Tuesday, August 19. 5:20 PM Canterlot time
Her shift over, Sunset rolled out to her car. She unplugged the charger and stowed the cable then transferred into the driver's seat.She stowed her chair in the passenger seat.
“Nicholi, take me home please!” Sunset commanded.
The car turned on and responded. “Destination set, Royal residence. Estimated driving time, 10 minutes. Auto drive mode selected.”
The car backed out of the spot then drove through the lot. It merged into the traffic on the main thoroughfare leading back home.
“Messages received. Would you like to hear it?” asked Nicholi.
“Yes please,” responded Sunset. She listened, relaxing as the car drove her home.
“First message, Urgent, from Twilight Sparkle. Message is: Redacted. Final message, Urgent, from Twilight Sparkle. Message is: Sunset! Not to worry you, but we found magical issues here on Mars. Turns out the ambient magic here is horrid. Not present enough to do anything useful. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the TACIT transponders are acting as portals for our magical energies. Meaning that between the TACIT receiver and the TACIT hub device in the control room, there are plenty of magical energies in the bunker area. So we are in no danger here. I plan on making some portable transceivers we can carry with us when we need to go out that will allow us to move around on Mars without having to limit ourselves to staying close to the bunker. I should have them all in place before Saturday. So no worries with our planned outing. I find it interesting we didn’t observe this on the moon though. It’s never had life to my knowledge. It should have been completely magically inert. It seems odd that you and Dash didn’t suffer any ill effects during your little pranks given that she suffered magical exhaustion on our current outing. We can investigate that more later.”
Sunset was paying rapt attention at that point. “Wow, Sparky. No lie that is weird. Huh…” she thought. “I wonder why that is? We should have felt magical exhaustion then too! We were way far away from the TACIT receiver at that point.”
She smiled as she thought about her and Dash's little outing. She had to teleport Dash and the lunar rover to the far side of the moon to photobomb the Chang’e landing site. They’d picked it because they knew it was one of the few still active and having video feeds.
“Hehe… I guess I need to share with Dash the fallout from that little adventure. I’ll tell her while I check up on her,” she decided with a smile.
“Nicholi, change of destination. New Destination, Twilight Sparkle’s home,” commanded Sunset.
“Destination set. Sparkle residence, travel time 5 minutes. Auto drive is engaged,” responded Nicholi.
“Engage!” agreed Sunset with a smile. The car cheerfully ignored her Trekkie antics.
Sunset pulled into the Sparkle residence driveway and parked the car. She quickly set up her chair and placed her backpack on the back. She transferred over to it and locked up the car.
Twilight opened the garage door and called out to her. “Come in, Sunset. I need to show you what I’ve found!”
Nodding, Sunset wheeled into the garage and Twilight closed the door.
Over by Twilight’s workbench her laptop was open, displaying a graph with dropping red and growing green lines.
“What’s this Sparky?” Sunset asked curiously. “I got your text. What more have you found?” As she asked, she examined the plots displayed while sitting beside her best friend.
“See this line? This is the magical power index. You can see it fades exponentially in all directions the further we go from the control room. And this line? This is the ambient magic present on Mars. It is similar to our Magic but much fainter. It seems to be gathered in a few specific locations, though it’s difficult to tell without being able to triangulate the sources. The bottom line is we need to take more measurements away from the bunker.”
“That makes sense,’ agreed Sunset. “Well done, Sparky! I’m sure you also have a plan for that.” She grinned at her friend.
Twilight grinned back. “You know me so well!” she laughed. “Yes! I have a plan. I am modifying one of my selfie flyers to accommodate the thinner Martian atmosphere. I’m also rigging it up with a TACIT hub and magical detector. The hub will allow us to communicate with the flier even if it happens to drop over the horizon. It will also power the little beast so I don’t need to add a larger solar array to it. I can fly it around remotely and triangulate in on the magical hot spots. When I do, it will take the measurements of the hot spots as we find them.”
Sunset gave her friend a side hug. “You’re amazing, Sparky!”
Twilight blushed. “Thanks!”
