Sunset was approaching and a certain student at Canterlot High School knew it. At the same time, a student by the same name of that particular time of day was getting ready. After practising music rehearsals with the Rainbooms, running from classroom to classroom and writing essays to the point of coming home with a cramp in her hand, it was time for a different assignment. Instead of zipping her pencil case, she zipped open a bag of spray cans. Instead of putting on a lab coat, she wore a black hoodie. Instead of a sports helmet, she put on a simple cap.
Sunset Shimmer was ready. During the day, she was Sunset Shimmer, student and guitarist to the Rainbooms and Canterlot High. Sometimes, if random Equestrian magic suddenly appears, she might even save the world with her friends. Tonight however, she is Flanksy, a renowned trendy secret artist on a mission to surprise those who wake up the next day to find some new artwork on their wall or roadside. While everyone’s asleep during the night, she comes out at night and lets her creativity shine bright in the darkness.
Sunset, or rather Flanksy, looked at her map, choosing her targets carefully as well as the best backstreets to navigate through as to not be seen. She was a secret artist after all. She asked her studious friend about late-night bus schedules, city police rounds and everything that goes on from her home and all of her targets tonight. Smiling, she doubled checked she got all the colours and artistic tools she needed before stepping out into the night.
Her first target was easy. Fluttershy’s animal shelter was in her sight. Her animal-loving friend did say that her shelter was running out of room from taking in all the abandoned animals and they desperately needed some extra cash to renovate and expand the place. Fluttershy always wanted a therapeutic cat room for visitors or more reptile environment cages. She and the whole shelter had done small charity events which included baking sales and car wash services, but they only managed to get people’s loose change and notes. What they really needed was some big project to help bring in more people and see how much of a difference providing animals with a home is. Luckily, that wish was going to happen tonight.
Sunset hid in the shadows behind a rubbish bin as a security guard and dog walked past. Luckily, they didn’t pick up on her presence. Double-checking her surroundings, Sunset moved quickly towards a blank wall of the shelter. Sizing her canvas with a thumb, tongue hanging out of her mouth in concentration, she began to visualise what she wanted for her artwork.
“Of course, it has to be animal themed. This is an animal shelter after all,” Sunset whispered to herself, shaking a spray can in thought, “Maybe some sort of words as well, but nothing too obvious like “Adopt Me” or something too cute like “Hug Me.” Something that shows all the hard work that goes into this shelter. Something that will welcome everyone and every animal.”
Unzipping her bag and taking out her spray cans, she strapped a facemask on and began her work. She took out her required colours, stepped towards the wall, took a deep breath and let her artistry guide her. Sunset sprayed patches of green and yellows, forming patches of grass and buttercups. Tall trees with birds and squirrels playing in the branches were sprayed and painted on next. An array of woodland creatures came out to play, along with domesticated ones. A dog chasing its tail, a cat licking from a crystal clear puddle with sparkles, a rabbit happily munching on the foliage.
Sunset finished it off with a bright rainbow spanning from one side of her work to the other, with the words “All Are Welcome,” written on it. Taking a step back, she admired her handiwork when the sound of another security guard approaching made her hastily pack her kit away before hiding in the shadows once again.
“First mission complete,” Sunset smiled happily before running to catch the scheduled night bus to the other side of the neighbourhood.
“Fluttershy, hope my work will help the shelter get what they need,” Sunset looked at her work behind her as she crossed the street and onto a block of high-end boutiques.
Rarity has been in so much distress lately. She would go on and on about her deadline fast approaching for her next window display. If she couldn’t pull it off, then her employment at one of the hottest boutiques around would be in jeopardy. Sunset wasn’t going to let that happen. Not on her watch. She helped her out before and nothing will stop her from helping her friend again.
The bus came to a stop just outside of Rarity’s workplace and Sunset stepped out and tried to locate where Rarity’s effort was. She internally cringed at the sorry sight of it all. Shaking her head, Sunset checked her surroundings again before pulling out her cans.
“Not to worry, Rarity,” Sunset smiled, “You’re friend’s got your back.” Holding the spray can closer to the glass to get a more drippy effect, Sunset sprayed out swirling clouds and neon lightning bolts. Bold lines for hearts with arrows stuck in them. She used the shape of the mannequins to draw faces on the glass, heart eyes and broad smiles. One even had a bunch of flowers in its hand. Arrows pointing inwards at the dresses helped to catch customers’ attention towards the dresses. Luckily, there were only three window displays to work her magic on before Sunset caught the next bus and went towards the city centre.
“Good luck Rarity,” Sunset looked out of the window towards her diminishing artwork, “Hope this will help you keep you at your job for a little while longer.”
She got off just outside the mall and headed towards Pinkie’s place of work. The funky retro café has been getting a lot of five-star ratings lately and Sunset thought that her work could really boost the popularity of the diner. After walking around the building to find a suitable spot to work, she spotted a strange note on the window frame. It also had her cutie mark on the paper along with bold writing. Walking to the piece of paper, she took it in her hand and unfolded the message. Her eyes narrowed as she read the words.
DO YOUR WORK ON THE WALL TO YOUR RIGHT. IT’S CLOSE TO THE MALL ENTRANCE AND WILL GET A LOT OF ATTENTION.
- PINKIE PIE
Sunset just stared at the note. After seeing what her hyperactive friend’s mind is like during her time at Camp Everfree, she knew best not to ask how in the world Pinkie knew it was her. Shrugging it off, Sunset carried her kit to where the note directed her. She found, to her surprise, the wall was large enough to let her creative juices flow.
