we talked to her, and those entries were the only ones like that.”, I explained. “We’re trying to rule everything out, including if she may have accidentally poisoned herself.”

“Okay, I get what you’re saying. Do you have any more questions?”

“Yes, do you know if Wallflower had any enemies or work friends?”, Rarity asked.

“Not to my knowledge. She kept to herself but was always polite. You can talk with the others. They’re all likely in the green house.”

“Thank you, I think we will.”, I said. We got up and started to go to the door but were stopped by Dr. Petals.

“Do you think she’s okay?”

I looked to Rarity then back at Dr. Petals with a solemn expression. “When someone says that they’re gonna die, they’re rarely wrong.”

Dr. Petals' expression turned to match my own, and Rarity and I left quickly. We had passed a terminal on our way to Dr. Petals office so we headed back to it. I studied the 3D map and took note of the facility’s design. The greenhouse was by far the largest room, taking up more than half of all three floors, but Garden Labs only took up the greenhouse and the bottom floor. The other two floors were taken up by various other companies. I entered the greenhouse as our destination, and the lights on the floor lit up.

“As much of a security risk these things are, they are useful.”, I remarked.

Rarity chuckled, and we followed the will-o-wisps to the greenhouse. The large glass dome turned out to be the greenhouse roof. The place was filled with rows upon rows of various tree species. They made it very difficult to see much.

“Um, hello?!”, Rarity called out. There was no chance she wouldn’t be heard as the place was quieter than a library.

Someone came out from the brush and looked at us quizzically. “Can I help you?”

“Yes, we’re investigating the disappearance of Wallflower Blush. May we speak with you?”

The researcher, judging by the lab coat, approached us with a displeased look on his face. “I already talked to you guys about her.”

“We’re not the cops.”, we both said.

“Then who are you?”, he said with added skepticism.

“We’re PIs working for Ms. Sunflower Blush. We were wondering if you know if she had any friends or enemies.”, Rarity said.

“No, no one has any reason to hate her, and she doesn’t have any friends. She’s brilliant, and we all respect her. Now, I need to go back to work.” Without waiting for a response, the researcher went back into the trees.

Rarity and I looked at each other with a mix of ‘What else were we expecting?’, ‘wtf’, and ‘yeah, understandable’. I looked to the trees then back to Rarity and pointed to the trees. Rarity nodded, and we searched through them. We found another researcher working with a different species.

“Hello, can we ask you a few questions?”, Rarity asked.

“Wallflower, yeah, I didn’t know her beyond work. She wasn’t some super-duper star that would end up being killed by a jealous second rate, but she did good work.”, the researcher said. She was at least friendlier than her co-worker.

“Okay, thank you.”

We continued on our search but found no one else within the forest. We pushed our way back out of the dense foliage and were startled by Dr. Petals standing right in front of us, now wearing a lab coat.

“Dr. Petals?”, I asked.

“I figured you’d want to check Dr. Blush’s locker.” It was only then I realized how small Dr. Petals is. She didn’t even reach my chest. I’m not short by any means, but I’m also not some giant that towered over everyone. I’d put the doctor around five foot-ish.

“Yeah, but how did you know where we would come out?”

“You two are the only ones in here that would be stomping around like you’re lost.”, Dr. Petals deadpanned.

“Fair”, Rarity and I said in unison.

Dr. Petals led us to a room that was clearly a break room. It was in the same area as the greenhouse and had all the furnishings of a normal breakroom. There was a door off to the side of it that the doctor led us through, and it led to a small locker room. Each of the lockers had names on them, so Wallflower’s was easy to find.

“It’s locked.”, I said.

“You’re PIs. Can’t you pick it or whatever you do for combination locks?”, Dr. Petals asked.

“We can, but we need the owner’s permission.”, Rarity said.

“My family owns this facility, and I’m giving you permission.”, Dr. Petals said with conviction.

Rarity pulled her email up on her phone and handed it to the doctor. “Email that to me, and we’ll do it.”

