Science, Magic, and The Universe

by rocky rainbow road

Blood Samples, Needles, and Peculiar Feelings

Science, Magic, and The Universe

Chapter Two: Blood Tests, Needles, and Peculiar Feelings

or

In Which Sunset Worries For Her Safety

Sunset Shimmer did not scare easily. In fact, until recently, she was the one who scared a lot of other people - usually wide-eyed and hopeful Freshmen who were practically begging to be mocked and have their lunch money taken. But somehow, right now, she was afraid-- and by a door of all things.

Okay, it wasn’t technically the door that she was afraid of, it was what it represented: it was a choice, a fork in the road of her life. Should she knock on the door to Sparkle’s house, and probably be subjected to hours and hours of painful experimentation? Or should she leave, metaphorical tail between her legs? Sunset knew she promised Sparkle that she would help her, but now backing out seemed like such a good idea, she could barely resist--

WHAM!

One moment Sunset was in front of the door, the next she was lying crumpled on the cold steps leading up to the Sparkle residence. She could faintly hear a voice - Sparkle? - say, “Okay, enough is enough! I have been watching you standing outside the door for fifteen minutes! And during those fifteen minutes you have turned around - presumably to leave - no less than nine times! I can’t belie…”

But that was all Sunset heard before her entire world succumbed to darkness.

“...unset? Sunset Shimmer? Oh no, she’s not waking up, shit what did I do? Now I won’t be able to publish my findings, she was crucial to the plan, ugh where am I supposed to find another citizen of Horselandia?”

Huh? Sparkle? The moments following her awakening, Sunset realized several things:

-She was not in her room, because her room didn’t smell like dog fur and lavender shampoo.

-She was most likely on a - Sparkle’s? The thought made her blush - bed, as she could feel her neck being propped up at an awkward angle with pillows.

-Sparkle was worried about her physical condition from the ice pack on the throbbing side of her head,

and

-Sparkle was worried about her physical condition for less-than-touching reasons.

Suddenly, Sunset’s right eyelid was pulled up with a set of light purple latex gloves, and a small light was being shone glaringly into her eye. Alarmed, the flame-haired teenager turned her neck and pushed Sparkle away.

“Yah!” squealed Sparkle after being shoved back into her desk. “Sunset, you’re … not in a coma! And not unconscious! Okay, maybe the project is salvageable--” Somehow, Twilight immediately bounced back and shoved two fingers into Sunset’s face. “How many fingers am I holding?”

“Three,” responded the pony-turned-human dryly.

Sparkle gasped so loud she rivaled Pinkie, and then muttered, “Oh no, oh no!” She grabbed her phone from her desk and started punching in the number for the ambulance.

“Woah there, cool your jets Sparkle, I’m fine,” said Sunset hurriedly. “I was just kidding.” She really didn’t need to be rushed off to the hospital, where the doctors would question where her (non-existent) parents and (forged) records were.

Just as she was about to dial 911, Sparkle turned around slowly to Sunset, glaring all the while. “I thought you were seriously hurt!” she snapped. “Actually, you might still be…” she glanced down at her phone.

“NO!” shouted Sunset.

Sparkle sighed. “Fine. But you have to tell me why.”

“Well, I don’t really have any records; as far as they’re concerned, Sunset Shimmer is dead.”

“Eh?!” Twilight’s eyes were wide as saucers.

“I looked her up… the other Sunset, I mean. And she died in a car crash with her parents way back… ten years ago I think.” Sunset shifted uncomfortably. This was getting into sensitive territory.

But apparently either Sparkle didn’t know or didn’t care, since she kept on probing further. “So where do you live? How did you even get into school?”

Sunset glared at the floor. “What is this? The Spanish Inquisition?” She snapped. Sparkle reeled back, as if struck.

“Sorry,” Sunset said. “I don’t like talking about it.” The truth was, she lived in an abandoned factory and used the gems and sack of gold coins she had brought from Equestria to buy false documents. Still, she didn’t want anyone looking at them closely. Sunset used the rest of her funds to buy her baby (her precious black Harley-Davidson), food, and other amenities.