She pushed her glasses up and continued. “So anyway, changing the subject, Dash is fine. She’s resting down the hall in my bedroom with your mom. Your aunt returned home to take care of some business she had to deal with. I’m here examining this data and getting ready to create six more TACIT hub paired devices. Want to help out?” grinned her friend.
“Heck yes! Just let me check on Dashie. I’ll be right back!” She gave Twilight a quick hug, then wheeled out of the garage and into the house. “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle!” she greeted as she rolled past the living room.
“Hi, Sunset! Going to check on your friend?” asked Velvet as she and Night Light waved at her.
“Yup! Then back to help Twilight with her research!” agreed Sunset as she rolled by.
“Good luck!” Velvet called out.
“Thanks!” Sunset answered as she rounded the corner into the hall heading towards Twilight’s bedroom. Rolling in, she saw her mom leaning over the bed while holding Dash's hand.
“Hi, Mom! How’s she doing?” asked Sunset as she rolled up. She gave her mom a quick hug and peck on the cheek.
“Hi, Sunshine! Your friend is fine. She’s just resting. I feel a bit responsible so I’m keeping her company until she can go home,” smiled her mom.
“Mom, seriously! You feel responsible for everything that happens even remotely near you. It’s just how you’re wired!” smiled Sunset. She hugged her mom again. “It’s one of your most endearing qualities!” she teased.
Celestia grinned at her daughter. “Really? Most, is it? Even higher than my supposedly legendary love of cake?”
Sunset grinned and placed her head against her mom's. “Mom, let's face it. Your love of cake is legendary!” she snarked. “You’d almost think there’s some deep-seated problem.”
“Problem? There’s no problem!” grinned her mom. “Relinquish the cake and there won’t be any need for problems. Comprende?” She laughed.
“See mom! See! That’s what I am talking about!” grinned Sunset. “That’s not normal!”
“Normal is overrated,” sniffed her mom with a mock turn of her head. “Let them eat cake! They will see what the new normal should be!”
From the bed, there was a muffled snort. Dash looked at them both with bleary eyes, smiling softly. “You two are such dorks!” she laughed.
“Hey, Dashie! How are you feeling?” asked Sunset as she placed her hand on Dash’s next to her mom’s.
“Been better. Thanks,” she smirked. “Magical exhaustion really takes the wind out of your wings,” she sighed.
“Leave it to you to be our canary in the coal mine!” grinned Sunset back at her. “When you’re feeling up to it I can take you home.”
“I’ll help,” agreed her mom.
“Thanks, guys! You're the best!” smiled Dash. “Just give me a few more minutes and I’ll be good to go.”
“Five more minutes, Mom!” snarked Sunset.
“If I wasn’t so darn tired, I’d bop you in the head with this pillow!” laughed Dash. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”
“What? And miss out on all the laughs we can have together over it? Not a chance!” agreed Sunset with a squeeze. “Okay. I’m going to let Twilight know I’m taking you home. I’ll come back to help her out once you're sorted and settled at home.”
Sunset smiled at Dash and gave her mom a final hug. She rolled back into the hallway and down to the garage, waving again to Twilight’s parents as she passed by.
“Dash is awake,” she announced as she entered the garage and rolled up to her best friend. “I’m going to take her and Mom home. After that, I’ll come back here to help you out for the evening.”
“That’s great!” agreed Twilight. “Yeah. I’m sure between the two of us we can get this nailed down. We’ll get the hub devices paired up and working. And modify one of my selfie-bots for martian exploration.”
“Sounds like a plan, Sparky!” smiled Sunset.
“I am curious about something else too… maybe we can test some ideas out about that at the same time,” suggested Twilight. “Okay! We’ll sort that out when you get back. When are you leaving?” she asked.
“Dash just needed five more minutes to get rested,” answered Sunset. Twilight laughed and rolled her eyes. “Right? Right? Anyways. In about five minutes or so. As soon as she is ready to go.” As she was speaking Dash appeared in the doorway leaning against Sunset’s mom.
“Oh hahaha! I heard that!” Dash laughed.