Dr. Petals pulled out her own phone, and within a minute, Rarity’s phone dinged. Rarity took her phone back, nodded, and basically, sicked me on the lock. I placed my ear to the lock and began the process of picking it. The lock was the same cheap crap that one would find in high schools. I could sneeze on, and it’d open. It only took seconds for me to open it. Inside was a lab coat, a plain white mask, and some other personal items. The two of us pulled stuff out and looked through everything, but none of it was noteworthy.

“Thank you for your help.”, Rarity said to Dr. Petals.

“Just find her. I’m not going to believe she’s dead until you show me a body.”, Dr. Petals said with determination in her eyes.

I closed up the locker, and Rarity and I nodded in acknowledgement. “We’ll try.”, I said. I thought I kept my tone neutral, but the look on the doc’s face said otherwise. Dr. Petals squeezed her eyes shut and lowered her head. Rarity and I looked at each other with ‘What do we do?’ looks. Even after all the years, comforting someone that was or is about to cry is still an awkward situation.

“Do you want a hug?”, Rarity asked.

“No, thank you. I’m good.”, Dr. Petals said.

“Alright, we should be going. We still have some investigations to do.”

“Good, good, get going.”

We hurried back out to Rarity’s car and just sat in it, staring through the windshield. It was a familiar silence, similar to the one back when I tried to make a move on Rarity, only to learn she’s straighter than the stick up Mrs. Harshwhinny’s butt, but less awkward.

“What now?”, Rarity asked, then realized her error. “Other than lunch.”

“Am I really that predictable?”

“You are the single most food motivated human I know.”

“Well, my mom was a bitch.”

“A bitch and a mule, that explains everything.”

The sheer deadpan of Rarity’s delivery caused me to let out an uproarious laugh, which caused my bruises to go ‘none of this, no laughter’. “Hahaha, ow ow, Rarity, you can’t do this to me.”, I wheezed.

“Hehehe, sorry.”

I took shallow breaths until my sides stopped hurting. I leaned back in my seat and stared off into the distance once again.

“We have no leads, no motive, no body, and not even a proper crime scene. What do we do now?”, Rarity asked.

“I wanna look more into Roseluck. Something just doesn’t sit right about her.”, I said.

“Are you hungry?”

“Yes”

Rarity started the car and drove to the nearest Burger Princess. She ordered our favorites and drove around to the parking lot. A worker brought our food out, and we chowed down. Rarity being Rarity, only got a salad and water. I rolled her eyes, earning a glare from Rarity, and stuffed more fries into my double cheeseburger.

“How do you not weigh five hundred pounds?”

“I’m not on my butt all day.”, I said through a mouthful of food.

Rarity made a displeased face, and I stuck my tongue out.

“How are we going to investigate Roseluck?”

“I’m going to investigate her.”, I insisted.

“A, why? And B, that doesn’t answer my question.”

“You can’t afford to get caught breaking into her place.”

“You would face the same consequences that I would.”, Rarity said with skepticism. “Is this because of the shadow person?”

I didn’t answer and lowered my head, not willing to look her in the eye.

“Sunset, you’re not going to die, so stop acting like you are.”, Rarity said with a mix of anger and fear.

“Okay”, I said disingenuously. “Positive thinking, right.” That earned me a solid whack in the side from Rarity. “Eeee, okay, okay, ow.”, I wheezed.

“Let’s just go back to the office. We have other cases.”

I nodded. Should I go see a psych doc? It didn’t work for Wallflower. We finished our food, and Rarity drove us back to the office. We deposited our garbage in the garage trash can and took our usual way up. In front of our door was a small box with a note taped to it. The non-injured of us bent down and picked it up. It was a box of chocolates, and the note only said “Sorry”.

“Your client?”, I asked.

“Looks like it. He does own a candy shop.” Rarity unlocked the door and brought the box to her desk. “Want some?”

“Is that a rhetorical question?”

Rarity rolled her eyes and presented me with the box.

---

“Sunset, darling, are you ready to go?”

“Nope”, I said without looking up from my computer.

“Get up, you malformed shrimp, we’ve got places to be.”

I looked up from my computer and gave Rarity a raised eyebrow. “Did you just call me a “malformed shrimp”?”

“Have you seen your posture?”

