A Life of Crime
~Six~
The sun sat low in the sky as Sunset waited in her car on the road by Crimson Coffee, the cafe owned by Crimson Butter and Grand Bean. The air was cold and her windshield had begun fogging over due to the difference in temperature. Her knee bounced up and down in nervousness, moreso at the thought of seeing Twilight than anything else. She was meant to be here with Rainbow Dash, but after waiting on her for over twenty minutes, she decided to arrive on her own. She didn’t know if she was coming but she didn’t have time to wait on her. The cashmere’s side of town was always quiet and as the sun just dipped under the horizon, the road felt eerily dark in a way Sunset wasn’t too fond of.
A rattle against her window startled her for a second before recognising the purple hand outside her window. The door opened and Twilight sat herself in the passenger seat, the all too familiar scent of lavender filling her car again after so long. Her breath caught as she was suddenly met with those violet eyes so close to her face and not looking at her with fear and contempt.
“Where’s Rainbow?” She began, looking back at the seats behind them.
“She uh, I don’t know, I waited for her but she didn’t turn up.” Sunset responded, coming back to her senses.
Twilight furrowed her eyebrows at that. “Are you sure?”
On that cue, Sunset’s phone lit up with a message from Dash.
RD~: Sorry Sunset, I can’t make it. Something came up.
Sunset let out a sigh as she read it. It wasn’t that she thought Dash was incompetent, but it was that she knew Dash had a lot going on, and wasn’t all too surprised when she bailed on them. As Twilight read over the message, she seemed to become slightly more upset so Sunset placed a hand on her shoulder.
“It’s fine Twi, we can try again tomorrow. I’ll head over to her place to see if she’s okay.”
“It’s not that Sunset.” Twilight pulled out a small device that had some numbers on it. And it was decreasing. Like a countdown. “I was working on this device with Crimson over the summer for my dad. It’s able to play with electromagnetic frequencies and we tuned it to be able to turn off electric devices for a certain amount of time. Right now it’s engaged to the cameras at the department.”
Sunset’s lips parted as she watched the numbers continue to decrease. There in red the number seventy was displayed. And it just changed to sixty-nine. Their eyes locked on each other as a sense of urgency was fuelled into Sunset.
“We have to do this now.” They had sixty-nine minutes to find out who took that truck.
---
Sunset felt silly that at the forefront of her mind was how adorable Twilight looked in a black hoodie and sweatpants, so contrasting to her usual choice of clothes. But she was used to the adrenaline of a ‘mission’ one could say that she wasn’t all too stressed about getting caught. That could also possibly be that she trusted Twilight’s gadgets fully. And if she said they had sixty-two minutes, they had sixty-two minutes. Right now, the two stood against a side of a building across from the precinct waiting for…actually, Sunset didn’t know what they were waiting for.
“What’s the traffic?” Sunset asked, looking over Twilight’s crouched form.
Twilight turned her head slightly, still looking at the lights in the precinct. “Waiting for it to empty,” As if on cue, the front door opened revealing a middle aged man with pale blue skin and navy hair, walking out tired and slouched. Twilight’s dad, Nightlight, was looking like it was an unsuccessful day. Sunset peered down at her friend, noting her dejected expression. She was, of course, breaking into her dad’s work and potentially sabotaging his job.
“Thank you, Twilight.” Sunset said, to express her gratitude for her help.
“Let’s get this over with.” She mumbled, and the two crossed the road quickly just as her dad turned the corner. The precinct was dark and left an oddly frosty feeling over Sunset’s skin. She was reminded that she was a criminal under all laws and with any mistake made, well, she might as well get herself comfortable here. A small beep allowed the two through the door as Twilight swiped her dad’s spare card against the identification. “Better get this home before my dad finds it missing.” She joked to lighten the air. Sunset smiled awkwardly beside her.
“No guards?” Sunset asked quietly as they walked through the building until they reached the security room.
“Not usually. Prisoners aren’t kept in the local precinct. They’re usually in the bigger one outside of town so there isn’t a reason for it to be guarded.” Twilight proceeded to sit in front of a computer, raking through some tapes. “Be alert though.”
“Sure,” She mumbled, looking around the room at the boxes of video tapes piled on top of eachother. “Organised much?”
Twilight giggled from her spot, making Sunset blush in pride at lifting her spirits slightly. “So when was the delivery you lost?”
“Three days ago.”
Twilight shuffled through some things before handing Sunset a box of tapes. “We need to get through these in fifty minutes.”