“Hey, what happened to five minutes? This is a new record for you? You were here in a flash!” quipped Sunset.
Dash tilted her head and gave Sunset a stink eye. She smirked. “Seriously?! You’re going to give me grief now?” she laughed.
“Nah! We love you too much to torture you now. Maybe later,” smiled Sunset. Twilight hid her grin and shook her head.
“You two are too much!” Twilight laughed. “Glad to see you up Dash! Sorry about the exhaustion thing. We’re working on that so you shouldn't have to go through it again.”
“Thanks! That’s a relief!” Dash smiled. “So, Sunflank, are you driving or what?”
“Sunflank? Where did that come from?” asked Sunset as she gave Twilight a hug and rolled over to the garage door. “Never heard that one before.”
“Heh. Give me a break! Exhausted here! I work with what I have!” grinned Dash as she and Celestia followed Sunset out to her car.
“What there is of it,” snarked Sunset. Dash lightly tapped her on the head.
“Hey Sunny! I know where you live! Be nice!” Dash grinned.
“Come on by anytime and see how nice I can be!” Sunset snarked as she opened up the passenger side door.
“Good grief! You are horrid! There’s just no topping you! Is there anywhere you won’t go to win?” lamented Dash.
“Don’t know Dashie. Never allowed myself to lose and find out,” quipped Sunset. “Topping me?”
Dash groaned, rolling her eyes.
“I’ll sit in the back,” said Celestia as she climbed over into the seat behind Sunset. Sunset transferred into the driver’s seat. With her mom’s help, she stowed her chair in the back seat while Dash lowered herself into the passenger seat.
“You know that’s a lie, girl! Calling BS on that,” smiled Dash. She turned to Sunset once she was settled. “You’ve lost like the rest of us even if you're the best of us,” she quipped.
“Wow Dash! That was smooth! You could be a rapper!” smiled Sunset. “And yeah. You're right. There are places I will never go to win. Never again. I love you guys too much to ever let that happen.”
Dash grinned at Sunset. “Rapper? Who says I’m not? Have you heard my new mixtape?”
“Nope!” smiled Sunset, “But I am sure you’ll send it to me at some point!”
“Heck yeah! Busting some beats, girl!” grinned Dash. “Fo’ shizzle I’ll send it to you!”
“Shiza-what-now?” snarked Sunset. “Not sure if I should eat that or wear it.” she laughed.
In the back, Celestia shook her head and laughed. “The evening is upon us, oh daughter of mine! Onward!” she commanded with a grin.
“Onward!” agreed Sunset. “Nicholi! Destination Dash residence. You drive.”
“Destination Dash residence, estimated travel time, 10 minutes. Auto drive enabled,” answered the car. It pulled out of the driveway.
“I so want one of these!” enthused Dash.
“Save your pennies Dashie! Someday you can have one too,” grinned Sunset.
Dash lightly punched Sunset’s arm.
“Ouch!” teased Sunset. Her mom laughed in the back.
With Dash dropped off and settled in, and a brief chat with her parents, Sunset and Celestia were back in the Roadster and headed for home. Along the way, Celestia turned to Sunset.
“Well, that was one heck of a sleepover!” Celestia grinned. “Is it always like that with you girls?”
“Like almost never,” sighed Sunset. “At least anymore, Thank the Maker! If it were like that every time we got together, we would have to go around wearing warning signs with caution triangles or something,” she teased.
“Right?” laughed her mom. “Thank the Maker for that! Still, though, I’m very glad that no one was seriously hurt. We got to enjoy the first night ever spent on Mars together! Not that anyone will ever believe us,” she amended.
“You never know, mom! It’s not like it's really going to stay a secret forever. Look at how that has always blown up in our faces every time we've tried to hide something,” reminds Sunset.
“That’s true,” nodded her mom. “It always comes out eventually.”
The car pulled into the driveway. Celestia turned to her daughter. “So Sunbeam, will you be home tonight? Or are you and your BFF going to pull an all-nighter?”
