Tales of the Sapphire Carousel: Beyond the Bordello

"Are you sure we can just walk in here?" Sunny asked, looking around nervously.

Zipp shrugged, pushing open the door. "I'm technically a co-owner of the studio, so yeah, they can't stop me."

Two muscular guards stood in the main foyer, a man and a woman. "Please state your business," the woman said.

Zipp reached into the pocket of her leather jacket and pulled out her ID. "I'm Zephyrina Storm," she said, her voice uncharacteristically formal. "I have urgent business with my sister."

The woman eyed the documentation suspiciously, while the man grinned. "Oh wow, I can't believe you're actually here, Miss Storm!" he said, his eyes filled with awe. "It's an honour to meet you!"

"Thunder!" the woman admonished. "First of all, we don't know if she's telling the truth, and second of all, if she is, you're supposed to be respectful towards her." She scanned the card with a device she pulled from her pocket, waiting for it to beep. "Apologies, Miss Storm," she said politely. "I'll take you to Miss Petals right away."

Sunny tried to act natural and aloof as the woman glanced over at her and Izzy. It didn't help that their baggy hoodies, which were necessary for hiding their identities, also made them look incredibly suspicious.

Still, they had Zipp, and no one would dare speak up against her.

And so, they made their way through the front entrance. Zipp held out an arm half-heartedly as she said in monotone. "Welcome to Sapphire Studios."

"Ooh, pretty!" Izzy was immediately everywhere, almost pressing her nose right up to the number of giant photographs hung onto the walls, depicting various scantily-clad men and women posing seductively for the camera.

Sunny, meanwhile, couldn't help but notice that all of the stars were clearly from Zephyr Heights. She let out a sigh, thinking of how much they needed Harmony now, more than ever.

Zipp made her way to the front desk, where the receptionist started as she realized whom she was looking at.

"Miss Storm!" the receptionist exclaimed, hastily typing away at her computer in some attempt to look busy. "How may I help you?"

"I need to talk to my sister, Skye," Zipp said shortly.

Skye's smile grew brittle. "Right. She's just about to finish up a livestream, so if you want to wait—"

"I know where to go," Zipp pointed to Sunny and Izzy, the former of which had returned to them after her impromptu tour. "I just need guest passes to let these two go with me to see her. All-access, please."

"A-All-access?" Skye gulped. "That is highly irregular, Miss Storm."

"Well, I'm a pretty irregular woman," Zipp replied, her humour fading as she frowned. "Is that going to be a problem, Miss Silver?"

Skye shook her head. "I'll just scan these into the system," she said, picking up a pair of badges and putting them onto lanyards.

"Wow," Izzy said, "this place is so much fancier than the club I used to dance at."

"Doesn't matter how I feel about this place, they do take safety pretty seriously here." There was pride in Zipp's voice as she spoke, the first time Sunny had heard it since they'd first met.

"That's good to hear," Sunny said sincerely as they made their way down a series of nondescript corridors, which looked the same as in every other office. She supposed there wasn't any reason why they would look any different just because of the kind of business this place was engaged in.

Zipp reached a particularly fancy door with a placard beside it that said "Pipp Petals, CEO." She pushed it open with little fanfare, revealing yet another receptionist's desk. "Dazzle," she called out, "I need to talk to Pipp."

The woman in question looked up at Zipp, hiding her surprise much better than everyone before had. "Miss Petals still has five minutes left in her livestream, at which point she will need another ten minutes to make herself presentable. Would you like to wait here until that time, Miss Storm?"

"Yeah, sure." Zipp plopped herself down on one of the plush chairs in the waiting area, her legs shaking impatiently. She glanced over at Sunny and Izzy. "Pipp's in the studio on the right, doing a super-exclusive livestream for her top supporters. If you want some free access to what they're seeing, you can pop by the editing booth and take a look. It's the door on the far right."

Sunny raised an eyebrow. "Can we do that?"

Zipp shrugged. "All-access means all-access. I'm not going in because eww, that's my sister, but if you two are curious..."

"Ooh, I wanna see!" Izzy had already taken off before Sunny could say anything. After a moment of deliberation, she decided that she was curious too, and followed after her.

Sunny made it just in time to stop Izzy from slamming the door open in her excitement, pushing her away gently so she could open it as quietly as she could. She held a finger to her lips to indicate to Izzy that they needed to be discreet. Fortunately, the door was also well-greased, and they were able to slip inside without alerting anyone.

Inside, there was a man sitting in front of a series of monitors, displaying all sorts of technical information that Sunny couldn't even begin to understand. The monitor in the middle, however, had something that Sunny recognized, her body immediately reacting to the video feed.

