Starfleet Humans: A Tale of Two Sunsets

by DakariKingMykan

Act 4: Two for One

ACT FOUR

Meanwhile, most of the gang hung out in the city park. Lightning was at Canterlot High teaching his class, and Krysta was most likely out on her daily flights, patrolling the island.

Twilight threw a Frisbee and Spike ran after it, leapt up high, and caught it in his teeth.

Spike barked happily, but was careful not to speak and give his secret away to prying eyes around the park.

Rainbow was doing stunts on the skate ramps, showing off for all the other skaters.

Buddy was checking the flower beds and the trees, hoping they were well-cared for. He really disliked it when people weren’t kind to the plants.

Sunset and Artie were coming back from a romantic walk, hand-in-hand.

“Here come the lovebirds.” said Dyno.

“Ah, young love.” sighed Myte. “…Es una gran cosa. *It’s a grand thing.*”

As the couple approached, Sunset looked a little tired.

“You okay?” asked Artie.

Sunset rubbed her eyes, “I think so. Maybe I just worked too hard.

Caring for all those patients is fun, but it does tire me out a little.”

Fluttershy and Rhymey had finished setting things up at a picnic table.

“Come on over and have a bite,
A little lunch ought to put you right.” said Rhymey

Fluttershy nodded, and then all the friends came together for a good meal.

Twilight gave Spike a little bowl of kibble she always had with her.

Rarity was eating rather strangely-- reaching far across from herself to the table to pick little bits of food, and then slowly bring it to her face and chew very slowly.

“Um, what are you doing?” asked Applejack.

“I don’t want to get a single crumb on my new skirt.” answered Rarity, and she stood up for everyone to see the lovely white skirt with a touch of blue fading.

Spike nearly fainted with hearts in his eyes.

“It’s a crispy couture miniature, and I just got it today, and to ruin something as divine as this would be a crime against fashion!”

“Uh-huh…” said Applejack and she took a huge and rather messy bite out of an apple, promitng Rarity to keep far from her.

Still, the friends had a lovely meal, and after that went to get ice-cream from the vendor in the park, which Sunset offered to pay for with her hundred dollars, but Artie insisted on buying it himself.

He snatched the bill out of his wife’s hands and passed it back to her, “That money is so you can go to med school, and you should save up.”

Sunset sighed, “You’re right.”

“I still can’t believe you got that much money.” said Pinkie Pie.

“Me neither.” said Sunset “It was very kind of Penelope to do that. She seemed like such a nice old lady.”

She then thought back to Penelope’s checkup, and it still amazed her that such an elderly woman seemed healthier than she looked.

Sunset replaced the hundred dollar bill back in her wallet, unaware that by touching it some more, she was falling deeper into silent trouble.

…And Artie had just touched it as well.

Sunset reached for her ice-cream cone, but as she grabbed it she began to feel dizzy, and dropped her cone to the ground.

Then she began to fall backwards.

“Sunset!” cried Artie as he threw down his own ice cream to catch his wife in his arms.

“The ice cream!” cried Pinkie. She hated seeing sweet food wasted, but she actually more worried about Sunset.

“Are you alright?” asked Starla “What’s happening to you?”

Sunset rubbed her eyes again, and blinked twice, “I… don’t know.” she said sounding groggy “I just felt really dizzy all of a sudden.”

Fluttershy touched her hand to Sunset’s forehead, “You don’t feel warm, but I hope you’re not getting sick.”

“Well, she does work in a hospital.” said Rainbow, then she started to act scary “Who knows what gross kinds of germs and sicknesses crawl along those walls?”

Rarity felt faint at the very thought, but Artie was no amused.

“That’s not funny, Rainbow.”

“It’s not likely either.” said Sunset “All hospital employees get vaccinated. How else could we work with all those sick people?

The odds of me catching even a simple cold are slim-to-none.”

At that moment, she had another dizzy spell.

“Sunset?” said Artie.

“Hold on, let me try something.” said Twilight, and she reached into her backpack and pulled out her med-scan-- one of her own little invented devices.

She waved it over Sunset’s body like a magnifying glass, and the screen revealed the problem to Twilight.

“What’s wrong with her?” asked Buddy.

Twilight gawked at the results, “Her energy levels are dropping.”

“What?!” snapped Artie.

