As I continued going about my everyday business for the next several days, I was constantly seeing crowds of unrelenting haters, and needless to say, I started feeling a little depressed. Just as I knew she would, Twilight kept trying to cheer me up, and she did lift my spirits somewhat...but it wasn’t enough.
I was laying in bed wearing purple pajamas with a picture of my cutie mark on my shirt. I could hear Twilight in the kitchen making breakfast, and I considered getting up to eat. I just wasn’t motivated to do anything though. I stretched while staying in bed, and yawned. I wondered what I would do today, if anything. I sure didn’t want to go outside and face a random crowd of haters, but I didn’t want to just stay inside all day either. I realized I could keep my mind off my rumour problem (at least for a little while) if I found a mission to go on at Magicians Inc.
I stretched again and got up, rubbing my eyes. Then I got up and prepared to leave the house.
Twilight saw me as I passed by her (she was eating toast while wearing her favourite pair of pajamas, and it was just the cutest thing ever) and said, “I'm guessing you’re going out?”
I grabbed my sweater off our coat hanger and replied, “No, I’m getting ready for an indoor blizzard.” I glanced outside a window to see blooming flowers and green grass.
Twilight ignored my sarcastic comment and asked, “I don't think it's a good idea to go out alone. I can come with you if you want.”
I waved her concerns away. “Nah, I’ll travel by rooftops. And I can teleport between buildings to make sure that no one sees me.”
“Okay,” she answered, considering that for a second. “Just be careful. I don’t want to see how you'd act if you were even more down in the dumps. I’m guessing that you’re looking for a mission?”
I nodded and said, “See you later, Twi.”
As soon as I stepped out, I took a look around me to see if there were any mobs waiting for me, and I breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of an empty street.
I found the nearest tall building, and cast a spell that boosted all my physical abilites. I placed one hand on my stomach and one hand on my head, before I yelled, “Super Human!” I instantly felt a boost in my energy, and I stomped the ground, creating a small crater and shaking the ground around me. I used the force of the kick to jump all the way to the top of the apartment building.
I deactivated the boost and teleported across buildings the entire way to the main building of Magical Missions Inc.
I leaped down from the top of the building closest to the familiar headquarters after briefly activating Super Human again. I entered the huge company building and made my way to the front desk, saying hello to the worker there. She gave me a smile and typed something into her magical computer, then went back to looking through some papers.
I was curious, but decided not to pry and looked through the Book of Missions for a few minutes. Before I figured out what mission was the best for me, my boss walked into the room from a door behind the receptionist, to my surprise, and said, “I’ve been waiting for you, Sunset Shimmer.”
Power Boss was a middle-aged man, and had been the head of Magicians Inc. for decades. It was rare for him to speak directly to an employee (even if she was pretty darn famous in the company, like yours truly), so I raised an eyebrow at his words. “You were waiting for me? What could possibly be so important that you would be waiting for a lone employee?”
Mr. Boss smiled and laughed heartily. “Just because I oversee the whole company doesn’t mean I don’t have time to stalk my employees. Especially one as notorious as you, Ms. Shimmer.” He winked at me and I giggled. No, not the high school girl kind of giggle that indicates a crush. Just a regular, innocent giggle. I mean, I am an adult, but he's like 50 (no offense to him though, he's a cool boss). “Congratulations on starting a relationship with Ms. Sparkle, by the way. I’ve known how you felt about her for some time now.”
I blushed. Was it really been that obvious to everyone but Twilight? I then remembered how this conversation started, and asked, “So why were you were waiting for me, Mr. Boss?”
“Ah. That. You see, I just received word that a very problematic situation had to be dealt with, and when I looked through all the information, I thought this would be a mission the newest couple in our company would love to go on.” He looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to speak.
“Really?” I asked. “How so?”
Mr. Boss seemed to be struggling on how to answer, which was surprising. He was usually a quick thinker from what I knew of him. “Let’s just say,” he began slowly. “That there are no two people in this company who are better suited for this job.”
I was doubtful of his answer, but then I remembered who I was talking to, and nodded. “Alrighty then, I guess I'll take the file explaining this mission,” I said, grabbing the the collection of papers Mr. Boss was holding out to me.
Mr. Boss said farewell and I returned the gesture, before I turned around and left the building. Little did I know just how misleading my Boss’s explanation had really been.
I returned home while looking through the file, largely unaware of his deception. The job did seem like a pretty good match for the two of us, which just made me more confused about my Boss’s weird behaviour. The task was to capture a single criminal. He had injured a couple of elite guards who worked for the company, and the guards had said that this criminal did so with ease, which made him even more of a threat, and he needed to be dealt with ASAP.
When I opened my front door after an uneventful trip home, Twilight was standing right in front of me. She immediately started asking me a bunch of questions.
“I assume you found what you were looking for?” She had her eyes on the file tucked under my shoulder.
“Yes, I did.” Twilight saw that I didn’t look as content as I should’ve been, and tilted her head in confusion.
“And?” she asked, holding a hand out and waving it inward as if to pull the answers out of me.
I sighed, and held my arms with my hands. “I don’t know. It was strange.”
“What was strange?” Twilight inquired.
“I’m not sure how to describe it. Don’t you think it’s strange that our Boss showed up out of nowhere, then told me he’d been waiting for me? He’d apparently received word of a problem that would be perfect for us to deal with, and he kinda avoided my question about it.”
“Our Boss is a bit weird. I don’t really think that’s a big deal.” She shook her her head while saying so.
“It’s not just that,” I said, starting to get frustrated. “He was being so shifty when I asked that simple question, even though he was acting perfectly normal throughout the rest of the conversation.”
“It’s not like it matters, anyway. You found a mission, and the Boss personally recommended it to us. I don’t see the problem.” Twilight also seemed to be getting a little annoyed by the argument over what she thought was such a simple topic.
“But it does matter! I’m sure that there’s something special about this mission, and there’s a reason Mr. Boss isn’t telling us. Maybe we shouldn’t go on this mission. Who knows, maybe he was lying and we’re actually just being used as pawns to test the danger level of this “problem.” It may actually be way too dangerous for us to handle alone. The file said that the problem was a single criminal who had easily dispatched a few elite guards. That wouldn’t be too bad, but maybe there’s more to it than that. It would explain his reluctance to answer!”
Twilight held her head in her hand, and replied. “Look, all I’m saying is that you found exactly what you were looking for, and it’s very unlikely that there’s something important about Mr. Boss’s hesitation in answering your question. If you really don’t want to, you can just go back and tell him that you refuse.”
“No! No, it’s just…” I let out a deep breath and let my anger follow my breath. “This whole situation with the rumour has really been getting to me. I’ve tried to be strong and not let it affect me, but it’s still made me careful with everything people do, just in case they’re trying to hurt me like so many other people are.”
Twilight’s irritation immediately faded away too, and she hugged me as I began to tear up. She patted my back and soothingly said, “It’s okay. We have a mission to look forward to, and after a nice, relaxing, life threatening battle with a powerful criminal, I’m sure you’ll feel much better.”
I silently let tears stream down my face for a few seconds, before I chuckled and wiped away my tears. “Yeah,” I said. “I’m sure I will.”