Twilight nodded wordlessly.

“Well,” she coughed, “um, why do you keep calling me Sparkle? I call you Sunset, and I think since we’re… colleagues we should be on first name basis.”

Sunset paused. She referred to Twilight as Sparkle because she wanted to separate her from Princess Twilight, but since the Princess was in Equestria and probably would still be there for a long time, there was really no reason why not. That said, bringing Princess Twilight up with Spa- Twilight probably wasn’t a good

“...no reason,” said Sunset casually. Twilight raised an eyebrow, but didn’t question it.

“So… we should get started,” said Twilight, breaking the awkward silence. “We should,” agreed Sunset, and for the first time she looked around where she was.

It was a relatively cramped place--Sunset could barely stand to her full height without hitting the ceiling-- and sort of suffocating.

Various knick-knacks were scattered around the place: the squeaky twin mattress that Sunset had been laying on, a bookshelf filled with tomes of different size and colors, a storage closet, red paper cups thrown haphazardly toward an overflowing waste bin filled with crumpled sheets of paper, a light bulb screwed onto the ceiling that was the sole source of light for the wood-paneled room.

Twilight’s desk itself was squashed next to the wall, and it was decorated with empty candy wrappers, a variety of papers, and a worn grey pony plush that was honestly kinda creepy.

Twilight saw Sunset’s roaming gaze and blushed. “It isn’t usually this messy…”

Sunset shrugged. Considering the state of her own room, she wasn’t exactly one to judge. “Wait… this isn’t your room, is it?”

“No no no!” said Twilight. “This is my lab-- it’s in the basement. The mattress is only there because sometimes I get too tired and collapse on the nearest thing. My parents preferred that the nearest thing be a bed, so.”

Sunset paused. “Where are your parents, anyway? Are they okay with this?”

Twilight shifted uncomfortably. “They… don’t exactly know the extent to which I am experimenting… but you don’t have to worry about them walking in on us, they won’t be here until seven, and it’s only--” Twilight checked her digital clock and her eyes widened comically. “6:15?!”

She immediately rushed toward the storage closet and stuck her head in. After a minute of clanging and banging, Twilight poked her head out again, proudly brandishing a needle and holder.

Sunset gulped.

“I’m just gonna take a quick blood sample, okay?” Twilight ushered Sunset into a chair and positioned the flame-haired girl’s arm on a cushion on her desk. Sunset looked down nervously. Sensing her anxiety, Twilight said, “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” “Mhm,” muttered Sunset but she wasn’t entirely convinced.

After quickly cleaning the needle and attaching it to the holder, Twilight quickly swabbed Sunset’s forearm and picked a vein. “Ready?” Asked the lavender-colored girl, adjusting her glasses. Sunset nodded.

It was actually surprisingly painless but after the second tube Sunset was starting to feel slightly lightheaded. She made conversation with Twilight to take her mind off it.

“So… am I supposed to feel dizzy?” questioned Sunset in a cheery tone of voice with a hint of concern. Twilight frowned.

“You’ve never taken a blood sample before? What about the blood drives?”

“Er… I always skipped them,” answered Sunset sheepishly. At Twilight’s scowl, she quickly continued. “Besides, I doubt anyone would have use for my blood… I’m pretty sure I have blood type K. Horse blood.” Twilight nodded in understanding.

“Well, we’ll know tomorrow,” said the purple-haired girl, extracting the needle
from Sunset’s arm, pressing a cotton ball to the puncture site, and taping it down. Twilight got up.

“You’d best rub your arm, or else it’ll be sore.”

“I will. Thanks for the advice.”

The two stared at each other, silently wondering the same thing: ‘Who is she really?’

Finally, the tension was broken. Twilight held out her hand toward Sunset and said, “It has been a pleasure working with you. See you on Monday at 5?”

Sunset clasped Twilight’s hand and shivered. Her hand was cold. “Y-yeah,” said Sunset, looking away slightly. “See you on Monday.”

