Chapter 50

Sunset and I left Fluttershy’s house at about 8:30am on Monday morning.

We made our way across the province, chatting back and forth, telling stories from our pasts and making predictions of the future. It took about thirteen hours to get to Richmond, which is fairly close to the border of Washington state.

We sprung for the satellite radio feed in the rental car, and Sunset and I had listened to loud metal most of the way from home. I was surprised she liked that kind of music as much as I did, but it made sense after I remembered how good she was at playing guitar. It was nice having her with me, she was a cool chick and she kept my mind off of what might have been happening to my girlfriend at that moment.

It was dark outside when we entered Richmond. Sunset reached towards the radio to turn the volume down on ‘Road to Nowhere’ by Ozzy Osbourne to speak. “So…I have a question.” she asked.

“What’s that?” I replied, looking away from her, watching the other direction to see if it was clear to turn right.

“How are we going to pay for all this?” she asked. “Like, after we cross the border, we have to drive all the way across the continent to get to Langley…”

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it, Sunny.”

She cocked an eyebrow at me. “Don’t worry about it??” she said dubiously. “The other thing is, Rarity just dyed my hair…and in my passport photo it’s still red.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine. People dye their hair all the time. I’m sure the folks at the border will be fine about it. You still look like you.” I said, turning another corner in the white sedan.

“And what about you?” she asked. “I haven’t seen your passport yet…do you even have one?”

I looked at her for a moment, then put my eyes back on the road. “You’ll have your answers in a bit.” I said nonchalantly as I pulled into a parking lot behind a large building on the corner of a quiet intersection with a large Asian market across the street.

We parked the rental car, and I went to the truck to get a small gym bag out of my suitcase, then closed the trunk. We walked to the sidewalk, then to the intersection to a set of doors at the front corner of the building. There were glass doors with windows all around, but there was a grid of black steel bars behind every window.

I took my wallet out as I approached the entrance, taking out a white card and waving it in front of the little black box mounted next to the door. The little red LED on the box turned green, accompanied by a little beep as the door clicked, allowing me to open it, holding it for Sunset to enter. I stepped inside the vestibule with her, where we were met by a little box with a mirror inside it mounted beside the next set of doors. On the box was an illuminated blue LCD screen.

“What is this place?” Sunset asked me, looking nervous about the high tech security system.

“I have a safety deposit box here.” I explained.

The brunette’s eyebrows went up. “Ahh…”

I ducked my head slightly, looking into the mirror and staying still for a moment while it scanned my iris. A beep finally sounded from the machine, followed by the blue screen lighting up, reading:

The next door unlocked, and I pulled it open, again holding it for Sunset to enter before stepping in myself. A security guard was standing at the third door, who looked at us as we approached. I showed him my card that opened the front door, plus my driver’s license as a photo ID, then he took out a white card of his own and waved it over the box next to that door. The LED turned green as he opened and held the door for us both to enter the next room. In that room, there were two security guards, one with a large dog who stood off to the side, and another one who greeted us before he walked over to the large, shiny steel door. He swiped a card in front of it, then unlocked it with a metal key, then finally pulled a big handle and slowly swung the door open.

It was round, and Sunset could see once it was opened that the door to the vault was over a foot thick. The security guard escorted us in and followed us along the wall, which was covered in a grid of small metal doors with two lock cylinders in each. I handed Sunset the gym bag as I took my wallet out again, slipping a small key out of one of the card slots, then inserting it into one of the locks on one of the larger doors closer to the floor. The security guard took out a key of his own, then inserted his key into the other cylinder and turned it.

I turned my key next, then swung the door open and slid out a smooth steel box and carried it off to the side of the room, where there were a bunch of booths with dividers in between and a small shelf to set the box on. The security guard went back to the vault door and waited there for us to finish what we were doing.

Sunset stood off to the side, her arms folded across her midsection in somewhat of a defensive pose, looking somewhat intimidated by the place as I flipped open the lid on the box and started rooting around inside.