Sunset took a seat on the computer opposite Twilight and put the first tape into the computer making it light up a dim blue glow. Immediately that same familiar road she saw those days ago filled her vision.
---
“Okay, go forward a bit. Keep going…stop.” Sunset instructed and on que Twilight froze the screen just as someone had appeared on the footpath next to the truck. They had been searching through a few tapes, the times of the day not on them, making it much harder to sort through. Now with twenty minutes left, they may have found a lead as the man on their screen gets into the truck and speeds off. “Holy shit.” Sunset breathed. “Are you able to go back?”
Twilight rewinded the tape slightly until his form was visible on the street. Sunset closed the distance between the computer and herself, focusing hard on the person- more specifically, his outfit. Her eyes widened in shock.
“What?” Twilight asked.
“That outfit-uniform. It’s familiar. The stripes on the sleeves… It’s Groovy Buggers!”
“Who?”
Sunset facepalmed. “No, not who. It’s a place- a bar named Groovy Buggers.”
“Does Michael own it?”
Sunset shook her head, “No, it’s privately owned, I only know about it because it’s where almost all the underground criminals spend their free time.” She narrowed her eyes at the screen, studying the man in the striped uniform. “It’s probably the only place where the Cashmere’s and Ratmaker’s aren’t at each other's throats.”
“So that’s our next lead!” Twilight said excitedly, clapping her hands together.
“You’re weirdly enthusiastic about this,” Sunset smirked, a hand on her hip.
Twilight cleared her throat, trying to push down the blush threatening to form. “We should get out of here.”
A familiar beep brought the girls to attention and panic was set off in Sunset’s head as she heard footsteps. Someone was here. But why? It was the middle of the night. Shit, Sunset thought as she met Twilight’s own wide eyes. Her eyes pounced around the room until it rested on a small closet. Sunset pulled Twilight into the small compartment just as the door rattled, revealing Nightlight, looking even more tired than earlier.
The closet was too small for the both of them to fit, and neither was able to shake off the feeling of each other's bodies pressed against each other. Sunset was able to feel each of Twilight’s trembling breaths as she refused to turn her eyes away from the small air pockets of the locker. And Twilight wouldn’t deny the feeling of Sunset’s own body shaking slightly in anxiousness while her dad paced around the room.
Night Light paced frantically, every few seconds coming just in front of the locker where two not so criminal, criminals were hidden. The phone dimly lit the room a blue glow and it seemed he was texting someone important. Twilight studied her father’s expressions, trying to figure out her dad’s turmoil. He stopped in front of the computer they were just analysing, taking a seat in the chair. She blew a sigh of relief, glad she was able to turn off the computer before her dad came in again.
“Shit, Twilight.” Sunset breathed quietly, a haunted look on her face as she looked towards where Night Light sat. Twilight followed her line of sight to where her dad sat. She inhaled sharply as her gaze landed on the computer. She had forgotten to take out the video tape.
A ring and a beep. “Hey sweetie,” Night Light sighed, slouched in his chair. “No, no, not threatening. He just- He’s just pressuring me. You know it was a high salary raise…It’s fine Velvet. I’ll be home soon.”
His body faced the tape. The phone clicked off. Twilight watched desperately as her father placed his head in his hands. He stayed still for a while before grabbing a piece of paper from the shelf above the table. The paper, not the tape. They were safe. It was small and inconspicuous. But Twilight couldn’t seem to shake off the curiosity on what was written on it. And from the look on Sunset’s face, she felt the same. The air lightened as Night Light left the room, too frazzled to have noticed the tape in the computer.
Instantly, Sunset ran out of the locker, stashing the tape into her bag. Twilight’s eyes widened.
“Sunset?” She turned her face to her, a craze to it that reminded Twilight of their breakup. “We can’t take that! It’s evidence. It can get my dad in a lot of trouble.”
Sunset struggled to respond. “If they see this, one thing will lead to another. It won’t be long before they learn about all of this.”
“This is bad! This is wrong, Sunset! We’re tampering official evidence!”
“Newsflash babe, I’m a criminal. And this shit is my fault. If Mikey gets caught from this. It doesn’t matter how much mind-reading powers I have. He’ll give me up.” Twilight bit her lip, in two minds about this. She was stuck. “Twilight. I won’t keep this forever. Once we find that truck, I’ll return it. Okay?” Twilight thought her eyes were sincere, and her smile too. But she didn’t know how much her friend had changed in a year. And her earlier behaviour gave her a snippet of scars that were too deep to heal.
