Chapter 5 - A World in a Bottle in a Ship - Part 3/4
Sunset collapsed onto her sofa with an exhausted sigh, relaxing into the black faux leather and mixed cyan and red pillows that adorned it. Not the hangout spot’s patchwork sofa that had been pulled out of a recycler and tidied up, her sofa. A sleepy smile tugged at Sunset’s lips at the thought, reassured by her more private domain. Said hang out spot was quickly turning into a creche for the children while the rest of her workshop was becoming a community centre. Much to her annoyance. The sooner she could set up dormitories in the disused boathouses she was not actively using as a laboratory, the better.
At least now she could rest after so many long hours awake, with so many expectations for her sparse time in Equestria having gone so horribly sideways.
“Oh, easy now! Yes, forward, wait, hold up! Let them catch up…”
Or at least she hoped she could soon, Sunset corrected her thoughts with a groan as she heard Cadance’s voice, echoing up the stairs along-side the excited shrieks and babbling of her child. It was an abrupt reminder of having agreed to host the little royal family in her own little apartment area. At least it seemed the baby wasn’t much of a cryer and was instead enjoying its jolty trip up the long flights of stairs to Sunset’s more private quarters in the former office space.
Forcing down her frustration Sunset swung her legs over to leave herself sitting upright on the sofa and facing the bay windows that overlooked the warehouse and its open entryway. She focused on the view to help calm her, as limited as it was from this angle. A few moments later the noise of awkward footsteps and the shuffling of people carrying something bulky filled the air as Cadance and her current entourage entered the room. Sunset declined to look at them, content with her peaceful - if narrow - view of the lake and the pod of dolphins jumping out and across the water in the distance.
“Ah, Sunset. Where can we…?” Cadance asked after her, trailing off awkwardly.
“Three doors ahead of you. Furthest to the right is my room. Don’t go in there. Middle is the bathroom and the one to the left is a guest room. You can set her down in there,” Sunset directed her flatly, still not looking over. She really didn’t have the energy left to try to be nice, or get annoyed either for that matter. Now she didn’t have an audience to keep up appearances with, she could finally relax a little.
“Ah, thank you,” Cadance said stiltedly as she lead both Shining armour and a guard who had volunteered to lug the crib over to the room in question with a single maid in tow.
That left her with Sunburst and the rather short form of Thorax hovering awkwardly.
“Uh, thanks for the lunch by the way!” Sunburst said, trying nervously to look and sound friendly.
Sunset’s only acknowledgment was a quiet grunt. Again the two were left standing there, sharing awkward glances for a while. She guessed he was probably hoping to start a conversation too, given he had expressed no shortage of curiosity for every tiny little thing of hers he saw, let alone the rest of ship around them. Sunset knew she would have to keep an eye on him less he became the first pony to have a close encounter with an industrial electrical socket.
“So, um… any idea why I didn’t change?” Thorax asked tentatively, taking his own turn at starting something.
“Yes! Quite ironic that, the only one who didn’t change was the changeling,” Sunburst added with a chuckle.
Sunset felt herself sigh in frustration as she looked over to stare at them blankly. It was obvious they were not going to shut up so she resolved to put the bare minimum into satisfying them.
“You’re a changeling right? I’m guessing that means you’re some sort of shape shifter,” Sunset reasoned, waiting only a moment to see Thorax nod. “Whatever mechanism you use to transform must interfere with the portal’s own transformation… thing. Matrix. Spell set. Ugh, I’m too tired for this. Definitely not for technical details.”
They were left in awkward silence for a moment as Sunset slumped back into the sofa, eyes shut and head back.
“Truth be told, I thought something like this might happen with Sombra. It’s another reason I wanted him going last, as fighting him on his own turf with other ponies still at risk and in the way was a bad idea,” she continued to explain idly.
“Well, good to know you actually somewhat care,” Shining Armour’s far more steady voice rang out, surprising Sunset a little. Not that she missed a beat in responding.
“Sure I do Prince Shining Dork. I can stroke my own ego all day but it just gets boring after a while without others to admire my magnificent, crazy ass,” she said with a smirk, quickly adjusting.
Shining only snorted at that, striding around to take a seat at her second couch where he collapsed, not unlike Sunset had.
“Ugh. Come on, why don’t you two help yourselves to a seat already,” Sunset groaned to the two standing occupants, gesturing to the empty comfy chair done up in the same style as the couches and a somewhat out of place tie-die bean bag.
Uneasily Sunburst took the seat and Thorax the more height appropriate bean bag. As they did Cadance reemerged - alongside the guard - with a tired but relieved sight.
“Finally asleep,” she murmured to herself before asking the guard to keep watch over the crowd outside. Unceremoniously she stumbled around the seating to collapse alongside her husband and snuggle up to him sleepily.
“So, uh, what now?” Thorax said eventually, breaking the silence.
Sunset grunted irritably, head still laying back with her eyes shut. “I get some shut eye before I have to march out there and sign for the supplies I ordered and organise a team building exercise where we all build bunk beds and camping stoves and… ugh, some fucking latrines or something. Hygiene and personal stuff like that is going to be a headache with so many people to look after.”
“You know, you still have a lot to explain,” Shining said sternly. “And new stuff seems to come up every time you act. For example, exactly what kind of stunt were you trying to pull with Sombra?”
