//------------------------------// // Act 3: The Doctor is in-training // Story: Starfleet Humans: A Tale of Two Sunsets // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// ACT THREE A few days had passed, and rather than make a commercial trip to Mystic Island, Human Sunset Shimmer was taken to the island via a submarine to avoid suspicion. This transport was arranged by her employers, and stayed parked in a trench one-thousand yards away from the island. Then, at night, Sunset scuba-dived her way to the island, emerging on the far side, away from the city and the loading docks, where there would be no one for miles around. She stepped onto the rocky shored, and ditched her scuba-gear, revealing she was wearing the same outfit she wore on the night she broke into the bank, which would render her undetectable by conventional surveillance. She was now standing in a lonely spot with only open fields, tall trees, and a single road. She then called to her employers over the radio. “I’ve arrived on the island.” “We have you on visual.” replied Richard. Sunset was not undetectable by his equipment. His company designed the suit after all. “Now where’s my transport?” Sunset asked rather sternly. Jewel answered, “Look around you, you should see a series of shrubs. You’ll find it in there.” Sunset looked around, and saw a few shrubs, and hidden under them was a moto-cycle, with black and silver plating. It had been placed there and hidden prior to her arrival, without notice from the islanders. “Nice.” Sunset said as she sat in the seat. This was no ordinary cycle; it was equipped with high-tech from her employers-- missiles on the sides, two machine guns mounted on the front, tracking radar, and even an optic-camouflage mode and noise compressor. “Be careful with that.” Richard warned her “It cost us quite the mother-load to make, and your weapons have limited range and ammunition.” “Keep your money-belts on.” sneered Sunset “You’ll need them when I finish the mission.” Jewel spoke to her, “We’ve made all the arrangements. You should be able to pull this off, but if you are discovered, you are on your own.” Sunset scoffed “Just you don’t forget our deal!” She logged off and then revved up the engines, and took off down the road, heading for town. She went way over the speed limit and alerted the attention of a police patrol car that began to chase after. Its lights were flashing and its sirens wailed. “Oh, great!” groaned Sunset. Then, she looked up and saw a large bend in the road and quickly turned into it, vanishing around the corner into a stretch of clear road with steep hills on either side, and then activated the camouflage and noise compressor. The cruiser turned round the corner, and the two cops inside could see nothing ahead but clear open road and the hills. “Where’d that biker go?” the driver wondered. “We both saw it, right?” asked his partner. “Yeah, look, you can see the marks from the tires on the road.” The two men couldn’t figure it out. There was no way that biker could have bounded up the steep slopes, or get that far up the road that quickly. Sunset snickered to herself, “Amateurs.” and she continued on her way into town, “I’m going to find you, Sunset Shimmer. There’s no way you’ll get out of this!” For the past few days, the gang lived their lives normally-- attending their classes, their studies, and their part-time jobs to pay for their campus rents as well as their career intuitions. Artie continued to paint and sculpt for his clients, though he was having a little hard time concentrating, worrying about his wife, and he accidently ended up panting his own hand red. “Ugh…” he groaned. Sunset thought it was sweet he was showing how much he cared at least, and as much as she herself was concerned, she didn’t let it stifle her when she went to the hospital for volunteer work and work-study with Dr. Penny. Both of them were kept under surveillance by Celesto, as promised. With his electronic eyes all over the island to watch for danger, he kept them in close watch, but to respect their privacy, rather than actually peep into their physically lives, he kept the images as blips on the radar. Spike and Twilight were with him as they viewed from the base, and Spike yawned in boredom. “It’s been three days, and nothing’s happened at all.” he groaned “They go to class, go to work, and their dorm room-- class, work, dorm room.” “Now, listen Spike,” said Celesto “If there’s one I thing I learned from my spaceman years, it’s “Never take eyes off of anything, not even for a split second. If Human Sunset is going to try to make a move, I want to be ready for it.” Then he turned to face Twilight, “How’s the research coming?” Twilight shook her head and answered, “Not good.” She had been reviewing the footage of Human Sunset’s gadgets, and trying to find clues that could tell if anyone supplied her with them. “It’s no use; I can’t make an analysis with just these images. I’d have to actually have one of those gadgets. Then I’d probably be able to find out who makes it.” Celesto sighed. It was already bad enough that Human Sunset Shimmer still remained undetected by any of their equipment. “For now, all we can do is watch for any suspicious activity.” As part of her work study, and due to her outstanding grades, Dr. Penny allowed Sunset to give checkups or examine patients, under her strict supervision of course. Sunset even got to wear a white coat and everything, which really helped her feel confident in herself, and made her feel more like a real doctor. “Say Aaaa…” she said softly to a little boy, and her patient stuck his tongue out so she could see in his mouth and could see his inflamed throat. “Okay, we’ve got a little bacterial infection here; I suggest it be treated with antibiotics.” Dr. Penny took a look herself to confirm this, “Yes, I agree… an excellent diagnosis, Sunset.” Sunset smiled, and after Penny wrote up a prescription for the boy and gave it to his mother, the two headed out the door, but not before the boy said softy, “Thank you, Doctor Sunset.” The mother corrected her son, “She’s not a doctor, sweetie. She’s