“Okay.”
---
It was weird. Fluttershy woke up not with that same dull ache in her chest this morning but a lightness that was very welcome to her. Her room looked bright and clean, and her bed was soft and comfortable. All in all, things did not look bad to her, considering. Then she turned over and saw a blue girl sprawled next to her, sleeping with her mouth wide open. Last night’s events slowly came back and a wave of fear came over her as she sought out the judgement from her old friend. Her eyes darted to the pill bottles on her nightstand and she stumbled to close them up and pack them away without Rainbow Dash waking up. A shuffling from beside her made her freeze up.
“I already know, Fluttershy.” Rainbow said, propping herself up on one elbow, fighting back her sleep.
Fluttershy shook her head rapidly, fighting for a way out of this. “It’s not what you think.” The shy girl stopped then. She noticed the way Rainbow looked at her. With pity. How she desperately tried to cling to an image that had broken away long ago. Rainbow watched her friend sadly as she fumbled for a lie. She knew Fluttershy didn’t want to talk about it, but there was no way she could ignore the implications of this. “You must think I'm horrible,” She sighed.
Rainbow shook her head at her, “I’ve tried way worse drugs than Xanax, ‘Shy.” She joked, attempting to lighten the mood and when the yellow girl didn’t show any signs of a smile, Rainbow changed her approach. “C’mon girl, tell me what’s going on.” When Fluttershy stayed silent, Rainbow bit her lip, a sense of deja vu washing over her as she recalled her earlier conversation with Sunset about opening up. This was different though, Fluttershy didn’t owe Rainbow Dash anything, and there was no need in her telling Rainbow her secrets. Except that she knew she had to tell someone. “If you don’t want to talk to me, that’s fine. But I saw how you were last night. Shy, you need help. I’m saying this as your oldest friend.” She gave her a reassuring smile, and Fluttershy clung to it like it was the only freshwater for miles. “I don’t want to see you lose your way.” I can’t afford to lose anyone else, Rainbow added silently.
“I can’t sleep without those pills Dash.” Fluttershy told Rainbow, but from her view it sounded like she was begging for her friend to find her a solution.
“You slept just fine last night.” Rainbow said slowly.
“Yes but tha-” Fluttershy stopped mid sentence. Because Rainbow was making sense. She didn’t just get by last night. She could actually sleep. She felt safe and comfortable with Rainbow Dash and she had finally got her mind off those pills. Realisation hit her and Rainbow nudged her playfully.
“Looks like you found your solution.”
---
Applejack wasn’t aware how much she fiddled with her hat as she waited by the Arts Building waiting for Rarity’s class to end. She was definitely nervous, since apologising wasn’t really something she was good at. Or did. She was rather stubborn. But how she treated Rarity had been eating at her all night and she just had to set things straight with her. There was too much going on in both of their lives for them to complicate it even more. She held her breath as the door opened to Rarity looking especially out of it today. Her hair wasn’t in it’s usual fancy hairstyle and her face was bare of any makeup, free for anyone to read her emotions clearly.
“Applejack? Whatever are you doing here?” She asked, spotting her at the bottom of the building’s stairs. Her voice was quiet as her eyes softened at her friend's nervous approach.
“I’m here to apologise for how I treated you yesterday.”
There was a pause as Rarity came down the stairs, taking care to focus on the ground in front of her. As she landed in front of the farmer, she gave her a small yet genuine smile. “Apology accepted. Though I'm not sure why you’re apologising.” She frowned, tightening her hold on the laptop in her arms. “It was especially wrong of me to insist we aren’t friends. We’ve been through too much together for us not to be.”
“Nah don’t fret, sugar. I pressed the wrong buttons the other day. Acting mighty entitled an’ all.” Applejack joked, nudging Rarity with her elbow and making her let out a small giggle.
“I suppose you were,” She agreed with a smile, and they began walking towards the quadrangle. The two walked in silence for a while as Rarity contemplated the girl’s apology. On one hand, she felt glad she made up with her, rather than continuing useless tension. On the other, she couldn’t help but feel guilty at making Applejack apologise. Not after I said such hurtful things to her. She struggled with finding the right words, and Applejack noticed. “Actually Applejack,” She started, fiddling with her hands. “I want to thank you for caring about me…and that man, the other day.” Applejack didn’t say anything, listening patiently to her friend and not pushing her limits. “I admit I've been… liberal with my dating life lately.”