“So, I’m a mule, a bitch, and now, a shrimp. Alright, where are we going?” I stood up and began packing, which wasn’t much without my backpack.

“Twilight’s, Pinkie’s throwing a welcome home party for Rainbow and Fluttershy.”

“Alright, I’m ready to go.”

We locked up shop then headed down to the garage. As we were walking to Rarity’s car, I initially walked straight past the car, forgetting my bike wasn’t in its usual spot, then scurried back to the car.

“You got another ride?”, Rarity joked.

“Can it, Rare, or Imma give you a cricket infestation again.”

Rarity stuck her tongue out, and we loaded into the car. We made a quick pit stop to pick up Rarity’s keytar then headed to Twilight’s. Going from the street to Twilight’s apartment was the same as usual, except I didn’t have my helmet. I still had my mask on, so that was better than nothing, but I still felt like I was being watched, and the shadow figure being in the center of the lobby wasn’t helping. If Rarity felt the same, she was hiding it well. I led Rarity up to Twi’s floor and unlocked and opened her door. The moment we set foot inside, Rarity was subject to an inspection by Wrath. She wasn’t here often enough for Wrath to be completely trusting of her.

“Hello, darling.”, Rarity cued at Wrath.

Once Wrath was satisfied, we were let into the apartment, and Rarity put her bags, and I put my guitar out of the way, against one of the walls. Rainbow and AJ were already there and chatting with Twilight in her living room.

“Hey, Twi, I see you got a new mop. Crazy how colorful they are these days.”, I joked.

“If you weren’t injured, I’d tackle you into next week.”, Rainbow said irritatedly.

“Wow, it talks too. Fancy”

“Okay, that’s it!” Rainbow jumped up from her seat and charged at me. I side stepped out of the way, and Rainbow came to a stop a few feet away from me. Both of us spun around to face each other again, and I took off my jacket and used it as a muleta. Both of us got stupidly large grins on our faces, and Rainbow scuffed her foot like a bull and charged at my jacket. I spun out of the way, and Rainbow stumbled to a stop, nearly crashing into Twilight’s table.

“Hey! You break it, you buy it!”, Twilight chastised.

Rainbow and I laughed our asses off, and Rainbow came in for a hug.

“It’s been too long.”, I said as I carefully reciprocated the hug. Despite Rainbow being a good deal shorter than myself, she reached up and over my shoulders in order to not agitate my bruises.

“Yeah, I couldn’t get back here fast enough to see your ugly mug.” Rainbow released the hug and pulled out her phone. “I took a look at your bike, and I definitely have what you need to fix it, except for the windshield, but I do know a guy that can get you hooked up.” Rainbow showed me her phone, which had the website for Crate’s Auto and Tool Emporium. The slogan under the name read “Where quality is priority”. “My guy’s name is Supply Crate, Crafty’s son. They can get just about any part from anywhere on the globe.”

“Okay, show me the parts.”

Rainbow opened up her photos and showed me a picture of the parts next to my damaged bike. They were wildly different colors, but I could paint them.

“These look good.”

“Good, once you’re healed, we can put it back together.”

“Sounds good.” I hope I’m around for that.

“You two done? We’ve got stuff to do.”, Twilight called out.

“Yeah”

Twilight, Rarity, and AJ stood up from their seats and joined RD and me in Twi’s pathway. The girls escorted me into the kitchen. On the island was a bike helmet, just like my old one, minus my personal paint job; a backpack; an unopened phone; a laptop; and a mystery Nile box.

I hid my face in my hands to hide my embarrassment. “You guys didn’t have to.”

“No, but we wanted to.”, Rarity said.

“Helpin’ each other out is what family's for.”, AJ added.

Before I could respond, the doorbell rang. Twilight opened the door, and Pinkie and Fluttershy came in.

“Hey, Sunset.”, Fluttershy said in her soft voice. She was a lot bolder now than back in high school, but some things will never change.

I parted my fingers just enough to peek at Fluttershy with one eye. “Hey, Flutters.”

She apparently found it amusing and chuckled at me. “You’re so cute when you get embarrassed.”

My cheeks grew even redder, and I covered my face once again.

