The Girls

Sunset Shimmer had been jostled awake when the Male had awoken, rattling in his chains and letting out short and small grunts each time he struggled. Mulcher had chained him down with some heavy duty metal that she said could hold a supe down. Sunset hadn’t fully believed it, but it seemed to be working, at least for now.

“Hold on, hold on.” Prenchie was already there, her palms raised to show she meant no harm. “Don’t worry. We just want to talk first. Then we’ll remove those chains, oui? Just please, stop struggling. We do not mean any harm. You can trust me.”

“Sure he can.” Milly Mulcher waltzed over, her arms folded.

“Maybe not her.” Prenchie glared at her. “I still cannot believe you knocked me out as well.”

“Hey, ya do what ya got to do, yeah?”

Prenchie shook her head and returned her attention to the Male. “So hey, we need to know what they were doing to you down there. Why were they keeping you down there? What do they want?”

The Male didn’t answer, but he had stopped struggling against his bindings.

“We want Vogel to go down too,” Prenchie reasoned. “You do want that, yes? We know they’re not really who they say they are and we want to find out what they’re doing. What is Hold X? Can you tell us?”

There was still no answer.

“We’re wastin’ our time.” Mulcher waved a hand, then turned her back and walked away to a dirty old couch with brown stains, lighting a cigarette. “Just off ‘im. He’s a bloody supe.”

“Come on, don’t you see, Mulcher?” Father’s Coffee rubbed a pack of ice to her head. “He’s on the run from Z-Truck and Vogel now. If we kill him, we’re just doing them a favour now.”

“A supe’s a supe in my book.” She folded her arms. “I don’t care who they’re with. They’re still a danger.”

Coffee sighed, then waved to Prenchie. “Do what you can to find out what she knows and what help we can get. Mulcher, you and I need to discuss some things.”

Sunset watched as the two taller women walked away, then looked back at the Male. He still sat there, keeping his gaze on Prenchie, rarely blinking. She wondered just how they could get through to the Male that they could help him as long as he would help them back in return.

As she sat there watching as Prenchie attempted to coerce the man again, her phone buzzed in her pocket and she dug into it to retrieve her device. There was a single message on the screen and it read a single line.

See you soon, Sunset.

Then she remembered. She had made a date with Flash on Mulcher’s insistence and she had completely forgotten about it.

“Prenchie, I’ve got to go. I’ve got to meet Flash.” Sunset grabbed her coat and hurried for the stairs. “You can handle this yourself?”

“Oui, oui, you go have your fun, petite Sunset.” Prenchie waved a hand. “I will do what I can.”

“Um, right. Well, good luck.” She threw her coat on and raced for the stairway.

A date in a time like this felt weird and almost like something she didn’t deserve, but Sunset actually felt excited about it. It had been so long since they’d done something normal, but at the same time, she was dreading it. Mulcher had tasked her with finding out as much about The Septet from Flash as she could. In other words, she would have to play both sides here and that was risky business. She just hoped she wouldn’t do anything to give them up, or Protectorate Sod would be smashing down their door and zapping them all with her laser eyes.

That was an end Sunset didn’t want.

Soarmaster had just stowed her mop in the kitchen to dry when he heard the familiar blare of a truck’s horn, signalling the arrival of someone he held dear, or at least, he thought he did.

“Soar, I’m back.” Z-Truck took off her goggles and waltzed about in front of the couch. “Anything interesting happen?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all.”

Soarmaster had taken Mr. Dunder Snitch’s body high into the sky before throwing it on the icy slopes of Mt. Everhoof. No one would think twice after seeing a body all the way up there, seeing as people died there yearly. After that, he had gone back home to repair the floorboard and to wash all the blood away. Getting blood and brains off the carpet had proven extremely difficult and tedious and it was really a wonder how he had cleaned it all up before Z-Truck showed up.

“Nothing at all?” Z-Truck brushed a hand against his midsection, then threw herself on his couch. “Did you watch my race?”

Soarmaster scoffed. “I sure did. What was that you said? Single and ready to mingle?”