“No idea mom,” smiled Sunset as she gave her mom a hug. “But I will have my phone. I’ll text you as soon as I know. I won’t ‘leave you hanging’.” They both laughed.
“See that you don’t, young lady!'' instructed her mom with a smile. She gave Sunset a kiss on the cheek and got out of the car. “Take care, sweetie!'' she called out as she shut the door then turned and walked into the house.
“I will mom. I promise!'' she answered quietly as she watched her mom walk into the house. “Nicholi, destination, Sparkle residence. You drive,” she commanded.
“Destination, Sparkle residence. Estimated travel time 5 minutes. Auto drive engaged.” answered the car.
“Engage!” she called out, waving her hand forward.
Somewhere in another universe, a Starfleet captain felt a small twinge.
The car pulled up into the Sparkle driveway. “Trip completed. Destination reached,” it announced then shut down. Sunset pulled her chair from the back seat, assembled it, transferred into it, then shut the driver's side door before locking the car up.
She rolled over to the side gate and let herself in. Closing the gate, she rolled to the garage side door and entered.
“Hi, Sparky! Did you miss me?” Sunset grinned as she rolled over to her friend's workstation.
“Always, Sunny!” smiled Twilight, not looking up from the circuits she was soldering. “One second! Almost finished here!”
Twilight closed up the panel over the board and tightened the panel into place.
“And that’s that!” Twilight announced triumphantly as she turned to her BFF while holding out the modified selfie-bot.
“Wow, Sparky! That looks dramatically different!” she observed. She took the bot and moved it around. “With the emphasis on dramatic! Look at the blades on this beast!” she exclaimed as she held it up at arm's length. “Wow! It looks ready for a fight, not a flight! Did you already get the magical sensor and TACIT hub installed in it too?” she checked.
“Yup! Just soldered them into place and sealed it up.” Twilight nodded. “Yeah. The larger rotors are to accommodate the Martian atmosphere. The Martian atmosphere is 100 times less dense than our atmosphere. Meaning it’s like flying here at 100,000 feet. Considering even commercial jets don’t go that high, I had to make some changes. We also had the lighter gravitational pull going for us. Mars has only about one-third the pull on the surface as we have here on Earth, so it won’t have to work as hard to lift.”
“Wow Sparky!” gushed Sunset, “You figured out all that on your own and designed this!? That’s awesome!”
“Not exactly,” Twilight blushed. “I totally cribbed the plans from NASA for the Ingenuity helicopter. They did all that work and proved it works. That thing has been flying around Mars for months now, so I just copied them.”
Sunset laughed. “Honest to a fault! I love you, Sparky!” She gave her friend a hug. “I can’t wait to see it fly!”
“Well, you won’t have to wait long. I’m almost done here. I just need to finish off the other five hubs and we’re good to go,” smiled Twilight.
“Don’t let me slow you down girl! How can I help?” asked Sunset.
“I have all the components here,” answered Twilight. “I just need to pair the base and receivers through a quantum entangled coupling then we’re good to go!”
“That sounds complicated,” observed Sunset. “How do you quantum entangle a pair of receivers?” she asked.
“After several experiments - some were failures but none were catastrophic,” she grinned, “I came up with a process that allows me to consistently entangle a pair of crystals embedded in the devices which enables information and, apparently, some energies to flow between the entangled crystals.”
“Awesome! So what device did you cook up to entangle them?” asked Sunset looking around the lab.
“You’re looking at her,” grinned Twilight, pointing at herself.
“Huh!? You lost me, Sparky. What do you mean?” asked Sunset.
“I cheated. I used a magical spell matrix to align the crystal matrices and bind their electrons into a superconducting quantum entangled unit. I’m the device,” Twilight grinned. “I tried to create the states using everything from growing the crystals in a controlled environment to bathing them with ultraviolet light and using modern lithography. In the end, magic was the simplest way to get the quantum matrices lined up correctly and entangled between the two devices.
“Not that I’ve given up on the idea! “ Twilight continued. “I’m still working on plans to create a pairing device for the crystals so anyone can do it without a horn sprouting from their foreheads! But, for now, this was the quickest and simplest way, so I took it.”