just an apprentice.” but as the two left, Sunset stood where she was smiling deeply-- being called “Doctor” Penny smiled too, remembering how she felt when she was starting out. As mentor and student walked down the halls to see their next patient, Penny checked Sunset’s grade list, “I’m impressed, Sunset. You keep this up and with my recommendation, you’ll--” she when she noticed Sunset seemed a little worried. Penny knew of what happened with Sunset-- reading out it in the newspaper. Everyone on the entire island knew of this, and they were just as outrage that Sunset was framed. Nobody knew of the Starfleet secret mission of course. “I just know she’s out there.” said Sunset “She is going to come after me. I can’t stop thinking about it.” Penny honestly didn’t know what to tell her about that. If anything, it boggled her own mind to think there was a pony version of herself in another dimension-- where Sunset was from. Sunset’s cellphone suddenly beeped. The hospital allowed the use of certain phones, as long as no one took any pictures. “It’s Artie, he’s checking up on me again.” She smiled lovingly as she checked his message. “Just texting to see if you’re alright …I Love you.” Sunset smiled lovingly and texted him back, reading it aloud softly, “Feeling fine… Love you too. (Kiss Emoji)” Penny giggled, “You two lovebirds. It only seems like yesterday you were kids at the high school.” Sunset blushed softly, but she agreed, and she was very happy to have Artie in her life, as well as all her other friends. “Have you done it with him yet?” Penny teased, and Sunset blushed like crazy and gave that same frightful expression. Penny couldn’t help but chuckle, “I didn’t think so.” Sunset got a hold of herself. “Ah, here we are.” said Penny and she led Sunset into an exam room where an elderly lady sat on an exam bed. “Mrs. Penelope? I’m Doctor Penny Sillion.” Penelope looked up and nodded, “Sorry, I can’t shake hands, at my age it’s not a comfy thing.” Penny checked the charts and saw Penelope was due for a monthly blood-test and examination. “Well, Dr. Sunset, shall you?” Sunset nodded and stepped up to her patient to examine here. Penelope gazed at her rather strangely. “Is something wrong?” asked Sunset. Penelope quickly said, “You seem mighty young to be a doc.” Sunset chuckled, “I’m actually in-training, but don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” Penny agreed and assured the patient, “You’ve nothing to worry about. It’s just a routine exam.” “Well, alright then.” agreed Penelope. Sunset got to work and gave her patient a thorough exam, and as she worked she thought this lady had some unusual results. Her blood-pressure, heartbeat, breathing, all were rather strong and steady for an elderly woman. Even Penny was amazed as she looked over the charts. “According to this you’ve had several hypertensive heart attacks this year.” Then she went over Sunset’s findings “You shouldn’t be having such problems with these results.” Sunset agreed, “With health like this you should feel and look at least ten years younger.” Penelope thought that unusual, and reached her into her purse pulling out a bottle of prescribed pills. “Will I need these?” Penny observed the bottle, “No,” she answered “Why if anything, I’ll bet these are the causes of it.” Penelope sighed, “I knew it. I knew my regular doctor was some sort of quack! He put me on this stuff to drain my pension account.” The ladies sighed, and Penny wrote up a prescription for Penelope to get a special medication to strengthen her, and make her feel much better. “Thank you kindly.” said Penelope, “I’ll be moseyin’ along now.” “I’ll escort you to the door.” said Sunset “My work-study is over for the day, and I have to meet my friends for lunch.” She took her coat off and handed it to Penny. “Good job today, Sunset. Keep up the good work.” Sunset smiled at her, and then escorted Penelope to the front doors. Penelope then reached into her purse and pulled out a one-hundred dollar bill, “I must thank you for what you’ve done for me.” Sunset was astonished, “Oh… no, no, I couldn’t. I really can’t take this. I’m only a volunteer here.” Penelope insisted, “Now, now. You deserve it, and besides, how do you expect to get to medical school if you don’t starting pinchin’ them pennies.” Unable to argue, Sunset took the money and thanked her kindly for it. “I promise I will put it to good use.” She then offered to walk Penelope to the bus stop, but Penelope insisted she could make it herself. “Thank you for everything.” said Sunset, and then she headed off down the sidewalk “Take care of yourself,” called Penelope, and then she wickedly hissed under her breath, “You’re going to need it.” She then turned, and began to walk rather strongly and skillfully, past the bus stop. Along the way, she came into an alley way, and a punk kid tried to steal her purse, and she defended herself like a skilled martial-artist-- and punched and kicked the punk off of her. “Beat it, punk!” she sneered, and the punk ran away all scared. The lady then reached behind her, and pulled out a simple small black remote device. One click of a button, and she revealed herself to be Human Sunset in disguise all along. Then she called to her employers, “I did it, she took the bait!” “We’re aware of that.” said Jewel “Remember, we have you under our watch, but at least you succeeded in the first phase.” Richard agreed and said, “That hundred-dollar bill you slipped her-- the second she laid her hands it, an electronic signal built into it reacted with her DNA, and injected her with a small serum. Slowly but surely, she’ll start to feel its effects.” The two then instructed their own Sunset to lay low until further orders and then they logged off. But Sunset thought silently “They can do whatever they want. I have my own task to complete.” She still found it totally unbelievable that she came into contact with the other Sunset Shimmer, and that she looked and sounded just like her-- which only angered her further. “You won’t escape me, Sunset. I will get you, and I will make you pay for everything you cost me and did to me!”