He was fed up with that. All the women in his life always dropped him for someone better. If Z-Truck were to do that too, well, he wouldn't be surprised, but it would certainly hurt. Member of The Septet or no, she's always a woman. An women tend to betray him.

“Something like that.” Z-Truck shrugged and reclined back. “Hey, we’ve talked about this. You know I’m not allowed to reveal our relationship to the public. Vogel orders. I thought you understood that.”

“I do. It’s just that… Come on, do you think anyone would feel good after hearing their girlfriend say that?”

“Well, no, I suppose not. But orders are orders. You don’t want to go against Vogel, Soar. Neither do I. Speaking of which, I need to talk to you. About something.”

Soarmaster shrugged and floated his legs up and crossed them, sitting in the air. “What is it?”

“The Eastern restaurant. The one with the Hold X and the… assets.” Z-Truck twiddled her fingers together. “There’s been an escape and I wanted to know… Did you tell anyone about it?”

Soarmaster’s heartbeat soared up. “No, no. Definitely not,” he said quickly. “Didn’t tell a soul. Why would you think I would even do that? I love Hold X. I wouldn’t reveal it to anyone else.”

“Okay, yeah, I didn’t think it was you. But you know, you’re the only other person I’ve told. Other than you, only Protectorate Sod knew about the operation, and she gave me a sure warning to never let this happen again. So really? You didn’t tell anyone?”

Soarmaster looked into Z-Truck’s eyes for a moment, appalled that she would even suspect him, but at the same time, he was trying to find ways out of this, because he had been blackmailed into revealing the restaurant to those girls.

“No.” He remained firm. “I didn’t tell anyone.”

Z-Truck suddenly leaned back again and chuckled. “Yeah, alright. I believe you. But hey, pack your bags.”

“Why?”

“Because after what happened, I don’t want Protectorate Sod coming for you. You should get away for a while. Someplace nice. Maybe Harevana. Remember that hotel we spent nights in?”

“You’re not coming?”

Z-Truck spun her goggles around one finger. “You know I can’t do that. I have appearances to keep up, being a member of The Septet. We’ve enough trouble with Refraction being dead. We can’t have another missing member.”

Soarmaster groaned and rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

“Hey, don’t be like that.” Z-Truck got up and walked over to him and grabbed his feet. “I’ll come visit. Alright? I can get there in like, three minutes. You won’t see the last of me yet.”

“Really?” Soarmaster floated down to be face to face with her. “You’ll come visit?”

“Everyday, if I can help it.” Z-Truck wrapped her arms around his neck. “Hey, I’m awesome like that. I just need you there so that you can be safe.”

“And you love me, Z?”

Z-Truck laughed, then kissed him. “Of course I do. You’re always on my mind. I say what I have to for TV, but come on, you know what I think of you.”

“Alright.” Soarmaster nodded. “Then I guess I’ll get to packing my bag.”

“Or…” She reached up and pulled down her zipper, revealing her soft, but firm blue breasts. “You could do that later.”

And she pushed him down on the couch and straddled him.

“So, no siblings, Sunset?” Flash Sentry sipped at his tall mug of beer. “You aren’t from here, right? I remember something about that.”

“Yeah, I’m not from your world.” Sunset Shimmer sighed and stirred her straw around in her milkshake. “I came here a long time ago seeking vengeance against my former teacher.”

“You know, I actually don’t remember a whole lot of it.”

Sunset was about to continue, but as she looked up, past Flash’s head, she noticed someone standing there staring at her.

It was Pine Resin and he was just standing there, unmoving, unblinking, his eyes wide and sharp. Then someone walked past him and he vanished.

“Sunset? Sunset? Hello? You still there?” Flash waved a hand in her face.

“Oh, oh… yeah.” She blinked rapidly. “Just uh, spaced out there for a minute. Uh… Where was I?”

“Uh, former teacher vengeance.”

“Yeah.” Sunset laughed. “I’d imagine I would be minced meat now if supes like you had been around then. Wait, you were around, Flash. Right? You said you went to Canterlot High School too?”

“Yeah. Believe it or not, so did The Shallow.” He rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out. “But… it’s strange. I don’t remember you, Sunset.”