The probing was enough to raise her heckles and produce a growl. Abruptly snapping to her feet loom over them and levelling a glare at Shining she wasted no time making her brewing irritation known. “I don’t have anything to explain until I get some fucking rest! But you know what? I’ll do you the courtesy of explaining why I don’t have to explain shit! I have been up for close to two days straight now. I got my ass handed to me by Smogra when he was still a demented cloud of smoke, I had to hike miles through the snow to find his bloody horn while mine was infected with his dark magic crystal crap because I offered to help him and consequently you, I had to unlock his maliciously neglectful spell work that would have left half your ponies with heart attacks or suffering pneumonia, and then I had to organise an evacuation to my home where my privacy will be ripped to shreds and no small amount of delicate equipment is no doubt going to be wrecked by curious idiots who want to stick their newly acquired fingers into electrical outlets, band saws, welders or worse!”
The brief and furious rant left Sunset red faced and panting from the effort, and her audience sitting in silent shock. With a deep breath she did the best she could to shed the stress and tension from her body and slumped in on herself. Without ceremony she turned on the spot and strode into her room, slamming the door for good measure.
There, in the blissfully quiet and dark room she let out one last sigh of relief before collapsing onto her bed. The frustration from the constant accusations and suspicion were more than enough to drive her mad. It fed back into itself as she thought about the hypocrisy of it, as if they never acted in the best interests of themselves and what they cared about. That even when she acted charitably towards others it was either ignored or rebuffed with suspicion. At the same time, perhaps that was hypocritical of her to complain. After all, it was all she had ever known since a time when she was too ignorant to see past the two faced double dealings of every pony around her, something she had accepted a long time ago.
She tossed and turned restlessly atop her bed, trying to get comfortable while her mind raced. At least all the trouble would be worth it and her own first share of pay off would come much sooner than theirs, she thought as she peeked open her eyes. There, at the side of her room sat the backpack filled with her pilfered magical supplies. A smile tugged at her lips as they slid shut once more and she finally stated drifting off to sleep.
I'll be honest, I'm a little uneasy publishing another chapter so quickly. I certainly don't think I'll be able to keep up the pace but... well there's not much sense leaving this one laying around when it's compleat so what the heck? Why not.
Hope you all enjoy⁓. 
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Ima be honest, the cover art hooked me as soon as i saw it. Then i read the short description, and then saw the ratings. This story is now my highest priority in my reading tab.
d'aww, Thorax still his buggy self~
Looks like Shimmy is yet to discover presumably advanced local therapy.
"was not"
"others"
"Come on"
"ceremony"
Okay... So Sunset has plans for magical supplies, meaning, she lied about magic being impossible (don't remember details) in this form, and planning to get it for herself.
Now, what could possibly go wrong with Sombra nearby?...
11707078
Why thank you! Though I can't really take credit for the cover art I do like it as a distant representation of Star Strider's interior.
11707249
Glad I managed to keep him true enough to character. I do plan on bending cannon a bit with him. He is a changeling and though he doesn't like it, he does know how to be sneaky, underhanded and all that both because of training and some instinct.
11707385
Or likely just believes she's above it at this point.
And thanks for the corrections. Though could have sworn "wasnot" was an acceptable conjoined word.
11707771
No... pretty sure she made it clear magic was technically possible. Just omitted that humans and thus them transformed into humans have no ability to directly use it. But there may or may not be ways to cheat.
And what indeed... especially given his penchant for mind control, and how direct mind to machine interface might be a thing in this day and age.
11707937
Why thank you! Glad to have you aboard to the bitter end. Or until we master the warping of reality and literally bring our stories to life.
11708152
Oh my!
He would truly be a scary existence then.
Now I wonder, wouldn't it be funny if he got carried too far away, tried to take control of the ship and got squashed like a bug by ship's main AI? Can't have magic be too overpowered over technology, I think.
I would have also used such event to expose existence of magic to humans as result, whatever ensues.
Just some ideas.
Random thought: Does AI have sentience in this story, or all of them like Atlas?
And will adding magic into the system bring it fully to life?
11707771
Naw she said something about it still being around it's accessing it that's the problem without horns wings or hooves. She needs a foci like a wand staff or sonic screwdriver
11707385
Oh yeah Mr shrink I'm just getting a lot of stress after transporting a bunch of immigrant using magicteck that would drive your greatest scientists batty. Not to mention the personal drama since I'm also an alien who grew up with royalty
11707078
Yep this story is straight fire 🔥🔥🔥👌💯😫 💦 7/7 emojis agree
11708850
Unironically yes. I mean, it would have to be before the current events - there was time, if not the will. And with some details omitted, obviously. Clearly she could benefit from it.
A better argument might be that if local therapy is sufficiently advanced, they might have means to detect potentially alien mental patterns, or something along those lines. Whether or not that's the case, it's enough that Sunset could at least suspect that.
a good story so far! There are two possibilities ! Either continue with the integration of the refugees or the kidnapped ponies will be treated! It would also be funny if the fleet met the enemies and Sunset had to take care of rescued ponies!
Are there doppelgängers here like at Canterlot High? or not
11716278
Sorry, no duplicates here. Though I do have some original charecters I'm stiching together as I go.
As for your other guesses, well...
Spoilers⁓
But you might be thinking in the right direction. 
Haven't been on this account in months but I logged back in to say I'm glad you're still going! This is shaping up to be such an interesting concept and interpretation of the characters. I'm a real sucker for the dynamic between Sunset, Cadance and Shining, so this is getting exciting lol.