“How much should I bring?” I asked her over my shoulder. “Fifty?...” I thought for a moment, then shook my head. “No maybe a hundred…in case we have to buy someone off or something.”

Sunset frowned as she stepped up beside me. “A hundred…dollars? That doesn’t seem like very much….we’re gonna need way more than that.”

I shook my head and looked at her. “No…grand.”

Her big, beautiful aqua-coloured eyes almost bugged out of her head…then her pupils shrunk as she saw me pull out multiple stacks of hundred dollar bills of American cash. “Holy shit! Is this all yours?? Where did you get all this?”

“Shhh!” I shushed, looking over my shoulder to check that we were alone. “Yeah, this is my money. You don’t live for as long as I have without building up a few nest eggs…” I explained.

“Wow...” she mumbled in shock. “ I never thought about that…jeez Golds, can I have some money?” she joked.

“Actually,” I said, reaching in a pulling out a jewel encrusted pendant and handing it to her. “You can have this…I don’t really know why I have it in here.”

She frowned as I set it in her hand. “What is this?”

“Can I have the bag?” I asked, holding out my hand.

Sunset took her eyes off the jewel to glance at me, then handed me the gym bag. “Oh, here. Sorry.”

I set the bag on the ledge, then started packing the money into it. “That pendant belonged to Elizabeth Bathory.” I said, keeping my eyes on what I was doing.

Sunset chewed the inside of her cheek, looking at the jewel. “That name sounds familiar…but I can’t remember where from…”

“She was a Hungarian Countess in the 16th century.” I explained. “You’ve probably seen her on the History channel or something like that. She’s the one who supposedly killed hundreds of her maids and bathed in their blood to stay young…”

Sunset cocked an eyebrow, looking back down at the jewel in her hand. “Yeah…that’s right…I saw that on TV once, on some show about violent monarchs in history.” she said, then she looked back up at me. “Wow, this thing is old… you really want me to have it?”

“Yeah sure.” I said glancing at her. “Don’t worry, she didn’t actually do any of those things…Lizzie was actually a lovely lady. She was set up…the whole serial killer thing was a lie.”

Sunset’s eyes went wide. “Really? Who would set her up like that?”

“Catholics.” I said. “She was Protestant…” I shook my head at the memory. “People were so fucked about religion back then…they framed poor girl, and she ended up dying bricked up in a room with no windows…the only openings just big enough to let air in and to slip her food. All because they didn’t agree with her religion and they wanted her out of power.”

Sunset sighed. “That’s too bad…you knew her?”

“A little, yeah.”

The brunette paused for a moment before speaking again. “Well, thanks for this.” she said, running her fingertip around the outer edge of the pendant. “It’s really amazing.” She shifted her gaze to the steel box, wondering what else was in there. As she leaned forward, she could see stacks of American and Canadian money, as well as a pile of small leather books of different colours with gold seals on them.

“Are those all passports?” she asked in amazement.

“Yep.” I replied. “I had them all made up for me.”

“Really? By who?” she asked.

“Like I said at Rarity’s…I have connections.” I said. “I have my share of enemies, like Cody…but I also have lots of friends…although most of them are getting pretty old these days…”

She reached into the box and started leafing through the booklets. “Wow,” she said in disbelief. “You have one for like, every country in Europe…and Asia?...and these look legit…”

I nodded. “They pretty much are.” I said. “Can you find the Canadian one for me, please?”

“Sure,” she said, flipping through the passports, looking for the one that looked similar to her own. She found it, then pulled it out. “Here you go…”

“OK, thanks. Just put it in the bag.” I instructed.

“How old is this passport?” she asked. “Are you sure it’s not expired?”

I shook my head, “Nope. I had my guy make it a ten year renewal last time, right before I put it in here. That was just before I moved out to the woods, so there should a few years left on it.”

“Hm.” The brunette mumbled, before peering into the box again. “How much money do you have in here?”

“Uh…” I paused to think about it. “About three hundred Canadian and four-fifty American, I think.”

Her eyebrows went up in shock. “Thousand??”