“Oh, just bring everything to the living room. My feet are killing me.”, Pinkie said as she walked to the couch.

The rest of us grabbed the stuff and brought it into the living room and sat around the coffee table, either on the floor with pillows or what seats were available.

“We couldn’t find the exact backpack you had, so we found one with similar features.”, Twilight explained.

I took the backpack and examined it. “This is perfect.”, I said, still embarrassed.

“Sunset, seriously, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Think of these as early birthday presents.”

I next picked up the helmet, removed it from the packaging, and stuck it on my head.

“Better?”, Twilight asked.

I nodded and next opened the phone. It was the same one as my old phone, so I pulled the bits of my old phone out, fished the sim card out the mess, grabbed a paperclip from my assorted pocket, used it to pop the tray out, and slid the sim in.

“Have ya been carrying your old phone around all day?”, AJ asked.

I nodded, placed the remains of my old phone in the growing garbage pile, stuffed my new phone in my pocket and the laptop in my new bag to be dealt with later. That just left the mystery box. I examined it before opening it up. Inside was an at home genetic testing kit. Unlike the “at home” genetic testing kits of old, this one was actually at home, as in there’s no need to mail it off to anywhere. It’s quite a bit more expensive than the mail off variety, but this type is faster, and you don’t have to worry about some company having your genetic material.

“What’s this for?”, I asked.

“I remembered what you said at the hospital last night, and figured that you can use this to find out who your father is.”, Twilight said.

I placed the box and my helmet back on the table and shook my head. “I appreciate the thought, Twi, but I already know everything I need to about my father. His love for me was only worth six hundred dollars and he’s the reason I’m allergic to latex. He didn’t even care enough to make sure my mom actually used that money to abort me. What could I possibly need from that man, and he might not have gotten a DNA test.”

“Eighteen years of missed child support, and there’s no hurt in trying.”, Fluttershy suggested. That perked my ears. That can easily be in the hundred thousands.

“Can she even sue for that? I feel like there’s some sort of, whatcha call it, statue of limitation.”, RD asked.

“Statute of limitations”, I corrected. I closed my eyes and mentally searched through my case files. MIA baby daddy, MIA baby daddy, aw. “No, not in our state. Though, I’m not sure if I could sue him.”

“The threat alone could be enough to get him to pay.”, Rarity suggested.

“So, you in?”, Twilight asked.

“Flutters had me at child support.” I opened the package and read over the instructions. I then grabbed the swabby thing and handed the rest to Twilight.

“Really?”

“What? You’re our techie, and this was your idea.”

Twilight rolled her eyes but took the kit. She set it up while I swabbed my cheek then took the swab. Twilight did the steps needed to start the test. “Okay, we just need to give it a couple hours, then we’ll have your results.”

“Wouldn’t it be funny if Sunset’s dad was actually a mule?”, Pinkie said.

I closed my eyes and leaned back on my pillows. “That would explain why I’m so ugly.”

“Yeah, it would.”, Pinkie said absentmindedly.

I popped an eye open and used it to glare at Pinkie. “I’m going to blame that on the baby brain.”

Pinkie didn’t seem to pick up on my threat and just turned to Twilight. “Hey, Twi, got any snacks?”

“Ah’ll get ya some. Any preferences?”, AJ said.

“Something salty.”

AJ nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. The rest of the girls engaged in idle chit-chat while I rested. I heard AJ return and dump something on the coffee table.

“Here, Ah figured you lot would want snacks too, n’ drinks.”

Everybody let Pinkie have the first pick then grabbed what we wanted.

“Eyup” AJ retook her seat with the snacks she held back, and the rest of us dug into ours.

The girls continued talking, catching up with each other and generally shooting the shit. Unfortunately, this gathering was a dry one, and so will the rest be, until Pinkie pops.

“Have you picked out a name yet, darling?”, Rarity asked.

“Cheesecake, if it’s a girl, and Little Cheese, if it’s a boy.”

“What if they’re twins?”, RD asked.