She climbed up the stairs, through the house, and out the door. Twilight watched her through the window as the flame-haired girl rode into the sunset, a peculiar feeling in her chest.

It would only be later that she was able to put the feeling into words : For some reason, she sort of - maybe - somehow - hadn't wanted Sunset to leave.

Author's Note:

This morning, I was absolutely shocked to see the feedback you guys gave me. In fact, I was so shocked I was inspired into writing another chapter. Think of this as a "THANK YOU!" for your awesomeness. You guys rock.

-rocky rainbow road

also:Is their relationship progressing too fast? Should I slow down? Too much subtext? TELL MEEE

...ahem

also2: yup i blatantly stole the idea of sunset living in a factory from Long Road to Friendship by The Albinocorn. I you haven't read it... shame on you! Go read it now!

Comments

[MEGA LM ShiroHige Pony]

7632166 Sci-Twi x Sunset is love, is life

[rocky rainbow road]

7633703 Eeyup.

[Mallory S Nocturne]

I.Need. MOOOOOAAAARRRRR.... Please...

[MrAskAPirate]

Izzit really a good idea for Sunset to go riding off like that so soon after giving blood, on top of the possible concussion she got from getting whapped in the face with a door?

Shouldn't she like... lie down for a bit first?

[DrJekyll]

Okay that was awesome! I can't say why, but I really like everything in this fanfic. Yes, maybe their relationship progress a liiiiiittle bit to fast, but that isn't such a big problem, so... Can't wait to see more! Yay!

[Jakomi of the Rose]

I’m pretty sure I have blood type K. Horse blood.

After I've read Fractured Sunlight(Still my favorite SunLight) I've always wondered about this. I honestly think that they get the same blood type as their counterpart... otherwise it just feels wierd...

[rocky rainbow road]

7634507 eheh, she probably would if not for the fact that twi's parents would be coming back in like... two minutes

[rocky rainbow road]

7634581 well, we don't know if she ACTUALLY has horse blood-- but better safe than sorry during the blood drives i guess

[rocky rainbow road]

7634511
7634394
Haha thanks! More's coming soon!

[Purple-Smart Heart]

Just a couple things --

First, good start! Looking forward to more.

Next, kind of a two-piece bit of medical knowledge in case it comes up in future chapters/stories. You don't disinfect the needle. You have a sterile hypodermic, and disinfect the area to be punctured. There's a reason you have to be trained in order to place needles, it's a little more involved than most people think, and you have to do a lot of things in the right order in order to minimize chance of infection and do it every time.

Also, unless Sunset has a fear of blood or needles, she wouldn't feel light-headed. If you donate blood you may become lightheaded because they take a full unit (500ml) of blood. If you're healthy, your blood pressure is regular, and you take a good long time to get up and walk out, you might not even be able to tell. An extremely thorough battery of tests will often require less than a tenth of that amount, a sample being anywhere from 2-10 ml of blood, so even if you're being tested for everything under the Sun, you'll probably lose less than 50ml to the needle.

Just a little info dump in case you need it. Again, looking forward to the next chapter!

[Dragonwaz]

7634581 ....Broken Sunlight? I just Googled, Fimfic searched, and searched through damn near 40 pages of your favorites library. Did you mean Fractured Sunlight?

[Jakomi of the Rose]

7774577 *Facepalm* Yes, sorry. I'll correct that for future reference.

[Dragonwaz]

7774639 Darn I thought there was a good story I missed but I've already read it.

[Jakomi of the Rose]

7775296 Oh... yeah, it's a real gem.

[Dream of Ponies]

This is intriguing, do write more please I shall be watching!

[Eroraf86]

Room for improvement, but a lot of potential here. I really hope you continue this.

[Natykasca]

Solo más tarde sería capaz de expresar el sentimiento con palabras: por alguna razón, ella, tal vez, de alguna manera, no había querido que Sunset se fuera.

Oww ésto está bastante bonito, por qué no continúas? 🥺🥺 Quiero maas jaja