“Yup.” I nodded, smirking at her reaction. “You should see the box I have in Switzerland…”

She let out a long exhale, shaking her head. “Why do you live the way you do if you have all this money??...I mean you drive a thirty year old truck and you live in a machine shop…”

“Low profile…” I said. “I’ve lived like a rich man before. It’s overrated, and it attracts too much attention...” then I looked at her with a slight scowl. “What’s wrong with my truck??”

She put her hands up. “Whoa…don’t get me wrong, it’s a sweet truck…I just, it’s surprising that you have all this cash sitting around.”

I smiled and nodded a bit at her as I re-counted the cash to make sure I had the right amount. Then I glanced at the brunette. “Part of the reason I don’t spend this money is so I have it when I need it…for times like this.”

“That makes sense.” Sunset said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “Hey,” she asked suddenly. “Why don’t you have guns ‘n stuff in here, like in the movies?”

I shook my head. “Not allowed.” I replied. “Can’t store guns, ammo, explosives, chemicals, illegal drugs…things like that.” I turned my head and nodded towards the vault door. “Why do you think they have the dog out there?”

Sunset glanced out of the vault in the direction of the guards for a moment, then turned back to me. “Ah, right. Makes sense.” she nodded.

I finished packing up what we needed for our mission, then put the box away, locking up the little door, then we left the vault. Once outside, we put the gym bag in the trunk of the white rental car.

We got back onto the road and left Richmond to head for the American border. It didn’t take long to get there, and we got our Passports ready as we pulled up to the customs booth.

I stopped next to the booth, rolling down the window and handing our passports to the customs officer as he stepped out of the small structure. “Evening folks.” he said, looking at our papers. “Where are you headed?”

“Washington DC.” I replied.

He glanced back at me suddenly. “Long way…what’s the purpose of your visit and how long are you staying in the country?”

“Going to visit an old friend for a couple weeks.” I explained.

He leaned his head down, looking through the car at Sunset. “You a natural brunette or what?”

She took in a breath as she looked back at him. “Oh, no…I just dyed it recently…”

He nodded. “I like the red better.”

She forced a smirk and shrugged. “Yeah, I just thought I’d try it out.”

I figured the customs officer assumed Sunset and I were a couple, so I turned to look at her, deciding to play the part. “I think it looks good, honey.” I said, reaching out to hold her hand.

She instinctually pulled back suddenly, reminding me of her magic, and what happens when she touches me. “Shit…” I thought, “That was bad…”

I looked back at the officer, who saw what just happened and was cocking his eyebrows at us now.

I shrugged. “We had a bit of an argument earlier…” I explained.

Sunset, who also realized our fuck-up, rolled her eyes and crossed her arms on her chest, looking out the passenger side window, pretending to be upset with me.

I glanced at her, then back at the customs officer, who shook his head and looked at me sternly. “You’d better just say sorry or it’s going to be a loooong trip…”

I nodded and smiled a bit. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

The officer looked at my passport for a moment next, then he looked at me. “You don’t dye your hair?” he said with a smirk.

I looked up at him for a second, then took in a breath as I answered. “Uh, no sir. I can’t dye. I’m allergic.”

Sunset smirked at my double-entendre, still looking away from us through her window.

He looked at the passports for another moment, then went inside the booth to scan and stamp them as I felt relief that he wasn’t going to search the car. Finding a hundred thousand dollars cash in the trunk would probably not be a good thing…

He finally came back, handing me both of the passports. “Have a good trip, you two. Enjoy your stay…and try to get along.” he said, winking at me.

“Thanks. Have a good one.” I said with a nod as I put the car in gear and drove away.

After a few seconds, I rolled the window up and looked at Sunset, who was looking at me now. I looked into her green eyes for a moment, then she snorted suddenly and started laughing. “Seriously? I’m allergic to dying? You just couldn’t help yourself, could you?”

“I thought it was pretty funny,” I shrugged.

The brunette shook her head as we began our long journey across the country. We drove through the night, listening to loud metal music on the satellite radio as we talked on and off for a couple hours.