“Pinkie, you are good,” Sunset complimented her friend before twisting her cap in determination and walking up to her new blank canvas. This establishment being a musical, funky café, she knew exactly what her artwork will be about. The background was an assortment of speakers blasting musical notes and stars. A tasty selection of ice cream sundaes floated in mid-air, decorated with every flavour of sauce a hungry customer could imagine and multi-coloured sprinkles. Savoury foods like sandwiches, nachos and fries were also displayed in Sunset’s work. It was a literal feast for the eyes.
“Hope this will help keep the five-star ratings going, Pinkie,” Sunset smiled as she wiped the spray paint from her face. Looking at her phone’s clock, it read that it was coming close to nine. She ran quickly to the bus stop and boarded the bus heading out of the city.
With all her assigned artwork done, it was time to do her so-called surprise art, and she knew where to head next. Rainbow Dash was going to be in for quite the surprise when she woke up the next morning.
Approaching her house. She decided to surprise her with her signature illusion art. Knowing how RD loves to go fast, she thought of making a gaping hole leading up to her drive.
“She will be going so fast that when she noticed my fake hole, it will send her flying!” Sunset giggled as she got to work. She painted cracks on the concrete leading to her bottomless pitch-black hole just to keep the illusion. Taking a step back, she couldn’t help but smile evilly at her work.
“Consider this payback for waking me up with that so-called awesome guitar solo,” Sunset smiled as she walked down a few streets towards Applejack’s home. Her ears were left ringing the entire school day.
Applejack’s driveway was a bit bare, so Sunset decided to surprise her friend with an apple-themed driveway. Every sweet apple pastry along with green, yellow and red apples decorated the concrete. Fallen autumn leaves blew in an imaginary breeze. Sunset wiped the sweat from her brow and stretched her arms and back after a long time bending over.
A few blocks away was Twilight’s place. Sunset knew of her studious ways and decided to surprise her by disguising her garage door as a large bookshelf with rows of books next to each other. She sprayed books of all shapes and thicknesses along the metal garage door.
Packing up her spray cans, she was grateful she planned her route as Twilight’s house was closest to her home.
She was looking forward to a nice long sleep.
The Next Day
Sunset and her friends, minus Rarity, were in the locker corridor, chatting together before class starts. Rainbow Dash seemed to be in a foul mood, rubbing a sore spot on her back, something that didn't go unnoticed by her friends, especially Sunset. It seemed like this was going to be a normal day at Canterlot High School when Rarity came bursting, waving her phone which displayed the latest headline and attracting her friends and everyone's attention in the locker corridor. A look of happiness and surprise was visible on her face.
“Girls! Have you seen this?! Flanksy Strikes Again!” Rarity got out her phone and showed the many works around the town of the secretive artist. “She helped fix my window display again!”
“Funds are increasing at the animal shelter too,” Fluttershy chimed in, “We haven’t received donations like this since we expanded the dog kennels.”
“And how did that artist know I liked reading so much?” Twilight wondered out loud, “My garage door looks so pretty now!”
“Yeah,” Rainbow groaned, rubbing her sorry back, a pained look on her face, “Good for you, Twilight.”
“Gee, Rainbow. What happened to you?” Applejack asked, “You sleep on the wrong side of the bed or something?”
“Very funny,” Rainbow groaned as her hand touched a sensitive spot.
“Darling,” Rarity looked at her friend, “Would you care to tell us what happened this morning?”
“You all know how I love going all super-fast, right?” Rainbow explained her morning story, earning several nods from her friends, “Well, unfortunately, I overslept-“
“Like usual,” Applejack chuckled.
“Har-har. Anyway, I dashed out and I suddenly saw this great big hole in front of my house. I couldn’t stop myself fast enough and went flying towards a street light and fell backwards onto the ground.”
Her friends winced, imagining the painful picture in their minds. All instead of one, trying to hide a smile on her face.
“So I came back to check this great big hole on my driveway. Maybe it was Equestrian Magic opening up another way to Equestria or something, but guess what? It was a fake hole! I was pranked by Flanksy of all people!”
Pinkie burst out laughing while Sunset tried her best to hide her own.
“Well, the café I work at has been the talk of the mall,” Pinkie said once she got her laughter under control, “Flanksy’s artwork has made the place more popular than ever before!”
“And my family’s driveway has never been as fancier than before!” Applejack added.
“It seemed that whoever this Flanksy is, they really outdid themselves last night,” Rarity said, earning a round of nods from her friends. It was then that Fluttershy noticed bags under Sunset’s eyes.
“Goodness, Sunset. Did you get any sleep last night?” Fluttershy asked in her usual kind and worrisome tone.
“Yeah, I just had a hard time beating that level on my latest video game. I’ll be fine once I get some morning tea down me,” Sunset said as an excuse. Luckily her friends seem to buy it.
“Coffee is better, Sugarcube,” Applejack chuckled, “Take it from Granny Smith.”
“Nah,” Sunset waved a hand, “When I was Princess Celestia’s student, it was her go-to drink of the day. It somehow rubbed off on me.”
“Anyway,” Rarity looked up at the corridor clock, “Our first class of the day will be starting soon. Shall we all head off then?”
All her friends nodded and after locking up all their belongings, they all made their way towards their first class. It was during that walk that Rarity slowed her pace to match Sunset’s.
“What do you think Flanksy will come up next?” Rarity asked.
Sunset smiled and looked up in thought.
“Whatever comes to her creative mind.”
Author's Note
Hello fellow readers and writes,
It's been a really long time since I did anything from Equestria Girls. This was inspired by the short Display Of Affection. Sunset is a cool artist and gamer (just not to Fluttershy).
Anyway, enjoy this one and happy reading and writing.
Quoterific