“Ain’t nothing wrong with that, sugarcube.” She winked, surprising Rarity who thought Applejack had much more conservative views on certain things. “Why so surprised? Thought I’d hate ya for having a bit of fun?”
“No…it’s just, I know you’ve always been against this whole dating for fun thing. You always told me you only date to marry.”
Applejack sighed, thinking back to her thinking a couple years ago. She still would only date to marry- It was her personal preference, but shaming another one of her friends for having a different opinion was silly, and she was much too old to be upset at Rarity- a grown woman’s- way of life. “I’ve grown a lot since the last time we’ve really talked like this.”
“Ooh,” Rarity squeed happily, giving Applejack a side hug. Rarity decided to leave her own personal issues aside for a moment, content to end the topic here and meet the other girls for lunch.
The two spotted Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash at their usual picnic table chatting away happily, and Rarity noticed the way Applejack hesitated to continue walking towards them. A side glance from Rarity showed her that Applejack looked slightly pale at the sight of the two, and if she had to guess, she knew it was because of a certain athlete. Their whole group was aware of the special bond the two had made over the summer and no one really knows for sure why they became so distant. As for herself, Rarity upon the sight of Fluttershy was reminded how she acted towards her yesterday. What had gotten into me yesterday? She frowned remembering how impatient and not understanding she was at all to Fluttershy’s situation yesterday, whatever it might be. She was so desperately trying to bottle her own problems that she didn’t want to face Fluttershy’s own ones. And she used Fluttershy’s own unwillingness to open up as an excuse to dismiss it. Some selfless friend she was.
“How do you feel Fluttershy?” Rarity said as a form of greeting as the two took a seat at the table.
Fluttershy smiled shyly, “Much better, thank you for asking Rarity.” She responded, and Rarity thought she saw the barest bit of blush on her face.
“Shucks Fluttershy, what’s all this talk about you being unwell?” Applejack asked from next to Rarity in concern.
“Oh, its…” She trailed off, looking around for an escape making Rarity’s eyes furrow in confusion at her response.
“She was sick!” Rainbow interjected quickly, hand in the air. “Yeah uh, the cold and flu. But she’s better now, right Flutters?”
“Yes.” She whispered, trying to make herself small and invisible.
“Y'all were sick with the cold and the flu?”
“That’s why she was soo out of it. Like reallyy out of it.” Rainbow responded to which Fluttershy glared at her.
Rarity crossed her arms, an eyebrow raised. If these two were hiding something they were really not doing a good job at making people not suspect anything. Before she could say anything though, they were interrupted as a hand slammed against the table roughly, startling everyone sitting at it. A hand who belonged to a rather furious Sunset Shimmer and behind her a nervous looking Twilight. Rarity observed Rainbow’s face and from her reaction to Sunset’s mood, she had an idea why she was acting like that. Rarity had a feeling Rainbow was the cause of it.
“Where the hell were you last night!?” Sunset yelled.
Rainbow and Fluttershy glanced at each other quickly before the blue girl stood from the table, “Can you chill Sunset? I’m sorry for bailing, but something really important came up!” Rarity and Applejack didn’t miss the little glance Rainbow took of her yellow friend. Secrets indeed. Applejack for one didn’t like the implications of what she just saw.
There was a bewildered look in Sunset’s eyes. “This was your idea Dash! Do you even know wh-”
“Sunset,” Twilight interrupted warningly, a hand on her shoulder as she looked towards the other girls who didn’t know what was going on.
Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.
“Say, does anybody know where Pinkie Pie is?” Rarity asked, trying to divert the obvious tension between the two.
---
“If you were trying to be subtle, dragging me away from the table mid-lunch doesn’t really help your case.” Rainbow said, arms crossed as they sat at the bottom of the empty lecture hall. Rainbow wanted to ask what happened last night with the so-called ‘heist’, but she was feeling sour at the way Sunset spoke to her earlier, and she definitely didn’t want to look like she was in the wrong.
As the two glared at each other, Twilight cleared her throat. “Whatever happened last night, Sunset you need to get over it. And Rainbow Dash, you need to stop acting like you aren’t a part of this whole ordeal. I don’t know what made you bail yesterday but I trust you and I know you wouldn’t do it unless it was really important.” She gave her a smile which was returned.
“Sorry for being a bitch earlier,” Sunset sighed, following Twilight’s instructions.
Rainbow shrugged, “I’m pretty impressed you guys hijacked a precinct all on your own.”