“So it’s probably the world's first working example of magitech! You go girl!” Sunset high-fived her friend.
“Heh heh. Yeah. Maybe it is. I guess we could ask your friends about that when we see them again,” smiled Twilight.
“Sweet! If that’s all there is to it I can definitely help! Show me the spell matrix and point me at them,” smiled Sunset.
An hour later, after closely watching Twilight ‘enchant’ the first pair of devices and studying the spell matrix, Sunset completed six pairings. Twilight finished up the other thirty-four in the batch.
Twilight smiled. “That’s great, Sunset! You picked that up fast! Though no surprise there. My first time took way longer than that!”
“That’s because you were probably sitting there second-guessing yourself the entire time. I know you, girl!” grinned Sunset. “I didn’t have to worry. I knew you were right here and could catch me if something went wrong. So I could hang it all out there and let my freak flag fly knowing you would catch me if I fell!”
Twilight looked at her friend. “I love you Sunny, but sometimes you are just so weird!” she laughed. “And you’re not wrong. I was second-guessing and double and triple-checking myself each step of the way.”
Sunset hugged her friend. “And out of the fires of your inner torments and toils, our success!”
Twilight leaned into the hug smiling. “So weird…”
Hub devices completed and tested, the pair made ready to return to their bunker. Sunset packed up the supplies into her daypack and gently placed the modified selfie-bot into the back of the booth.
Rolling into the booth herself, Sunset called out. “Ready, Sparky! Time to get the show on the road!”
Twilight entered the garage and called out over her shoulder. “Goodbye, mom! Goodbye, dad! Don’t wait up for us! I’ll text you when we get there. We’ll figure out when we’re coming back. I promise!”
She snuggled up onto her friend's lap, her daypack on and a grocery bag in her hands.
“What’s that?” asked Sunset. “Whatever it is, it smells heavenly!”
“It’s from mom!” grinned Twilight. “She said it was a treat for us when we finished up for the evening and were ready to relax! Yeah. Not sure exactly what it is, but it’s not light and it does smell absolutely heavenly!” she agreed.
“Okay. Hit the door, Sparky and let’s get this journey started!” Twilight slid the door shut then pulled out her phone. With it, she loaded up the TACIT controller app.
“Engage!” called out Sunset, waving her hand forward in the iconic fashion.
In another universe, a Starfleet captain sat up quickly in his bed, his sleep interrupted by yet another familiar twinge. Throwing back the covers and sitting on the edge of his bed, he called out.
“Q! I know it’s you! I don’t appreciate this! I’m in no mood for these theatrics!”
A disembodied voice called out from the room. “Tsk, tsk, tsk,. Jean-Luc! It’s always about the blame with you, isn’t it? I’ll have you know I have absolutely nothing to do with your current little interlude. If anything, it's one of my cousin's friends having a little fun with you,” grinned the voice.
The captain put his hands to his face and shook his head. “Please make it stop.” he requested in misery.
With a flash of magenta light, the girls arrived in their bunker on Mars.
“Oww!” called out Sunset, rubbing her eyes.
Twilight opened her eyes which, unlike her friend’s eyes, were scrunched tightly shut.
“Sorry Sunny,” Twilight apologized to her friend “I forgot to warn you. Remember to shut your eyes when you transport.”
“Ya think!?” Sunset groaned while still blinking. “I’ll be seeing stars from that for a while. Yikes.”
Twilight got off her lap. She took her daypack and the dessert to the dining room. Sunset carefully lifted the martian selfie-bot then set it on her lap. She rolled out to the common room then, just as carefully, placed the bot on the conference table.
“I can’t wait to see this baby in action!” Sunset called out to Twilight excitedly.
“That’ll be first up on the agenda!” agreed Twilight as she placed their treat in the fridge. She brought her daypack over to the conference room table and set it down next to the selfie-bot. “Let’s get this puppy initialized and ready to go!” She sat down at the table then took out a USB cable, hooked her phone up to the flier, and started running diagnostics. She handed a small box to Sunset. “Can you please plug the base units for each of these into the control room hub? And then put the transponder units into the bin on the table beside the TACIT receiver?”
