//------------------------------// // A Certain Magical Sunset - Act 1 - 10 - Sunset - First Night in a New World // Story: A Certain Magical Sunset // by Babroniedad //------------------------------// Sunset - First Night in a New World Monday, August 18 - 10:40 PM Canterlot time Sunset went through her messages and email while she waited for Twilight, Rainbow, her mom, and her aunt. While waiting, she got a text from Twilight with an attached URL to download an app for her phone. Once she had it loaded, she opened it up and saw it was the control interface for the TACIT portal. “Awesome. That will come in handy,” she realized with a nod. Shortly afterward, she got a brief text from Twilight. It was just two words. “Goggles. Now.” She quickly pulled down her goggles. A few seconds later, the TACIT receiver was bathed in a glow of magenta light. With a flash, four grinning women appeared packed into the booth. Sunset removed her goggles. “Uhm… are you supposed to pack that many people into the booth at once?” she asked with a giggling snort. “No one wanted to wait, and I didn’t want to take the time to make multiple trips or explain how to trigger the device to everyone. Besides, I knew we would all fit! We also already knew that going together doesn’t cause any ill effects from our having done it. So I wasn’t worried,” grinned Twilight. Twilight stepped out of the booth and turned to their guests. She bowed. “Ms. Celestia. Ms. Luna. Dashie. Welcome to Mars!” “So you did all this, by yourselves, in one day?” asked Aunt Luna in astonishment. She shook her head in amazement. “I swear! Some days I don’t know how it is that you and your friends haven’t already taken over the world!” “Uh, what? No. Why would I do that? I mean, again? Why would I try that again? Uh… I come in peace?” laughed Sunset. “Seriously though! No interest! We have enough going on stopping the idiots who do want to take over the planet! Absolutely no interest in running everyone else’s lives. My life is busy enough, thank you very much!” she grinned. “Yes. I second that!” nodded Twilight. “Once was too many! Never again. No interest here! Just helping Sunset and the rest of the girls make sure no one else ever does either.” “It’s seriously hilarious that both of you actually tried that at one point,” grinned Dash. “But we stopped you both. Now we’re all awesome friends!” Dash fist-pumped. “Ms. Dash, don’t ever change,” grinned Celestia while hugging her daughter’s friend. “So where do we sleep? I want to drop off this bag and get on with the grand tour.” Sunset led everyone out to the main conference room where she announced, “Okay! The room you arrived in with the TACIT receiver is our control room. We’re currently sealed in an air and watertight bunker under 3 meters of regolith so we don’t suffer from any stray cosmic radiation. Unlike our fair planet, Mars does not have a magnetosphere to block all the nastiness raining down from the sky. We’re letting over 9 feet of crystal do the job for us.” Rolling forward Sunset pointed to the first room on the right then went on to say, “This is our game room where anyone can go to just hang out and veg. It has a large screen TV, game console, PC, and every streaming service you can think of. It includes surround sound for movie nights as well as a fully immersive gaming experience. “Moving on…” she rolled over to the next room. “Mom, this is the first bedroom. You and Aunt Luna can bunk here for the night. Each room has three hopefully comfortable beds. You can put your stuff in here.” The two sisters both grinned and dropped their stuff off. “Dash, same deal,” Sunset went on to say. “You have the next room to yourself for the night.” In response, Dash stepped in and quickly dropped her stuff off. She came back out to finish the tour. Celestia and Luna rejoined them as well. “Last room is for Twilight and me. We already moved our stuff in so we’re good,” Sunset continued. Twilight stepped up. “This is our dining area. The water is crystal clear and cold. The fridge and freezer are fully stocked. The microwave/convection oven works as you would expect. Help yourselves to whatever you want. Snack yourselves crazy.” Twilight grinned. “I know Sunset and I plan to!” “This is the main storeroom,” Twilight continued. “Not that you should need anything, but if you do, it’s likely there. Furthermore, anything extra that any of you have now or later, feel free to store it here, too.” “Next is one of the most important rooms in the bunker - the bathroom!” laughed Sunset. “And I do mean that both figuratively and literally. It’s where the two toilets for our little hideaway are as well as the showers and common bath too.” “Common bath?” Luna checked in surprise. “Like Japanese style?” “Yup!” agreed Twilight. “Exactly like that. We could totally do that tonight if you wanted.” “Count me in!” cheered Luna. “No way am I missing a chance for a spa bath on Mars!” “Okay, I’ll join you then. Everyone else is welcome as well,” continued Sunset. Twilight finished up. “The last room is what we call the ‘Farm’. We have several hydroponic gardens there as well as a fish farm for fresh protein. We just planted everything so nothing is really there yet. Give it a few weeks and come back. When it’s finished, we can all