Eventually she had her phone out and was playing with it. I could see her pretty face, lit up in the dark, framed by the wavy locks of her dark brown hair as she looked intently as the small screen.

“Wow,” she said suddenly. “That’s impressive.”

“What’s that?” I asked, glancing away from the road at her.

“This app…twenty questions.” she replied. “You pick something in your mind, then answer the questions it asks and it tells you what you’re thinking about.”

“Oh…” I mumbled, not really having my interest piqued by her reply. “What were you thinking about?”

“Your truck.” she said. “It guessed right, too. I don’t get how…the questions are so general…”

I took a deep breath. “Hm…” I hummed. “Why were you thinking about my truck?”

She shrugged, keeping her eyes glued on her phone. “I dunno, I guess because were we talking about it in the vault…”

I nodded, keeping my eyes on the road, watching each new foot of our journey pass through the illumination of the headlights of the white car. Sunset was quiet for about ten minutes, then she suddenly busted out laughing.

I glanced over at her. “What’s so funny?”

She continued to snicker as she spoke, blushing a little in the light of her phone screen. “I was doing another twenty questions…and uh…”

She paused for a moment.

“What?” I asked.

“The thing I thought of was…your…uh, dick.” she confessed.

I frowned as I kept my eyes on the road. “My…huh? Why is that funny?” I asked in confusion.

“That’s not what I was laughing at.” she snickered. “I was laughing cuz one of the questions was: ‘does it come in a box?’” she started giggling again, covering her mouth with her hand.

I couldn’t help but laugh along with her, watching the yellow dotted lines in the middle of the road pass by the left side of the car as we travelled. “That’s pretty good.” I chuckled.

She looked at me with her green eyes, giggling a bit more, then she looked back at her phone and continued to play.

I took a deep breath, wondering why she chose to think about that particular item for the game. I looked over at her. “Why were you thinking about my dick?” I asked.

She shrugged, keeping her eyes on the phone. “I dunno, probably cuz I have this ‘crippling arousal because of my magic’ thing…” she said, looking at me. “Remember that? How I have to deal with it constantly now that you and me are gonna be stuck together in this car for a fucking week?”

I furrowed my brows a bit, thinking about her conundrum. I honestly was so caught up in getting Sunset’s help to rescue Fluttershy, I never really thought about her arousal problem. That’s not to say I forgot she had it, but I hadn’t considered the scope of what I was asking of her. Now she was going to be stuck with me for a couple of weeks at least…and a shot of nervousness went through me after I remembered what she did to me on Fluttershy’s couch after only 24 hours together…and the trip to DC on its own was going to be two or three days.

“Didn’t you say you had a plan to deal with that?” I asked.

She turned her phone off, then set it down on her lap, plunging her face into the dark of the night. “Yeah…but I don’t think I need to break it out just yet…but speaking of which, I gotta change my pad soon…”

I looked at her with an eyebrow raised. “Pad? Like a menstrual pad? I hope you’re not…”

“No…I haven’t had my period since I turned. None of us have.” she replied quickly. “I’m just using them to keep my undies from getting messed up.”

“Seriously? You’re getting that wet?” I asked in surprise.

She nodded. “I told you, this is a pain in the ass.”

I took a deep breath and continued to keep my eyes on the road as I thought about the brunette and her issue. I finally summoned up some courage to make a suggestion to her. “Hey…”

“Yeah?” she answered.

“Why don’t you, like…take care of it…would that help?” I said.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Like…touch yourself.” I replied timidly.

She glared at me, her pupils shrinking down to pinpoints at the thought of my suggestion.

“I mean…” I said nervously. ”It was just a suggestion.”

“Well…” she started. “That’s actually…kind of what my plan was…” she said, looking down at the dash board. “I packed a vibrator and a shit-load of batteries…just in case of…you know.”