“You wouldn’t have been much help anyway,” Sunset fired back, earning a smirk from Rainbow. “Long story short, the guy who took the truck was wearing a Groovy Buggers’ uniform.” Sunset didn’t expect Rainbow to be familiar with them so she was surprised when her eyes widened in surprise. “What, you’ve been there?”
“No, Applejack used to tell me how it’s filled with a bunch of criminals.” Rainbow replied.
“Applejack?” Twilight asked. “How does she know them?”
“Her family cells cider to them. They’re her and her family’s biggest customer apparently.” Rainbow bit the inside of her cheek. She didn’t know how it connected, but it did. “You don’t think…”
“That Applejack might have an idea on the Groovy Buggers’ stock?” Sunset finished.
“Unlikely.” Twilight said.
“But not impossible. The Apple Family are close with their staff.”
“How are we going to explain this to Applejack?” Sunset groaned, slouching in her chair.
---
Applejack looked at the three girls seated in front of her on her living room couch as she just finished pacing. Earlier, her friends had come in asking for a favour. She thought it was a simple science experiment or a weird game from Dash. She didn’t expect them to ask her if her family had their foot in the money laundering business. And to help spill the secrets of their best clients.
Her eyes landed on Rainbow. Applejack thought that she was slimmer now, with bags under her eyes that proved she hadn’t been sleeping. How she got into this lying and criminal activity was beyond her. So she was running low on funds. Get a job, ask your friends. Opting for a life of crime is not the next step in the solution. She understood Sunset’s deal, it was made clear her mistakes were from when she was sixteen and naive. But Rainbow? Dagnabbit Dash, if you just came to me I could've’ saved you from this. Rainbow was a lying, law-breaking, criminal now. So was Twilight and Sunset. But to her it only mattered that Rainbow was a criminal. It made Applejack nauseous just thinking about it. It went against everything she believed in. And if it was anyone else she wouldn’t have hesitated to pick up the phone and dial the precinct now. But it was Rainbow Dash.
“I know that we sell our cider to Groovy Buggers. And they come to get new deliveries every Friday from us.” Applejack revealed after some hesitation. As much as she wanted to help her friends, she knew she was also helping get a drug load back to Mikey and his gang.
A look of understanding washed over the three on the couch. “The truck was taken friday.” Twilight said to herself.
“We need to get into that bar and take a snoop around.” Sunset declared, hitting a fist against her palm. Then she deflated looking at Dash. “Twilight and I can’t go in there.”
“Why not?” Twilight asked.
“You're the lead police’s daughter. Everyone in there hates you. And I’m already well-known enough as it is. I won’t be able to slip by without causing a commotion. You're doing this alone, Dash.” Sunset said.
“You make it seem like that’ll be hard. I’ll get it done before you two get a chance to get your tongues in each other.” Rainbow scoffed, causing both girls to redden deeply.
“Dash you can’t go in there alone!” Applejack said suddenly, shifting the attention to her. She covered her mouth for a moment before placing her hand on her hips. “It ain’t safe. All o’ them are murderers and rapists and thieves.”
“They are not!” Sunset defended. “The Ratmakers and Cashmeres are many things, but they aren’t rapists and murderers Applejack. I’ve known most of them my whole life. They’re harmless. Mostly.”
“They ain’t all part of those two cute clubs of yours Sunset.” She shifted her attention to Rainbow. “You ain’t going in there.”
“Who are you, my mom? Newsflash dude, I have super speed.” She dangled her pendant in front of Applejack’s face making her swat it away.
“Then I’m coming with you.” Applejack crossed her arms defiantly.
“Woah, you can’t.”
“Why not, I thought it was safe?” Applejack replied smugly.
Rainbow pursed her lips, “Because I don’t want you to be profiled with us…if we get caught.” She corrected herself, “Which we won’t.” She poked her finger to her chest. “But still.”
“It’ll just be two gals having a drink together, nothing wrong with that.” Applejack looked to Sunset for confirmation. She thought about it for a while.
“Applejack’s right Dash. We know you can handle yourself but it’s always safer if there’s someone else with you.” Sunset agreed.
“Dash I guarantee if Applejack were to get arrested, it won’t be because of having a beer with you.” Twilight joked, a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Rainbow relaxed, seeming to see their points valid. She looked at Applejack and grinned, “It’s a date then.”
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Loving this story so far! You write the girls so well! Can’t wait for the next chapter!!
11820996
haha, it's hard to get the character's voices across the way I want it without deviating from their eqg characters, so im glad I'm doing it well.