“Shh!” snapped Twilight, not wanting to be overheard. “We better get her to the base.” she whispered to the others.

The team agreed, and Sunset began to wake up, but she felt weaker than ever.

“Can you walk?” Artie asked.

“I think so.”

Starla and Artie helped her to stand, and then the team left the park, and headed for a small clearing, away from all the prying eyes, and Twilight used her passcodes to uncover a jump-tube hatch located behind a large tree.

Everyone jumped in and headed straight for the base.

Meanwhile, Richard and Jewel had observed everything over the monitors, and now the team was out of sight where they couldn’t be seen or tracked.

Richard turned off the monitors, and snickered, “Well, how about that?” he said to his wife “Not only does the girl fall for our little stunt, her hubby will suffer as well.”

Jewel agreed, “A nice little bonus for us.

Still, their friends-- their suspicions are beginning to show. Remember, they are already onto our little agent, still out there.”

Her husband didn’t seem the least bit worried, “Even if, by some miracle, they manage to track us down there won’t be able to stop us.

They are helping us complete our little project.”

He spun round in his chair to face the computer on his desk, and viewed the images of the screen of magical energy levels increasing-- stolen from Sunset, and very slowly Artie’s would be absorbed too.

“Oh, Jewel, my lovely; just imagine the possibilities we can create with all this.”

Jewel purred as she clutched herself within the shadows, “Just thinking of it gives me goosebumps.

The entire world can be at our fingertips.”

Richard snickered softly, “I love the sound of that.”

Back at Team Base,

Twilight had called Celesto and informed him of the problem, and came as soon as he heard.

Nothing was more important to him than the health and safety of his students, his friends!

Sunset was resting on a bed in the sickbay. She was so tired she could barely keep awake.

She had been thoroughly checked out by the base’s doctor.

“What’s the deal, Doc?” asked Artie “Is she okay?”

The doctor went over his notes, “Her blood pressure is fine, and her heart is stable, but her energy is still dropping. It’s as if something is syphoning it from her body, but exactly what it is, I can’t be sure.”

Artie looked and felt really worried. “Can’t you do anything for her?”

The doctor explained he already had Sunset hooked up to an I.V that would help give her strength, “The trouble is, the energy drain is continuing. I’m not sure how to stop it.”

Artie gazed down at his wife as she slept.

Starla put her hand to Artie’s back, “We’ll find out what’s wrong with her.”

The others all agreed.

Celesto and Twilight were at the lab computer, running over all the X-rays and scans made on Sunset earlier.

“Nothing…” Celesto said “It all seems ordinary. What could be draining Sunset’s energy?”

Then, almost immediately, “Hey,” Twilight said “I think I’ve got something.”

Some of the others huddled by round the console.

Twilight then showed a spinning polygraph of Sunset’s form on the screen, and a code of letters and numbers next to the body.

“This is an unknown substance detected in Sunset’s bloodstream. I can’t determine what it is, but I’m positive it’s the cause of her weariness.”

“Gosh,” said Spike “But how she did get it in her?”

Twilight typed up more images for the polygraph of Sunset, the image zoomed in on Sunset’s right hand, showing small trace elements matching the code of the substance.

Celesto observed the images and concluded, “Sunset must’ve have come into contact with an object or person that may have passed on substance to her-- a bit like a virus entering the body.”

“But Sunset told us she was vaccinated.” said Rainbow “She said she couldn’t get sick or anything like that.”

Buddy then corrected, “Actually, she said it wasn’t likely for her to get sick.”

“Is there some sort of antidote?” asked Rainbow.

Twilight shook her head, “Without knowing what this stuff is, I don’t know if anything would be safe to try on her.”

Suddenly, Artie began to feel woozy himself.

“What’s wrong?” asked Dyno.

“Are you okay?” added Myte.

Artie rubbed his eyes, “I’m feeling… kind of strange.”

The others all gawked at him, realizing this was how it started with Sunset.

“Artie, lie down on the scan table.” said Celesto.

Artie didn’t argue and did as he was told.

He was scanned under the rays form head-to-toe, and didn’t even have to remove his clothes.

The information was transferred to the computer.

“Artie,” cried Twilight “You’re energy’s dropping too.”

“What?” snapped Artie, and it was doubly confirmed when Twilight showed images of the substance, starting in his right hand by the fingertips, and spreading through his system to drain his energy, just like Sunset.