“Oh, we checked.”, Pinkie stressed. “We asked the doc to not tell us the gender, but we definitely asked how many. My parents love Marble and me, but when little Marbie popped her little head out, they were thrown for a loop I tell you. They weren’t prepared for two babies, so I’d like to avoid that surprise. What about you? When are you and AJ going to have kids?”

“That’s tha thing, neither of us wants to get pregnant.”, AJ explained. “We’re gonna adopt, when tha time comes.”

“Better be quick about it. We’re already in our thirties.”, Sunset poked.

“Yeah, we’ve already gotten the paperwork done. We just need to actually adopt a kid.”, RD explained.

“You’ll make great parents.”, Fluttershy said.

Twilight checked the time and looked at the test kit. “It’s done.” She got up and grabbed her laptop from her room and brought it out to the living room. The rest of them huddled around her as she pulled up the website and plugged the kit into her computer.

“What’s it say?”, Pinkie excitedly asked.

“Give it a minute. This is analyzing a… well… this is a crap ton of data.”

After what felt like an eternity, a new page popped up and a circle chart that represented my genetic makeup was presented to us. That wasn’t what we were interested in, so Twi switched to the tab that said “Family tree”. Several bubbles with lines connecting them popped up. It showed that my father had indeed used the service, and I have three sisters, but that’s not what surprised me the most. My father’s Mr. Neighsay!

“What sort of prick names their kid ‘Chancellor’?”, RD asked.

“The same kind of person that produced him. Remember the joke “What’s the difference between a porcupine and two lawyers in a porsche”? That's him.”, Rarity explained.

“Look at the kids’ ages.”, Pinkie said. “They’re all around Sunset’s age.”

“Do you think he did the same thing to their mothers?”, Fluttershy asked.

“No, this shows that these three have the same mother.”, Twi pointed out.

“Hey, look here.” Rarity pulled out her phone and showed everyone his Instabook page. It showed him as married and had pictures of him with his wife and his three daughters.

“That snake was sleepin’ with prostitutes while married.”, AJ said irately. “What are tha girls’ birthdays?” Rarity found the daughters’ profiles and showed each to Applejack. “Even while his wife was pregnant!? Tha middle one’s only a month older than Sunset.”

“He lives in the building.”, I stated.

“He does?”, Twilight asked.

I closed my eyes and looked over all the times I’ve encountered him in the elevator. “Floor nine, he should be home by now.” I shot up from my seat and marched to the door.

“Sunset! You’re injured!”

“I don’t care! I’m going to pumble that bastard until he begs for his mama!”

“At least take one of us with you!”, RD exclaimed. Everyone turned to look at her expectantly, and realization dawned on her. “And I just volunteered myself.”

Rainbow joined me and was shortly followed by AJ. We all looked at her questioningly. “Ah hate cheaters.”, she growled.

RD and I nodded our understandingly, then we headed out to the elevators.

“Whatcha gonna do when we find him?”, RD asked.

“I’m not sure.” As we waited for the elevator, I could feel that same accursed feeling I have towards my mother. This man abandoned me before I was anything more than a cluster of cells. I shouldn’t feel anything other than utter disdain for him, and I do, as the most notorious lawyer in Canterlot, but that damn little piece of me.

The elevator arrived, and we got on. I pressed the 9th floor button then leaned myself against the back. The elevators were glass, so I could see the lobby below when I looked over my shoulder, and I could see the thing standing in the center of it. It hadn’t moved, even a bit, since I got to Twi’s, but it was, somehow, the least of my concerns, at the moment.

The doors opened, and I led RD and AJ to the closest door.

“So, what’s the plan?”, RD asked.

I knocked on the door while fishing for my PI license, and an elderly lady soon answered.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes, you can.” I flipped open my license and held it like a cop would a badge. “I’m Dt. Shimmer from Shimmering Diamond Detective Agency. I’m looking for one Mr. Neighsay.”

“Ooh yea, he lives in apartment nine-o-seven.” The lady pointed in the direction of his door.

“Thank you, ma’m.” I put my license away and motioned for us to move out.

“That worked scarily well.”, AJ commented once the lady’s door was closed.

“A lot of people think PIs have similar power to cops, and you can get a lot of information out of people just by asking politely and looking official.”