"Hehe. You say the sweetest things, Mister Moneybags." Sunny had seen a few pictures of Pipp Petals before in the newspapers around Zephyr Heights, but this was the first time seeing her performing, and it was nothing short of breathtaking. The way her laugh turned into a throaty purr had Sunny turning red within seconds as her brain shut down.

"Wow!" Izzy said, walking forwards as if in a trance. "She's so pretty, and her sparkle is so bright!"

"I wish you could be here too." Pipp's voice dripped with sensuality as her hands went... places. Sunny shook her head in order to clear her mind, realizing too late that the man at the terminal was staring at them in shock.

"It's okay," she said quickly, holding up her badge. "We have permission to be here!"

That calmed down the technician, right up until Izzy rushed up towards the main monitor and tripped on a cable on the floor. She barely caught herself from falling, but in the process, her hood fell back, revealing her head and face to him.

The reaction was immediate. The technician shot straight out of his chair, backing away from them. "Aaaaaaah!" he screamed. "Please don't hurt me!"

Izzy sighed. "I'm not gonna fry your brains, okay? We're just waiting to see Pipp."

It didn't matter. The man continued backing away, before he also tripped on one of the wires and fell, crashing against the terminal.

Immediately, the monitors shut off.

"Uh-oh," Izzy said.

"We should probably go," Sunny said as the technician screamed and ran around them and out the door. "This is seriously starting to get old."

Izzy snorted. "Yeah."

They made their way out into the main area, where a very angry Pipp was currently glaring at the technician.

"Ruddy!" Pipp said. Despite her small stature and being clad in only a fancy towel, she projected an aura of anger that made her seem larger than life. "What the hell just happened! My fans are saying the feed cut off?"

The technician— Ruddy— cowered before her. "M-Miss Petals," he said. "I was attacked by..." he turned around, eyes widening further when he saw Sunny and Izzy standing there. "I'm not going to stay and get killed by them!"

With that, he ran out of the office, leaving behind an awkward silence.

Pipp immediately turned her attention to the receptionist. "Dazzle," she said imperiously. "Send out a message apologizing for the technical difficulties, and tell them I'll make it up to them later. And contact security and tell them to make sure Ruddy doesn't cause a stampede."

"Yes, Miss Petals," Dazzle replied as she began typing away at her computer.

"As for you two..." Her eyes narrowed, then widened as they focused on Izzy. "Oh my gosh, Ruddy was right!"

"Wait!" Zipp stepped forward and grabbed Pipp by her arm. "It's fine," she said before Pipp could do anything rash. "They're my friends."

Pipp glanced between all of them for a few seconds before she scowled. "I am not having this discussion naked," she finally said. She turned around and walked back towards the studio in silence.

"So, uhh..." Sunny wasn't entirely sure what to say after everything that just happened.

"Your sister is really pretty." On the other hand, Izzy didn't seem to have any trouble making conversation, bless her heart. "I mean, you're also really pretty, but I haven't seen you naked, and wow." She fanned herself with a hand.

"I get that a lot," Zipp said, annoyed. "It can be a little hard on the ego when your sister is a famous porn star."

"Yeah, I can imagine," Izzy replied. Another awkward silence followed.

"Are you sure she's going to help us?" Sunny asked, trying to get them back on something realizing the track. "Gonna be honest, I'm still not sure a CEO is going to be on board with our plan."

"Look, even if we don't exactly get along right now, I know Pipp's a good person," Zipp said.

As if on cue, they heard the studio door open, and a moment later, Pipp stepped back into the reception area. She was dressed in a crisp suit, her attire perfectly businesslike and boardroom-ready. "Someone needs to tell me why it was so important to see me that you ruined my livestream and brought one of them here."

Izzy waved cheerfully as Pipp pointed an accusing finger at her. "Hi!" she said. "Sorry about the livestream— you were doing really well working up your viewers. Your technique is really good."

"Thanks," Pipp said absently before glaring at Zipp again. "So, what do you have to say for yourself, sis?"

"We've made a huge breakthrough," Zipp said, gesturing towards Izzy and Sunny. "Izzy's from the Dominion and Sunny's from the Republic, and neither of them have any magic. Haven't had any for a long time."

Sunny decided to throw off her hoodie, breathing a sigh of relief at being free from the stifling heat. "But we're hoping we can bring it back, with your help."

Pipp's eyes narrowed. "And why should I trust someone from the Republic?"

"Because one of my ancestors was an employee of the Sapphire Carousel," Sunny replied.

"And one of mine used to cater for them!" Izzy added, nodding profusely. "We found their names in the old records."

Pipp sighed. "I can't believe you're still hung up about that old document, Zipp." She shook her head. "And now you've brought in more people into your obsession." At the very least, she didn't seem openly hostile to Sunny and Izzy now, which Sunny chose to take as a win.