“I don’t get this.” said Artie, and he began to feel a little woozier, and lay flat on the bed, “It’s hard to… keep my eyes… open.”

His energy was dropping faster than ever.

“We’ve got to do something!” cried Spike.

Celesto snapped his finger, “Healing magic, it just might exterminate the substance out of the bodies, but we’ll need to be gentle with them.”

Everyone then cast a look at Fluttershy, and she rolled her eyes back and forth at everyone. “Um… okay, I’ll try.”

She stepped over to an open space away from the others,

“Valkyria!” and became the Valkyrie of Kindness.

She then grabbed her sword, and pointed it at Artie first while he was still wasn’t as weak.

“Careful, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow “Don’t hit him too hard.”

Rarity scolded her, “Rally, Rainbow, you’ll make her nervous.”

Indeed, Fluttershy was very nervous, and hated that she was pointing a weapon at her friend, even if it was for a good reason.

“Okay, here goes.” Fluttershy whimpered, and the blade of her sword began to glow, and rather than outright charge and attack, she simple approached Artie, and held the blade just centimetres away from him, and gently let the magic pour from the blade and onto his body.

“It’s working!” cried Twilight as she monitored the computer “The substance is draining away.”

Artie was starting to feel a little better, but still just a little tired. All he needed was a little rest.

“Hurry!” he cried “Do Sunset next.”

“Wait!” snapped the doctor, and revealed he was drawing a few bits of blood from Sunset for analysis of the substance.

Then Fluttershy healed Sunset as well.

The substance was vanquished from her body, but she was still asleep due to being infected longer, much to everyone’s worry.

“She’ll be alright.” the doctor assured “Just let her rest.”

Artie lay back on the table and sighed deeply.

Fluttershy wiped a tear from her eye as she de-transformed.

Her friends came over and patted her back softly.

“Good job.” they would say.

Celesto smiled especially, but he still wanted to know what started all this.

While Twilight and Professor Brain analyzed Sunset’s blood containing the substance, both Sunset and Artie had their rest, and the others pondered what could have caused their friends to contract this substance.

“All we know is it’s something must’ve touched.” said Starla.

“Oh, that makes it easy.” groaned Pinkie “They only touched practically everything.”

“Easy, Pinkie…” said Dyno, “We can still narrow it down to when they started feeling tired.”

Myte nodded “Now let’s think. Sunset was already feeling tired when she came to the park, just after she came from the hospital.”

“But Artie didn’t start feeling bad until he got here to the base.” added Buddy.

The field was narrowing down, and the team continued to ponder.

They knew Artie didn’t catch it by holding Sunset’s hand or he would have gotten sick sooner.

“It has to be something he touched while in the park.” suggested Applejack “And whatever it was, Sunset must’ve touched it earlier when she came from work.”

Rarity suddenly had the idea, “That hundred dollar bill.”

“What was that, Rarity?” asked Celesto, but Rarity had gone over to Sunset, who was still asleep.

Much as she didn’t like to pry and take things, Rarity took Sunset’s wallet from her jacket pocket and using a pair of eyebrow tweezers she got from her own handbag, she pulled out the hundred-dollar bill, careful not touch it herself.

“Artie and Sunset both came into contact with this.”

Rainbow thought that silly, “It’s just a money bill. How can it cause the problem?”

Celesto felt differently though. “Put it under the electronic-scanner.”

The scans all read positive.

“This isn’t any ordinary bill.” said Celesto “It’s equipped with microscopic chips that electronically inject the serum into the body of anyone who touches it.”

The team all felt their features hardening.

“Somebody set Sunset up.” said Pinkie.

Starla clenched her fists, “And I bet I know who!” and all the others agreed with her.

Meanwhile, Human Sunset was still lying low, outside Canterlot City.

She kept uppermost area of the island where people wouldn’t be likely to see her, but she was growing irritable with all the waiting around.

Her employers told her to wait for further instructions, and she couldn’t hang around in town where people would spot her; not even with her disguise gadget.

She was also growing rather starved, but had no money for food.

Her stomach growled loudly! “Need food!” she groaned “Food!”

Suddenly, she could hear the sound of a truck coming along the road, which turned out to be a big trailer truck, taking fruits and vegetables from the farms to town.