Despite it only being apartment 07, the size of the apartments made sure the walk was not short. It wasn’t like we had to walk a mile, but it was a much longer walk than it would be in a normal building.

Once we got to the door, but before I knocked, Rainbow tapped me on the shoulder. “I should probably hold onto your gun.”, Rainbow insisted. I glared at her, but RD hardened her stance. “You’re gonna be mad, and you and I both know that’s a bad combo.”

I relented and surrendered my gun and knife to Rainbow. With that taken care of, I knocked on the door. The response took longer than the old lady’s, but when the door was finally answered, I was face to face with Chancellor Neighsay. A rage that could best be described as a flaming ball welled inside my chest at the sight of him, the sight of those eyes, the eyes I inherited from him.

Before he could say anything, I grabbed him by his shirt and pushed him into his apartment and up against his couch. He looked at me with fear and confusion in his eyes, adding a spark of joy to my flaming rage.

“What is the meaning of this?”, he yabbered out.

How can he look me in the face and not realize? “Look at me! Do you not realize who I am?!”

“I don’t know who you are. Now, let me go!” A touch of anger was now added to his voice, and I could hear another set of footsteps approaching.

“Don’t you feel anything?! Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t feel anything!”

“Who are you, and what are you doing in my home?!”, a female voice that grated my ears screeched. Rainbow stepped in between me and the wife but out of my line of sight to her, holding my gun in front of herself and pointed to the floor.

“Maybe you would like to tell her. Tell her about the prostitute you impregnated thirty five years ago, or did you truly forget all about me?”, I said coldly, then turned my head towards the wife. “What about you? You look somewhat intelligent.”

The wife looked between the two of us, and realization dawned on her face. “What the hell, Chancellor?! You slept with a prostitute?!”

I cringed at the sound of her voice and immediately understood just how low his standards are and wondered how he still had his hearing.

“You, you need to leave!”, the wife screeched some more. Rainbow twitched the gun up a bit but didn’t bring it to bear, causing the wife to take a step back.

“In a minute. He’s got eighteen years of missed child support to catch up on, and I expect payment.”

“I don’t owe you a dime.”, Neighsay spat. AJ moved to my other side and palmed her fist at him, causing him to lose some bravado.

“We could bring the courts into this. Just think of your poor reputation.”, I mocked before switching to a more threatening tone. “I will drag your name through the mud and dig up every little bit of dirt on you until you're that week’s laughing stock. You’ll never get any business ever again.”

Neighsay looked between me and his wife before nodding his head. “Alright, just let me up.”

I let go of Neighsay and took a couple steps back.

“What?! You can’t just let her do this!”, the wife screeched.

“Shut up! If this gets out, I could be ruined. She’s already cost me cases.”, Neighsay snapped back.

“So, now you remember me.”, I snarked.

Neighsay said nothing and disappeared deeper into the apartment. He soon returned with a pen and some sort of book in his hands. He approached me and practically shoved them into my chest. “Just write down what you want.”

What the fuck is he- oh. After opening it up, I recognized it as a checkbook then realized I have no idea what to do with it. “Um, AJ.” I handed the book and pen off to AJ, who started filling it out. “Lucky Granny was so old fashioned.”

“He, yeah. How much do you want?”

“Let’s see, let’s highball it and say he makes two hundred thousand a year. Thirty percent of that sounds reasonable, and that times eighteen comes out to one-million-eighty-thousand.”

Neighsay nearly choked on his spit at that number, and AJ looked at me questioningly.

“I’m serious. You should’ve taken an afternoon to make sure my mom aborted me or splurged a little on latex free condoms.", I spat at Neighsay.

“O-kay” AJ finished the check, handed it to me, and handed the book back to Neighsay.

I took a couple measured steps towards Neighsay. “If this bounces, I’m comin’ f’r ya.”

Neighsay leaned away from me and gritted his teeth. “Fine, but I don’t want you sharing this information with anyone. As far as anyone’s concerned, we have no relation.”

“Like anyone would willingly admit to being related to you.” I stuffed the check in my jacket, spun on my heels, and headed back towards the door.