enjoy a martian grown organic meal together. For now, though, you’ll just have to rough it with the stuff we brought over from old mother Earth.” “So there it is! Once again welcome to our Martian bunker and welcome to Mars!” Everyone decided the chance to enjoy a Japanese-style communal bath on Mars was way too cool to pass up. They put their things away and got settled, then they all gathered in the communal bathroom. Twilight brought a stack of large white towels and placed them on the counter by the door. Everyone grabbed one. Sunset spoke up. “Okay. Does anyone not know how this works? Have any questions? Not the time to be shy! Speak up and we’ll step you through it. It’s really simple and very relaxing.” Twilight continued. “Yup. The basic idea is you scrub yourself on these stools here. Once you have all the grease, sweat, stress, and whatever scrubbed off, you then pour this bucket of warm water over yourself and rinse off. If you overdid the soap then there are the showerheads along the wall too.” “Then you step into the tub and enjoy the relaxing warm water with your friends!” concluded Sunset. “Let the heat work its wonders in erasing the stress of the day from your body.” Sunset laughed. “Or in my case, it’s ‘get dropped into the tub by this lift’ then relax and enjoy the warm soak.” Twilight added, “If you’re feeling shy or bothered by the thought of someone seeing you sitting in the tub without a stitch on, don’t worry. One, no one is judging you. We’re all friends. And two, if you really feel shy, it’s totally okay to wear the towel into the bath. Or a bathing suit. Again, no one will judge you.” “Okay! Let’s get started then!” said Sunset. She removed her shirt, pants, and undergarments, then transferred over to the large stool set aside for her by the door. Following that she dropped the brush into the bucket to wet it, removed it, and drizzled some of the body soap by the bucket onto the brush. She started scrubbing her feet and worked her way up. Watching Sunset, Rainbow replied, “That looks easy enough!” She stripped, tossed her clothes into the basket by her stool, and copied Sunset. She got the brush soaped up and scrubbed herself down. Twilight joined her on the next stool over. Celestia and Luna did the same in the last two places. With a shrug and a nod to one another, they copied the others by scrubbing down. By this point, Sunset had moved onto her hair and was working the shampoo into her thick ‘mane’ all the way down to her scalp. She messaged the soap in and worked it through all her locks. When she finished, she leaned back with a sigh. “Ah, that feels good. I think I lost 5 pounds of sweat!” Sunset laughed. “How are you girls doing?” “I’m good!” laughed Rainbow. “I don’t think I have scrubbed my back so completely in ages! I’m loving the handle on this thing! It can reach everywhere!” She smiled while holding the bath brush up. “I’m so getting one of these for my shower!” Luna and Celestia laughed. “We have them at home. No lie! They are wonderful,” informed Celestia with a nod. “I’d definitely recommend them.” Luna nodded. “I completely agree.” She reached down and poured the warm water over her head slowly, rinsing all of the shampoo and soap off. The others joined her. Soon all the girls were ready for the actual bath. Sunset placed a towel over the seat of her chair then transferred back into it. She rolled over to the lift, strapped herself in, and cranked it up until she was just off her chair. Pushing off from the chair, she swung out over the tub. Hitting the release on the handle, she slowly dropped into the water. When she was completely seated on the submerged bench, she unlatched the harness and pulled it to the side, setting it on the floor next to the tub. She turned back, settling into the tub seat with a contented sigh. “It has been so long since I enjoyed a good soak like this. Thank you, Aunty Luna, for the suggestion,” Sunset smiled at her Aunt. By that time everyone else had entered the tub and taken seats on the bench that encircled it. Leaning into the side, Luna smiled back at her niece, as she said, “Of course! Who would pass up a chance to soak! Especially when you can say you were in the first bath on Mars!” “Pics or it didn’t happen!” laughed Dash while sitting across from Sunset and Twilight. “Pics and I will confiscate your phone and delete everything on it!” growled Celestia, glaring at Dash. Luna joined her sister with her own pointed glare. “Just kidding! I’d never actually do that! Just a joke! I swear.” Dash held up her hands in mock surrender. “See that you don’t!” said Luna testily. Dash nodded profusely, so Luna leaned back into the warm water again. “This is nice,” she said with a smile. “Mm-hm!” Everyone agreed. A fair bit of time later everyone got out of the tub and toweled off. They took their clothes baskets with them to their rooms to get dressed for the evening. Sunset pulled the harness back into the tub and strapped herself back in. Twilight stayed to help. She cranked the lift to bring Sunset out of the tub, then pulled Sunset over to her chair and gently lowered her into it. Sunset unlatched the harness and worked her way out of it before wrapping herself in a second towel. “Thanks, Sparky!” Sunset smiled gratefully at her