I shrugged. “Well, why don’t you use it?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t want to break it out unless I really needed to…I don’t want to use up all the batteries too fast…”

“Hm.” I nodded, suddenly hit by the reality of what we were talking about. It was one of those ‘how did I get here?’ moments…wondering how I ended up in a rented car, driving across Washington state with Sunset Shimmer in the passenger seat with brunette hair, contemplating the idea of masturbating in front of me.

She looked at me for a moment, biting her lip as she thought about what to do.

“Is it bad right now?” I asked.

She nodded slowly, her eyes locking on me. “Pretty bad, yeah.” she replied. “I kind of want you to pull over, hop in the back seat with me and tear me open with your cock…”

I could feel a wave of excitement wash through me upon me hearing her blunt, yet sexy words. I couldn’t help it, even though I knew it wasn’t right.

“Sorry…” she said, noticing she must have gotten to me a bit.

“It’s OK.” I said as I took a deep breath. “Why don’t you just…try using your fingers?”

She paused for a moment, staring at the radio as the song changed again…then she took a deep breath as she leaned back in the seat, letting herself slouch down as she lifted her hips up and slipped her right hand inside the front of her dark blue tights.

“Holy shit! She’s gonna do it…” I thought as I tried my best to keep my eyes on the road.

Sunset spread her knees apart, letting her hand slide down between her thighs, evidenced by the bulge in her pants caused by the back of her hand. She let her eyes close as she started running circles with her middle finger over her sensitive wetness.

I smirked as I thought of a little joke to mess with her. I turned to her and shouted: “OH MY GOD! ARE YOU TOUCHING YOURSELF??”

Her eyes popped open and she glared at me in shock for a moment…then she quickly pulled her hand out of her pants and sat up again, folding her arms across her chest as she scowled at the windshield.

I instantly regretted making the joke when I saw her expression. I looked back at the road for a moment, awkwardly wondering what I should do now.

After a moment I looked at her and smiled, trying to show her I was just kidding, but she just rolled her eyes and huffed as she turned and climbed over the backrest into the rear seat, leaving me alone in the front.

I sighed as I stared forward for a moment, watching as the car ate up more and more of the highway as we closed in on our destination.

“Sunny?” I said quietly, listening for a response.

There was silence from the back. I turned the music down so I could hear better.

“Hey…” I tried again, this time I heard a quiet sniffle from behind me. “Shit…she’s really upset with me…” I thought. I took a deep breath, then slowed the car down…pulling off to the side of the road and stopping on the shoulder. I put the four-way flashers on, and got out of the car, walking around to the passenger rear door to get in and sit with the brunette.

I shut the door and looked over at her. She had her face turned away from me, looking out the side window. Another vehicle went by in the other direction just then, its headlights illuminating her face as it passed, revealing a wet streak down the length of her cheek.

“Hey Sunny…” I said quietly. “I was just kidding around…”

She shook her head a bit, folding her arms across her chest again.

“Sorry…” I mumbled, shifting closer to her.

She looked down at her lap. “Golds...I’m scared.”

I recoiled a bit in surprise. “Scared?”

She nodded reluctantly.

“Of what?” I asked.

“Of all this…” the brunette replied. “This rescue mission…I don’t know how you do this…”

“Hey,” I said. “I get worried too…”

She shook her head. “I can’t do this…I’m not like you…I haven’t had 2500 years of experience.”

“Sunny, you can do this. You are brilliant in these situations.” I said. “Flutters has told me the story of how you read Cody’s mind like a hundred times…you were a genius, acting like an idiot and fucking up the coffee to get a chance to touch his hand…”

She shook her head. “That was different…he was at a disadvantage there.” she complained. “It’s the fucking CIA that I’m worried about…I’ve been freaking out ever since we went to get into your safety deposit box…when I saw how much of a fortress that place was, and all they do is store people’s shit for them…what’s the CIA headquarters going to be like?? How am I supposed to get in there?” she finally looked at me when she said this, showing me the worry in her eyes.

“I don’t know, Sunny.” I said. “I haven’t been there since the new building was added. We’re just gonna have to figure it out.”

“But what if I get caught?” she said. “What if they find out I’m immortal too?”