“That’s it?”, DR asked.

“Yes, I got what I wanted."

RD and AJ followed me out, and we hurried back to the elevators.

“Do you want these back?”, DR offered while they waited for the lift.

I took my gun and knife back and placed them back where they belong. The elevator arrived, and we entered. I, once again, glued myself to the back of the elevator. I didn’t even bother to look at the thing. It wasn’t going to have moved since I last saw it, and I could feel it watching me. The elevator returned to Twilight’s floor, and I scurried back to said girl’s apartment, closely followed by AJ and RD. Once we were back inside, we rejoined everyone else around the coffee table, and I took a seat on the couch.

“Sunset, how’d it go?”, Twilight asked worriedly.

I didn’t answer and just curled myself into a ball and wrapped a blanket around myself. The rest of the girls got the memo and cuddled up next to me, and Wrath laid her head on my lap.

“Why don’t my parents love me?”, I asked in a low voice. It wasn’t aimed at anyone in particular.

“Because they’re stupid, selfish meanies.”, Pinkie said. “I don’t have a better answer than that. The idea of not loving your kids is just so alien to me.”

“Then why do I still love them? Why is there still some part of me that wants to love them?” I was on the verge of angry tears. If my genetic programming makes me still love them, how can theirs let them not love me?

“Unfortunately, there’s nothing you can do about that but drop them in the garbage like the jellied meat loaf your aunt insists on serving every time you visit despite any rational person knowing that monstrosity should’ve stayed in the Great Depression they are.”, Pinkie said with a hint of unhinged, managing to get me to chuckle through the unshed tears and pain in my sides and the rest of the girls to gag.

“Why did you make us eat that?”, RD said, the memory causing the screws to loosen and that coming out in her voice.

“Because we’re a coven, which means we suffer together, and so you understood just how badly I needed good excuses.”

“Okay, Pinkie, we get it.”, I said as I came down from my chuckles. “Thank you, but don’t ever feed us anything like that ever again.”

Pinkie saluted then snuggled back up against me. We remained like that, with Pinkie running back and forth to the bathroom every five minutes, until people started getting tired. Being as we were no longer kids, we couldn’t stay up until dawn and survive on only three hours of sleep. AJ headed down to her truck while the rest of us selected our pillows and blankets. When she returned, she brought the therapeutic mattresses we’ve been using since Rarity managed to hurt her back by sleeping on the floor. They were also useful for six months pregnant women as they were 2 ½ feet tall. There were three of them with one being a king and the other two being queens, so each couple would get their own queen while Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy shared the king. We had to move furniture to fit them. We finished putting together our beds and slowly went to sleep, at least, most of us.

I couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t the air mattress or the shadowy thing that made it hard to sleep. My mind kept swimming about what the rest of my family might be like. I have three biological sisters, and I couldn’t help but wonder what they would think of me. Would they shun me as the physical manifestation of their father’s adultery, or would they look past that and see me as their sister that may have come into this world under unpleasant circumstances but who is now here and a member of their family? Am I being selfish for wanting to have a relationship with them simply because they’re my biological family? I have six wonderful women who have been my family for nearly two decades, a nibling that I have no genetic or legal relation to on the way, and parents in Twilight Velvet and Nightlight, and I had a grandmother in Granny Smith. Would I hurt them by wanting more? Am I dishonoring the memory of Granny by wanting to meet my paternal grandparents? Would they be even worse than my maternal grandparents, who locked up and pimped out their own daughter?

Damned cycle of abuse. Where did it start? My grandparents were raised in a hyper religious, mega nuts cult that treats women as living sex toys and my family had been a part of for as far back as I can track. Are my sisters trapped in a similar cycle that will make them act like our dad? “Our dad”, why am I still thinking of him as “dad”? Mr. Pie was more of a dad, and he’s less emotionally expressive than a rock, but he is surprisingly wise about emotions. Weird guy. “Even the mightiest diabase will erode under an unrelenting storm. We mustn’t ignore such forces but calm them, control them and make them our tool.”