“I guess we’ve never really talked. Hay, I didn’t know Shallow was there too.”

Flash nodded. “She was. Unfortunately.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Sunset touched his hand. “You can tell me.”

It was a perfect chance to glean more information on The Septet, but Sunset felt bad for having to do it to him.

“Remember I said I was having trouble with a co-worker?” Flash smacked his lips together as he thought. “Yeah, that was her. You know, I had always liked her growing up. I mean, as a superheroine. She was my favourite.”

“What, really?” Sunset smiled. She was intrigued. “Not Protectorate Sod?”

“Yeah. I found her cool, even before she was a part of The Septet. She’s the only supe who can breathe underwater.”

“What changed?” Sunset asked with the straw in her mouth.

Flash ran a hand along his chin. “Let’s just say… she’s not who I thought she was. Perhaps… perhaps you should never meet your heroes, huh? Being in The Septet just… isn’t what I expected.”

“Maybe.” Sunset ran her thumb along Flash’s hand. “But you know, I’m glad I met you. You’re an interesting one, Flash Sentry. You may be the best member of The Septet yet.”

“I don’t know, but…” Flash spun his hand around and held onto hers. “Thanks, Sunset. For thinking so.”

Sunset let this moment go on for a few minutes. It felt almost underserved, to have something nice like this, and she didn’t want to let go of it just yet. She wanted more of it. But Mulcher’s face appeared in her mind and she remembered what she needed to do, even if she felt bad doing it.

“Hey, you hear about that restaurant massacre the other day?” she asked. “It sounded bad. Really brutal.”

“Oh, yeah, Z-Truck was on it. Apparently some crazed supe was terrorizing Canterlot. He killed a bunch of people. He’s still at large.” Flash looked around, then leaned closer. “By the way, I’m not supposed to be telling you all this. The public only knows that a murderer is on the loose. They don’t know it’s a supe.”

Sunset had to fein knowledge. “Wait, there are evil supes now?”

“Yeah, I suppose if we can be born with powers, there would be some who would use them for evil.”

Use them for evil. Right. As if the rest don’t.

“I wanted to ask about that.” Sunset drained a portion of her drink and licked her lips. “So supes aren’t made? They’re born with them?”

“Yeah, all the superheroes I know are born with their powers.” Flash tilted his head from side to side. “Kinda like a birthmark?”

“What’s that?”

“A mark you’re born with...”

“Oh. Yeah, I see.”

“Take me for example. I was six when I discovered I could use light as a weapon.” Flash lifted his other hand and a small ball of fire snaked from his index finger to his thumb, before extinguishing itself. “My dad had said it was a gift from a higher being.”

“So you don’t think supes can be made?”

“I don’t think they can.” Flash seemed to ponder this question. “I don’t know how someone could just be… given powers at the snap of fingers.”

Sunset nodded in agreement. Flash didn’t know about Hold X, it seemed. Either that or he was really good at hiding it, but Sunset didn’t think he was lying. Flash was different from the rest of them.

“Hey, I really enjoy our time together.” Sunset smiled at him. “We could do this more.”

“Yeah, I’d like that. Just some time to get away from all the madness.” Flash made a choking gesture.

Sunset snickered. “You have no idea.”

And truly, he didn’t. Sunset herself had killed a member of The Septet and if that wasn’t a serious crime, she didn’t know what was.

She leaned on an arm and looked outside the window, then startled back a bit. Outside, Pine was there again, glaring at her as though she was doing him wrong by even being here.

“Flash. I think I’ve got to go. I had a great time.” Sunset got off her chair and finished the rest of her milkshake in a gulp. “Let me know when you’re free again?”

The blue haired boy nodded. “I’ll do that. Catch you around, Sunset.”

And she was off, rushing down the streets to the nearby Canterlot Park. She didn’t stop until she was by a row of bushy trees, where the shadows towered over her. It was late into the afternoon, but the sun had yet to go down, with people still playing around in the park or having picnics.

Sunset watched them through the trees, then thought of Pine again and wept.

“I’m doing this for you, Pine. Please know that…”