//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: New Job 
// Story: Sunset and the Botbots 
// by XLR8 Fox 
//------------------------------//

Sunset groaned in her home, it was currently the summer and even though the sushi restaurant she was working for had a good pay, it was ridiculously slow service, barely anyone ordered or anyone came to order in the restaurant.

After that she left since there was barely any service, so right now she was currently job searching, hoping to find something that can at least have good pay and be good enough for her, she was looking through many different job sites and ads, when finally one ad caught her attention.

It was a position for another night guard at the mall, Sunset read through the necessary requirements and saw she had just enough to qualify, so with quick haste, she emailed the head of the mall with her qualifications.

“This might be what I needed, besides, I have become a bit of a night owl as of late” Sunset said to herself as she looked to her desk with a bunch of comics and stories she had written, the life of an artist and author had caught her.

Not long after, she got a reply email, she checked the email and saw that the boss would like to see her first thing tomorrow, if she is hired she will be placed with the only other night guard at the mall.

“Alright! Time to earn some money again!” Sunset cheered as she got up from her bed and went over to where she placed her phone on a charge, “Think some pizza is appropriate for this” she said as she dialled a number for the pizza place she normally orders from.

The next day, Sunset was walking to the mall with her friends.

“I’m glad you decided to get a job again Sunset, I’m sure you’ll do great” Rarity said.

“Yeah! You get to stay at the mall after closing time and get paid for it!” Pinkie said, being her usual self.

“You sure you can handle this Sunset? I get it that you need money, but when Summer is over, you’ll have to do both a job and school at the same time” Twilight stated.

“I’ll be fine Twilight, besides, I won’t be the only one there, I’ll be working with some other guy” Sunset said.

“Well, just make sure you get enough sleep when needed sugarcube” Applejack said.

“So, are you gonna investigate the rumors about the mall at night?” Rainbow Dash asked, making the group look at her with confusion.

“What rumours?” Sunset asked.

“People have been talking about hearing voices during closing time, they even say some items in the mall move around, by themselves!” Rainbow Dash said, scaring Fluttershy who hid behind Pinkie Pie.

“And you sure it isn’t just some kids playing a prank?” Sunset asked skeptically.

“No way, it started happening ever since that strange storm passed a few weeks ago” Rainbow Dash explained.

“I’m still stumped about that storm, my scanners detected an unknown energy signature from that storm and it just disappeared, ugh” Twilight said, clearly not liking something like that happening and not being solved.

“Well I’m sure whatever it is, it's probably just some silly rumor that might not even be real” Applejack said, “All that matters right now is Sunset getting a new job, so where are ya supposed to meet the boss?”.

“He said to meet him near the lost and found, wish me luck” Sunset said as she split from the group, finding the Lost and Found area of the mall, she knocked on the door, which then opened, showing a muscular man in a Mall guard uniform, his hair was white and he had grey skin.

“Hi, I’m Sunset Shimmer, I’m here for the Night guard position?” she asked.

“I’m Mr. Snow, come inside” he said, to which she did, she looked around the Lost and Found, seeing many shelfs, filled with many items that had been lost in the mall, in the corner of her eye she spotted a red plunger, a bonsai tree with a blue pot and flag, a soccer ball and a yellow and blue flashlight placed on separate shelves but also close to each other, which struck her as an odd thing.

“Take a seat” Mr. Snow said as he pulled up a chai, Sunset sat in a folding chair as Mr. Snow began to interview her.

As the interview went on, something in the Lost and Found was looking on, hiding underneath a pile of lost items, a pair of eyes glowing in the darkness of the pile, a blue eye and red eye, watching silently.

After about half an hour, Mr. Snow stood up and extended an hand to Sunset, “Sunset Shimmer, welcome to the Canterlot Mall Night security team” he said, Sunset shook his hand happily.

“Thank you Mr. Snow, you won’t regret this” Sunset thanked.

“I know you won’t, now, let me get you a uniform fit for you and you can be on your way” Mr. Snow said as he walked out of the lost and found, Sunset was about to follow, until she heard some clatter, like something fell, she went to investigate and what she saw, she couldn’t help but find it cute.

Sitting in a pile of items was a rather large fox plushie, at least she thought it was, it had an extra tail on its design, it was pretty big and was super cute to Sunset, soon Mr. Snow came back with the uniform for Sunset.

“Here you go, found the right size for ya” he said.

“Hey um Mr. Snow, where did this come from?” Sunset asked him about the plushie as he looked at the stuffed animal.

“We aren’t quite sure, it's been in here for months, no one has come to collect it so we just left it here” he said.

Sunset, not wanting such a cute plush toy to go to waste, looked to her new boss, “Is it ok if, I could have it? I can pay if it costs anything” she asked.

Mr. Snow looked confused before he shrugged, “No its fine, you can take it, anything left here for more than even a month normally gets sold off anyway, consider it a free gift for joining us” he said.

“Thanks sir” Sunset as she picked up the toy and grabbed her new uniform, “When shall I come in to work?” she asked.

“About 9PM, that's when the mall closes, be sure to be on time to meet with Dave, he’s a bit of a weirdo, but he gets the job done” Mr. Snow said.

“Will do Mr. Snow” Sunset said as she left the lost and found, with Mr. Snow following.

Later, Sunset met back with her friends, each congratulating her and Fluttershy complimenting how cute the plush toy was, Twilight stated its design looked familiar to an ancient fox demon called a Kistune, Sunset suspects it could have been a toy line that got cancelled since it had been in the lost and found for a long time.

Sunset had made it home after hanging out with her friends, she set the plush toy on her couch, “Man I can’t believe it! This is gonna be awesome, I should see if I have any pizza left, I am starved” Sunset said as she went to her fridge, the plush toy’s eyes then moved, showing the same red and blue eyes from before, it stood up before trying to sneak away quietly.

“Alright, 4 slices left, I can cook something up with this” Sunset said as she went back to the couch, only to freeze as she saw the plush toy walking, not seeing her yet, before it then suddenly transformed, mechanical parts appearing on its body, the legs changed to look robotic, having metal boots and gauntlet hands, the head of the plush moved to a chest area as a new head appeared, having a helmet looking similar to the plush toy head, the tails of the toy extended, looking metallic now, its eyes were the same as the plush toy head, red and blue eyes.

“I can’t believe I am out of the mall…I need to head back, the others are going to go crazy” it said as it turned, only to freeze as it saw Sunset, “...Uh…H-Hi?” it said, causing Sunset to scream, which led to the plush toy now robot to scream back.

Sunset’s life has now become more than meets the eye