I pulled the blanket over my head, pulled out my phone, and logged into my Instabook. My sisters’ profiles were easy to find and completely public. There wasn’t any personal information like phone numbers and addresses, so better. At least other people’s stupidity makes my job easier. The oldest of them has a six year old, and the other two are also lawyers. There were a lot of pictures of the kid. Just by scrolling through them, I knew where the kid goes to school, could narrow down where they live to a neighborhood, and knew the kid’s name.

Should I message them? She really shouldn’t be posting so many personal photos on a public account. Would she even listen to me, or would I just freak her out? Maybe she’ll listen to Dt. Shimmer.

“Hey, you shouldn’t leave your account public, especially with so many pictures of your kid on there. Anyone can figure out where you live from them.”

Knowing that my sister was unlikely to see it until morning and not even knowing my grandparents names, I turned my phone back off and tried to go to bed. The operative word being ‘tried’. I still couldn’t sleep. The thoughts of my relatives still dominated my mind, but now, there was enough room in my mind for that thing’s presence to bother me. My mind flipped back and forth between it just being a hallucination and it being something very real that wishes me harm. It terrifies me that I’m not sure and can’t trust my own mind. What would happen if I touched it? Could I even touch it? Wallflower’s diary mentioned that people could just walk through it, but they couldn’t see it. My questions from earlier swirled in my head once again. I needed answers. I couldn’t do shit about my family situation, but I could do something about that thing.

I eased myself out of bed and crept through the ring of beds. Wrath looked up at me quizzically, and I placed my finger to my lips. Wrath blinked at me a couple times before putting her head back down. I managed to sneak out without rousing anyone else and reach the elevators. Once inside, I was able to see the thing again. The elevator reached the ground floor, and I headed out to the lobby. The place was nearly pitch black with the only light being from the path lights and what little moonlight made it through the clouds. After making sure no one was around, I approached the thing. It looked no different up close.

“Are you able to understand me?”, I asked but got no response. The thing didn’t give any sign that it heard or acknowledged me in any way. I reached my hand out and tried to touch it, but I just went straight through it. It felt no different than the rest of the air. It had no smell to it. It didn’t sound like anything. Despite the twisting shadowy-ness of it, it was completely silent.

“Sunset?”

I spun on her heels, instinctively grabbing for my gun and knife, which I then realized were back up in Twilight’s apartment, until I saw it was just said apartment owner. “Ugh, Twi, you shouldn’t sneak up on someone with a- wait, don’t have it, never mind.”

Twilight was tired looking but also concerned. “Sunset, what are you doing down here?”

I looked over my shoulder at the thing as I debated telling her. If my current theory was correct, the more Twilight learned about it, the greater the risk she’ll start believing it to be real and, thus, fall victim to it as well. “I’m seeing it again. It’s right behind me. I wanted to see if I could touch it.”

Twilight walked up next to me. She was staring right at it but clearly didn’t see it. She reached her hand out, but I grabbed it before she reached the thing, startling her. Twilight snapped her head towards me and looked at me confusedly then fearfully. “Sunset, you’re hurting me.”

I was confused then felt how tightly I was holding her. I let go of Twilight’s wrist and covered her face. “I’m sorry.” My voice was fear filled. “I don’t know what’s happening. It’s getting closer each night.”

Twilight grabbed my arms and pulled them away from my face. “Let’s go back to bed. We’ll figure this out in the morning.”

I kept my head down, not willing to look Twilight in the eye, and nodded. I wanted to hug her, pull her in tight and never let go, but didn’t want to scare her. Twilight dragged me back up to her apartment and into bed. She snuggled up to my back, but I still didn’t dare to face her.

“Hey, are you okay?”, Twilight asked while rubbing my back.

“I hurt you. Aren’t you scared?”

“I am scared but not of you. I don’t know what’s happening, but I do know that you would never intentionally hurt me, and we’re surrounded by women that can restrain you, if necessary.”

I rolled over to face Twi and looked at her blankly, but that blank look hid a cocktail of emotions that I couldn’t describe. “I’m scared.”

Twilight nuzzled me and pulled me in close. “We’ll figure this out.” Twilight snuggled up to my chest, and I could feel her falling asleep.

Will we figure this out in time?