Sunset nodded and took the box from her friend. “All of them?” she asked.
“Yes, one of each pair in the control room hub. And the rest in the bin,” answered Twilight.
“Sure thing, Sparky. Be right back.” She rolled into the control room, snapped the base units into the hub, and placed the box of transponders into the bin next to the TACIT receiver. After that, she rolled back out to Twilight.
“You know, we should give one of these to each of our friends, on a necklace or something. Then we could track them, and if they ever got in trouble, they would be able to reach us immediately! And we could follow the trace back and teleport to them directly!” Sunset commented.
“Oh, that’s a great idea! I’ll have to upgrade the fobs we give out with biometric scanners so the fobs can sense if they’re in danger and alert us right away! Nice thinking, Sunny!” agreed Twilight. “I’ll do that after our test flight here.” She turned back to the display.
“Everything looks nominal here!” Twilight reported happily. “Looks like a good day for an otherworldly flight. Let’s do this!” She zipped up her daypack, put it on, and picked up the selfie-bot.
“Right behind you, Sparky!” grinned Sunset. Both girls ponied up and passed through the magical barrier. From there they headed up the ramp to the entryway. They emerged out into a fairly dark night, the sun having apparently set several hours ago.
“It’s really cool how the day here is almost the same as at home,” observed Sunset. “But we definitely appear to be in a slightly different time zone, so to speak. Is that going to mess with the flight by not having enough light to see?” she asked Twilight.
“I don’t think so,” Twilight replied. “It should be fine. I have infrared and ultraviolet sensors on it as well as the magical sensor. Of course, that’s the whole point of tonight’s flight. The lidar should have enough light to keep it from flying into anything. It has inertial tracking too, so it should be able to find its way home with no problem.”
Twilight placed the bot on the rock at the top of the ramp and took out her phone.
“Okay! Fire in the hole!” Twilight hit the start button. The oversized blades spun up quickly. They blurred at the speed of 2400 RPMs, over 5 times the speed of a similar drone on Earth. It was eerie to watch it gently lift off and drift up into the sky almost completely silently due to the thin atmosphere.
“Wow, Sparky. You don’t disappoint!” Sunset nodded as they watched the bot lift up to about 100 meters then hover. It was difficult to track against the dark sky. It was only visible by the flashing red and green lights that indicated the front and back of the unit.
Twilight blushed, but didn’t say anything. Instead, she concentrated on the feed she was getting back from the drone. After a few moments, she responded, “It looks like the strongest source is straight towards Olympus Mons, but there’s a good secondary source off to our, umm. I guess I will call it north? Towards the polar north of us, there is a secondary source that I bet is closer and likely a better bet for tonight. I’m going to send the drone towards it.”
“Sounds like a plan. Why don’t you think the one towards Olympus Mons is the best choice if you don’t mind my asking?” questioned Sunset.
“Nope! Don’t mind at all,” smiled Twilight. “That’s a fair question. It’s really just a hunch. I am betting that the signal we are getting from the direction on Olympus Mons is probably at, on, or in the mountain itself, and tonight is not the night to sit out here for hours while our little drone travels the hundreds of klicks to get to it. The signal off to the north is only slightly weaker. I bet it will be a lot easier to examine once the bot gets there too. I mean think about it. That beast is over 16 miles high. If we have to examine the caldera then there is no way our little drone will be able to make that assent. Heck even if the signal is coming from the sides of the mountain we’d be lucky to explore even the first 1000 meters with the drone before it reaches its maximum flight ceiling in this thin atmosphere. We’d have better luck with a site that’s on more regular terrain.”
Sunset grinned and hugged her BFF. “You’re so sexy when you show off that big brain of yours!”
Twilight laughed and pushed her off. “Dork! Knock it off. I’m flying here!” she grinned.
“Yes, you are, Sparky!” Sunset grinned back.
“Whatever!” Twilight rolled her eyes and went back to watching the feeds from the bot.