friend who wrapped herself in a towel as well. “No worries, Sunny! What’re friends for?” She smiled at her BFF. Together they went to their bedroom, then dried and dressed in their nightclothes. They joined the others in the game room. Sunset rolled her chair to the end of the couch while Twilight sat down next to her. “Anyone want a snack before we get started?” Twilight offered. “Popcorn? Sodas? Anything to drink?” Dash got up. “I’ll help you Twi! Popcorn for everyone?” Rainbow asked as they walked to the door. Everyone nodded, so Twilight and Dash left to make it happen. Sunset turned to her mom and aunt. “What do you want to watch? You pick the movie tonight! Us girls always get to pick.” Celestia turned to her sister. “How about a rom-com?” she asked. Luna laughed and shook her head. “You always pick a rom-com. You’re on another planet, for pity's sake, Tia! Time to break the mold.” “And you would suggest what? A good violent action movie?” Celestia snarked with a grin. “Of course!” Luna nodded with a smile. “Only the best! High body count, lots of action and intrigue!” “The last part is the only reason I can even tolerate the movies you pick,” grinned Celestia at her sister. “Okay Lulu, fine! You pick! But pick a good one, please!” Luna smiled. “Will do, Tia!” She rolled her eyes around a bit in thought. “Hmm. Okay. I think I have a good choice, and it’s one we haven't over-watched.” Taking the console controller, she scrolled through the movie choices. “Ah, here it is! Fantastic! I’ll get it started!” She selected the movie and waited for it to load then start running. Once the first actual scene came on she froze the screen until the girls arrived with the snacks so they would not miss the movie. “So? What‘d you pick, Aunty Luna?” asked Sunset. “Sorry! No spoilers. You’ll just have to wait and see with the rest of us. But trust me! It’s a classic and you’ll enjoy it,” teased her aunt. When the girls got back she let the movie start. Sunset recognized it within seconds as it was a favorite of hers. She grinned happily. It was Columbiana. The movie was over. Everyone was stuffed with popcorn and soda. The girls all said goodnight and went to bed. Sunset followed Twilight into their room. She transferred into the first bed by the door, snuggling down under the covers. To her surprise Twilight slipped under the blankets next to her, snuggling up to her friend. Sunset smiled. “Not that I’m complaining Sparky, but we do have more than enough beds for everyone to have their own. Are you sure you want to be scrunched up together on a single bed?” “One, this is a twin bed you dork, not a single! It’s more than big enough for both of us. And two, no chance! You’re not leaving my side. I need my BFF beside me!” Twilight smiled as she snuggled tightly to Sunset. “I need you too, Sparky,” Sunset smiled back. She kissed her friend on her forehead. Snuggled, the girls settled in for a good night’s sleep. The way of harmony is a path of progress, not a path of perfection, toward the perfect always, claiming perfection, never - The Celestial Teachings Mikoto - Academy City Arriving back at her hotel room, Mikoto collapsed onto the bed, exhausted. She got back up, slipped into the hotel bathrobe provided, then called room service, ordering up a burger, fries, and chocolate shake with a large soft drink, and requesting her clothes be immediately washed. She left her clothes in the garment bag provided, placing them by the door. She stepped into the shower, letting the warm water beat on her abused and tired muscles as she scrubbed off the day's excursions, then waited for her dinner while enjoying the relaxing warm water. Hearing the room service staff announce themselves from the room, she turned off the shower, quickly dried, then threw on the bathrobe, returning to the room to sign the receipt. Thanking them for their diligence, she sat and enjoyed the meal while she waited for her clothes to be returned. When they returned, they found her sprawled out in the bathrobe on the bed, TV playing, sound asleep, the day having caught up with her. With a smile, they left the clean clothes on her dresser and locked the door behind themselves as they left. Keitz Nokleben, the security supervisor for the Level 6 experiments, sat at his desk, calmly clipping his nails. He watched the recorded footage of the latest attack on the Level 6 facilities. He sighed as he watched the destruction of millions of Yen worth of equipment. “Clearly whoever is doing this is an Electomaster,” he commented. The footage finished up, the lab completely destroyed. “It has to be Misaka Mikoto,” he surmised. “That level of devastating proficiency is too high to be anyone else.” He turned off the footage feed, and pulled up a list of contacts. “Okay, Miss Mikoto. Let’s see how well you do when we’re expecting you.” He found the contact he was looking for and made the call. Frenda Seivelun, member of team ITEM, had been assigned by her team leader Mugino Shizuri to be the first line of defense when Mikoto came calling. Sitting on a box, she watched with boredom as the technicians packed up their equipment. Her traps placed all throughout the facility, she now just sat, waiting for her prey to show. “Like a spider on her web”, she thought with a smirk.