"I mean, you're the one who's milking our connection with the original Carousel in your marketing," Zipp shot back.

"I'm keeping the memory of the Sapphire Carousel alive and building on their work to advocate for sex workers everywhere," Pipp replied, her own voice heating up in response.

"Oh yeah, because asking other corporations to donate a fraction of their profits to a few charities in order to get tax breaks is what Lady Luna would have wanted when she founded the Sapphire." Zipp's voice dripped with sarcasm. "I was at least trying to do something good at a grassroots level."

Pipp scoffed. "And look far you got with that. At least my narrative produces results."

"Your narrative that completely erases the fact that the people working at the original Sapphire Carousel were from all walks of life, which means that their descendants are living in the Bridlewood Dominion and the Maretime Republic on top of the Zephyr Empire."

Pipp sighed. "We've had this argument a thousand times before, Zipp. What do you want me to do? If I admit just how diverse the Sapphire Carousel was, I'll lose a lot of the popular support we've worked so hard to build up."

"We reunite Equestria by bringing magic back, and use the fame we get from that for our advocacy." Zipp gestured at the two foreigners in the room. "Izzy's an exotic dancer back in the Dominion, and Sunny's an escort in the Republic. If we can get you on board too, we'll have sex workers from all three nations working together to bring about the greatest revolution in history."

"All three nations are already on the brink of war," Sunny said. "I've heard it from some of my high-profile clients— tensions are already so high that Izzy and I couldn't walk down the street here without hiding who we are, and only the belief that the other countries still have magic is keeping things from escalating. The moment it gets out that you don't have flight, or that the Dominion doesn't have magic, things are going to get very, very bad."

"Wait, the Dominion doesn't have magic?" Pipp's eyes widened as she stared at Izzy.

Izzy shook her head. "Nope, it just went 'poof' one day, and then, no more magic. Just like in the Empire."

"We came here hoping the Empire would know how to restore it, but it looks like you all lost it too," Sunny explained. "Then Zipp showed us the notes from Lady Luna, which I combined them with the research logs from Lady Sparkle, and it turns out that in order to activate the Mana Engine and bring magic back, we need a bunch of keepsakes from the original members of the Sapphire Carousel."

"Which is why we need access to the vault," Zipp finished for her.

"You need Rarity's lipstick," Pipp said flatly. "The symbol that I've been using to promote our movement, that's been the rallying point for everyone involved in trying to make the world a better place."

"Symbols are great and all, but actually bringing magic back will change everything. Please," Zipp pleaded, "we already have Shimmer Glass' ring, and we're pretty sure that Sapphire Snow's keepsake is in the Republic. We just need the lipstick, and we'll be on our way."

"You're insane," Pipp said. "You know that, right? This, all of this, is completely insane."

"C'mon, sis, you're a sex worker trying to fight centuries of stigma and systemic discrimination. We're all insane for thinking we can actually make a difference." Zipp flashed her a cocky grin. "So what's another leap of faith? Rarity walked on water because of her faith in magic."

Pipp sighed. "Dazzle, cancel all of my appointments for the next week, and tell Shutter Snap that I need to postpone our interview and that I'll have a huge story for him when he gets back. Oh, and don't tell anyone about what just happened here." She glared at Zipp. "You'd better be right about this. I'm risking it all for you."

"I'd never let you down, sis," Zipp promised.

"Alright, let's get to the Vault right now and then dip before someone calls the cops on you two," Pipp said, gesturing towards Sunny and Izzy. "We don't need that kind of attention."

"Agreed." With that, they took off, Pipp leading them through the office building after Sunny and Izzy put their hoodies back on. Eventually, they reached a door with a guard in front of it, but he quickly stepped aside when he saw two co-owners of Sapphire Studios approaching.

"Here it is," Pipp said, entering the access code onto the keypad. The keypad beeped and the large metal door swung open, revealing an empty, sterile room lined with drawers along the walls.

Pipp made her way inside, the others trailing behind her as she reached the far end of the wall. She pulled out a key from her purse and slid it inside.

Sunny held her breath as she waited for it to open, feeling the momentous weight of history on their shoulders. This was it, a chance to see one of the most prized possessions of her childhood hero. A moment later, the drawer was opened, revealing a small jewelry box.

Pipp reached inside and took the box, popping it open for all to see. "Well, this is it. The tube of lipstick that Rarity carried with her until her death."

It looked like a perfectly normal tube of lipstick, but Sunny still picked it up with reverence, holding it as gently as she could. "I've read so much about her," she whispered. "I never thought I'd get to touch something that used to be hers."

"It's a powerful symbol," Pipp said. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"We got this," Sunny assured her, feeling it in her very soul. They would restore magic to the world, and show the world that fear and distrust were not the answer. And when there was harmony, then she would finally be accepted for who she was.