I rested my arm on top of the seat back and started playing with her wavy brunette locks with my fingers in an attempt to comfort her. “Don’t worry.” I said. “If you get caught, I’ll bust in there and tear the whole fucking place down.”

She paused to look at me for a moment. “You would do that for me?”

“I would do it for Flutters, and I would do it for you in a heartbeat.” I said. “Although, I prefer not to, because I don’t want the fuckers chasing us for another 60 years…which is why I want to do it quietly.”

She sighed slowly as she looked down at her lap, unfolding her arms to play with her fingertips. “You really think I can do it? You just said you don’t even have a plan…”

“We’ll come up with something.” I said. “And I know you’ll ace it, whatever it ends up being.” I tipped my head to look at her more closely. “It’s not like you to be doubtful of yourself…”

She took a deep breath. “It’s just…I’m having a hard time dealing with this…constant arousal.” she explained. “I came with you to help Flutters…there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for any of my friends, but that doesn’t mean it’s not hard.”

I nodded. “I know what you mean.”

“No you don’t…” she said, suddenly glaring at me. “You don’t know what it’s like to feel like this all the time I’m around you…with no way to relieve it.”

I took a deep breath and rubbed my forehead, trying to put myself in her shoes so I could understand.

“It’s fucking humiliating…” she said, shaking her head. “To feel like some kind of wild animal in heat…I feel like that’s how you think of me.”

I looked at her and shook my head. “No way, I have great respect for how you’ve been handling it. You hide it so well, sometimes I forget it’s even happening…plus the fact that you even agreed to come with me for this shows how tough you are.”

She swallowed, then continued to speak as if she didn’t hear what I just said. “And I was just getting comfortable enough to take care if it myself, and put myself out there…in front of you…because I thought you were gonna be cool about it, but then you yelled at me…” A fresh tear ran down her cheek when she said the last part.

I sighed slowly, feeling bad about what I did. I knew I was just kidding, but obviously I took it too far for her, and she didn’t think it was funny. I slid over on the seat and put my arm around her shoulders, pulling her in closer to give her an apologetic hug. “Sorry, Sunny. I was just being a goof. I didn’t mean to upset or embarrass you…I guess I wasn’t considering how you must be feeling…having to deal with this.”

Sunset rested her head on my shoulder and hugged me back, but remained silent.

We sat for a few moments, holding each other in the back seat as the coloured light of the hazard flashers continuously illuminated us on and off. The sweet candy scent of her hair slowly wafted up to me as I waited for the right moment to suggest continuing on our voyage to find Fluttershy.

She finally lifted her head and looked me in the face for a few seconds, striking me with her big, shiny aqua-coloured eyes.

“Dammit, why does Sunny have to be so hot?” I wondered, thinking about how she was the one and only person who could really help me rescue the shy girl.

Just as I was thinking this, she closed her eyes slowly and leaned in, pressing her soft lips against mine. She kissed me once, then twice…then on the third one, she opened her mouth and I could feel the tip of her tongue just start to touch my lips when she pulled back suddenly, opening her eyes wide.

“Shit! Sorry…” she cursed. “Fuck, I didn’t mean to do that…” She shifted back to her side of the seat, closing her eyes while rubbing her temples. She let out an exasperated sigh as she sat there, frustrated by her own body.

I looked ahead through the windshield and took a deep breath. “We should keep moving.” I said flatly, looking back at her. “You wanna stay back here?”

She nodded, folding her arms again and looking down at her lap.

“OK.” I replied quietly, turning to open the door to get out before I looked back at her once more. “It’s OK…please don’t feel bad.” I said softly, reaching across the seat to give her a comforting pat on the knee. “I can’t do this without you…because you can do things that I can’t. You’re amazing, Sunny. Don’t forget it.”

She glanced at me briefly, then looked out the window again.

I stepped out and walked around the outside of the car to the driver’s door, got in and put the car in gear to continue on our journey across the USA.

Author's Notes:

Road to Nowhere by Ozzy Osbourne.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFSgYa8YfWk