It didn’t take long for the lights to be lost in the distance. Sunset pulled out her phone and loaded up the mission page, watching a twin of the feed Twilight was viewing.
“Interesting! I can see the signal is getting noticeably stronger and it’s only 10 miles away. We could actually hike to that in the morning,” observed Sunset.
“Agreed,” nodded Twilight as she hunched over her own display while seated on the rock at Sunset’s feet. “Not you though kiddo! I know you have work tomorrow.”
“No rest for the weary,” nodded Sunset wearily. “True that. It’s nice to have a little slice of normal though. And Mr. Namori-san is the best. Plus you know I’ll be right back as soon as I’m done,” she smiled.
“Yup!” Twilight smiled. “Okay. I think we are close. I am changing course to due east to try to get a read from that direction. Time to triangulate our find.”
Twilight fed in the new instructions then watched the feeds. Almost immediately the levels started dropping.
“Well, that was unexpected. Hmm…” Twilight mused.
She let it go on for a few more minutes then sent further instructions still watching the feeds. The magical radiation continued to drop off at nearly the same rate.
“No way…” said Twilight watching the measures continue to drop. “Okay. Trying something new,” she decided aloud. She typed new headings into the interface on her screen. The readings climbed.
She laughed out loud. “Well if that doesn’t take the cake! Huh!”
“What happened?” asked Sunset. “Did you find it?”
“I think so,” nodded Twilight, nose still to the screen. “If I’m reading these right, we were almost right on top of it when I decided to start triangulating the signal. Go figure!”
“Sweet!” grinned Sunset.
A few moments later Twilight looked up. “I think this is it. I’m taking it down for a better view.”
Watching their screens, they could see in the pale light that the bot was hovering over an ancient river stream. Overlaid on the image was the sensor data from the magical scanner in false color, with the high magic areas being tinged in red while the lower magical areas were blue. There were several blooms of red. Some of them were several meters wide. They were all across the riverbed with lighter blue blooms towards the banks. Looking at the data, Twilight grinned like a Cheshire cat and started to squee.
“Wow Sparky! What’s so exciting?” asked Sunset with a smile.
“Sunset, do you know what this is? Do you know what this means?!” exclaimed Twilight excitedly as she jumped up and squeezed her friend's hands.
“We found magic?” asked Sunset.
“Better than that Sunset. If I am reading this right, we found magic alright … plus we found LIFE!”.
Start each day with three truths: try for success, truth in your work, and trust in your Maker - The Celestial Teachings
Cleaned up, and back in her Tokiwadai uniform, her street clothes having been damaged beyond salvage, she looked through a pair of high power binoculars at the Laboratory that was supposed to have been her final target.
“The S-processor Company, Cranial Nerve Analysis and Applications Laboratory. The last Facility I was set on destroying last night.” The building was clearly completely abandoned. “So much for that plan.”
Regardless, she made her way stealthily to the building, peering out from around a corner to get a closer look. “Weird. No one’s going in or coming out, and I can’t sense any electrical equipment in it either.” She made her way to the building, musing as she went. “Is it another trap?”
She jimmied her way past a door and into the facility. It was completely barren. It had been stripped clean, no one was present. Dead silence filled the hallways. She made her way into the control center, and powered up one of the terminals. Hacking her way in, she browsed their mainframe. “There’s no one here either, and all the data has been erased.”
Her phone beeped a notification. Flipping open the screen, she read the article. “S-Processor Company Bankrupt - Seventh School District.” The article stated that on August 20th the company had declared bankruptcy.
Mikoto read the article in shock. “Did they give up because of my attack yesterday?” she wondered. “Will the project collapse with just one facility left? I’m not positive, but it looks like I managed to force them to withdraw.”
She wandered out of the facility, drifting towards her dorms and rest. “There are so many things that I still need to do. But at least, those girls don’t have to die anymore.” Tears ran down her cheeks. Now I can…”
“Huh?!” called out a familiar voice. Mikoto looked up, and saw Toma looking frustrated, staring into a vending machine.