“Hmmm…” and she smirked wickedly.

She hopped on her bike and activated the camouflage. Then she chased the truck down, quietly creeping up next to the driver’s side.

She then shot out the front tire with her bike machine guns, blowing it out and causing the truck to skid.

The driver fought for control and was forced to pull off the road, crashing into a big tree. Luckily the truck didn’t burst into flames, and the driver was saved by the airbag that deployed, but he was frozen in shock by what had just happened.

He had been wide awake the whole time while he was driving and he was sure the road was clear, yet it felt as if somebody had rammed him, or shot his tire out, but there was not a soul on the road for miles.

While he was distracted, Sunset crept her way to the back, and unlocked the trailer using her key-laser-- the same item she used to sneak into The Bank of England.

Inside, there were crates of fruits and vegetables, but of course she couldn’t take all of them, and just snatched the first box she could find and dashed for her bike…

“Hey, you!” the trucker shouted as he saw her, and he grabbed a revolver out from his glove compartment, and leapt out to confront her, but Sunset swiftly kicked the gun out of his hand, then socked him in the gut, and gave him a good blow to the head knocking him out could against the side of the truck, and he slid to the ground.

“Jerk!” grunted Sunset, and she took off with her ill-gotten crate of food for a clearing where she could eat in private.

However, much to her surprise and fury, the box turned out to be full of raw broccoli!

“Ugh!!” she groaned, regardless, she was really starving and had come too far to go back now, so she took a bite of the raw vegetables, much to her annoyance and disgust!

Rather than blame her employers for this, she angrily blamed the other Sunset for all this.

“Always, that twerp keeps running my life and making things complicated! It’ll make it all the more sweeter when I confront her again!”

Just then, her radio beeped.

“Yeah, what?!” she sneered carelessly.

“I beg your pardon?!” snapped Richard.

Sunset sighed “Sorry, I’m just feeling a little cranky.”

“Well, if you mind your manners,” said Jewel “We have new instructions for you. Listen carefully.”

The other Sunset had awoken, and she was most disturbed by what the others had told her.

“So I was duped into taking that phony money?” and she angrily slammed the bed with her hand, breaking off a piece of it with her super strength. “I knew something was odd about that patient I examined.”

“To think,” said Pinkie Pie “You met the other Sunset Shimmer right in front of you all the time.”

Applejack gave her a straight look, saying she wasn’t helping with talk like that.

Now Sunset looked more nervous than angry. “I don’t get it. What does she want with me?”

“I’d like to know that myself.” said Artie. He knew that his involvement was accidental, and the plot was intended only for Sunset, which only angered him more. “When I get my hands on her, I’ll wring her neck to the size of a paintbrush hair!”

“Dude, take it easy.” said Buddy “We’ll find her, and she will get what’s coming to her.”

“Yeah, but first we have to actually find her.” said Rainbow “And she’s still undetectable by our instruments.”

Twilight and the Professor had analyzed the fake bill, and were both mesmerized by such a gadget. Still, they hoped whatever they could find about it would lead them to who was working with Human Sunset.

“Strange… most strange.” said Brain.

“What is it?” asked Twilight.

“The artwork is horribly wrong. The brush strokes in Dr. Franklin’s hair have smudged, and the printing of the code-- the spaces are too narrow between digits.”

Twilight and Spike groaned.

“Can’t you uncover anything we actually seek?” asked Spike.

“Well, now that you mention it, I do have inkling. Just have to run a few simple calculations.”

He typed into the computer, muttered scientific gibberish to himself, and finally, “Ahh… Satisfactory, Most Satisfactory…

The paper of which the money is made of, and the ink of which is used is traceable all the way to England.”

“England?” said Spike “That’s where Human Sunset tried to rob that bank.”

“Indeed,” said Celesto “We’ve narrowed down the field, but we still need to know who made it, what they really want our Sunset, and why.”

“Whatever it is, it can’t be good.” said Twilight.

Celesto pondered deeply, and he had a thought, “This may sound risky, but it just may help us draw the other Sunset into the open.”

…And he explained his plan to the others.

Comments

[Tango-Raptor]

This was a descent read good work. ( for those who will down vote and i know you will here's what i think of your down votes )

[DakariKingMykan]

9566445

Much as I don't like cursing... thanks