A Certain Magical Sunset

by Babroniedad

A Certain Magical Sunset - Act 1 - 16 - Sunset - More Surprises

Sunset - More Surprises

Wednesday, August 20. 8:30 AM Canterlot time

Sunset awoke snuggled up with her friend, happy grins on both their faces. They had stayed up way too late letting the little bot explore up and down the ancient river basin. It mapped the blooms, measured their density, and correlated their locations and relative sizes and strengths.

The evidence, while not incontrovertible, was definitely compelling. It appeared they had found the Martian equivalent of algae blooms growing in the riverbed, or whatever passed for them in the Martian flora.

The girls were both beside themselves with excitement from the discovery. Twilight couldn’t wait to write up a paper on their findings and submit it to one of the biological science journals. In the end, Sunset convinced her that they needed some sleep first and could start that tomorrow as the riverbed wasn’t going anywhere.

Twilight left the little drone mapping more of the riverbed. It collected all the data to her laptop for review in the morning. Maybe with the additional data, they would get an even more compelling picture of the possible life they had found. Sunset texted her mom they were spending the night again, and Twilight texted her parents.

Before retiring for the night, Twilight had gone back into the control room, and upgraded all the fobs in the bin to include biometric scanning of anyone nearby. She added a routine to send an alert to her and Sunset if there were any problems or if the biometrics triggered, sending the location of the fob directly to them.

Rolling onto her side quietly, Sunset lifted herself to the edge of the bed and transferred into her chair. She rolled into the bathroom to clean up and take care of her necessities. She checked Twilight’s laptop briefly, noting the rugged little drone was still collecting data and had indeed continued to map out further blooms along the ancient riverbed overnight. She texted her mom good morning, then pulled down a pot and filled it with water. ‘It feels like a good day for some porridge,’ she thought. She put the water on the stove to boil.

While she waited her mom texted back, sharing her love and happiness for her and Twilight at their discovery. Twilight came shuffling out of the room just as Sunset was stirring the porridge into the boiling water.

“Good morning, sleepyhead!” smiled Sunset. “Have a good night’s sleep?”

“That’s Ms. Sleepyhead to you, Ms. Earlybird,” yawned Twilight as she shuffled by. “And yes. It was positively wonderful. I discovered life on Mars with my BFF! Then I got to snuggle all night.” She smiled as she passed by. “That smells good. I’ll be right back to join you.”

Twilight entered the bathroom, returning several minutes later as Sunset was putting fruits and yogurt on the table and serving up the porridge into two large bowls. “Want some juice, Sparky?” Sunset asked as she placed one of the bowls before Twilight, spoon poking out of the steaming mix. Sunset placed the other bowl where she was sitting.

“Hmm. Yes please,” yawned Twilight as she spooned sliced apples into her porridge then poured cream over the top.

Sunset brought over a pitcher of apple juice as well as two cups and placed them on the table. She poured a glass and passed it to Twilight. Twilight took it and sipped it gratefully.

“There you go, girl! Though you look like you might need something a little higher octane,” Sunset teased.

“Got that right,” agreed Twilight. “I’ll get it after we eat. Food first, then my rocket fuel.” She tucked into the porridge. “Good call, Sunny, this hits the spot,” she smiled, enjoying the porridge.

“It seemed like a good day for it,” agreed Sunset as she loaded up her porridge with apples, cinnamon, and cream. “Can’t go wrong with the classics.”

Twilight smiled and nodded.

They finished their porridge and juice, ending their breakfast with a small serving of fresh yogurt. Sunset put away the leftovers and cleaned up the breakfast dishes while Twilight made them both coffee. Then they went to check on the data they had gathered overnight.

“Wow, this is good! I would say this definitely looks like a full-blown colony. The way the growth appears to be distributed and the size of the distribution suggests there is robust life here, probably buried low enough to avoid issues with ionizing radiation. This is also consistent with the flowing of subterranean liquid water.

“This is really amazing! I can’t wait to get some better samples - though I hesitate to just wade in and possibly contaminate the colony. We should get someone with more experience involved before we start digging anything up or traipsing around the blooms.” Twilight observed as she nursed her caffeinated nectar.

“Sounds prudent,” agreed Sunset as she finished up the dishes. “Do you have anyone in mind?”

“No. A bit outside my normal areas of interest,” commented Twilight. “I was thinking I could invite Dr. Sombra to take a look at the data and see what he thinks. He seems to be fairly knowledgeable in a broad range of sciences. And Luna clearly thinks highly of him.”

Sunset snorted. “Yes, she does, and not just highly! She thinks of him often too!”

Twilight laughed. “Sunset, be nice! Your aunt is allowed to have her friends just like us. Don’t be snarky.”

“I can't help it,” grinned Sunset. “She’s just so fun to tease. Besides, despite her stern demeanor, she actually has a really good sense of humor.”

“All the more reason to be kind,” smiled Twilight.

Sunset checked her phone once she finished with the dishes.

“Ugh! I need to get going,” Sunset realized after she saw the time on her phone. “Don’t want to be late for work.”

Sunset rolled towards their bedroom to get changed for the day.

“Yeah! That commute is going to be a long one,” commented Twilight, not looking up from her laptop.

“What commute? I don’t think there is anything special going on…. Oh hahaha! Good one, Snarky Sparkle!” Sunset gave her friend a lopsided grin. “I can’t believe you went there!”

“I can’t believe you face-planted into it,” Twilight grinned back. “Better get going! You don’t want to be late!”

“Right!” Sunset said, still smiling. She rolled into the room and changed into a casual outfit for the commute. Packing up her daypack, she rolled into the bathroom to brush her teeth and clean up for the day. Rolling back out, she gave her friend a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Stay safe, Sparky! I’ll be back after work to help out with whatever you decide.”

Twilight hugged her back. “You too, Sunny! See you soon!”

Sunset rolled into the control room and, a few moments later, a magenta flash lit the doorway.

“And she’s off!” smiled Twilight. She turned back to finish the write-up she would send to Dr. Sombra asking for his help.

---

“Sun of a dog biscuit!'' swore Sunset, blinking away magenta flashes from her sight as she rolled out of the TACIT base. “Eyes SHUT when transporting! Eyes SHUT when transporting! How hard is that to remember.”

She stopped for a moment to rub her eyes, then opened the lab side door exiting to the Sparkles side yard. Shutting the door, she rolled over to the gate. She closed the gate behind her and rolled over to her car, unlocking it.

“Did you miss me, Nicholi?” she joked as she transferred into the car and placed her bag and chair on the passenger seat.

“Good morning, Ms. Shimmer! Where would you like to go today?” asked her car.

“Wow! That’s new!” she thought. “Must have gotten an upgrade overnight. Nicholi, Destination Canterlot Mall. Auto drive enabled.”

“Destination Canterlot Mall. Auto drive enabled. Estimated drive time, 15 minutes.” her car answered.

“En… ah, never mind. Skipping it today.” said Sunset, only half waving her hand as the car backed out of the driveway and headed towards her work.

---

Somewhere, in the Chaos Realm, Discord facepalmed.

“Oh, kids today! You raise them up! You teach them! You hold out such high hopes for them! And then they just let you down. Where are the little agents of chaos when you need them?” lamented Discord.

“Did you say something, dear?” asked Fluttershy as she poured out some tea into a teacup and took a bite.

“No. It’s nothing, dear. Nothing at all. Just lamenting a lost opportunity,” waved off Discord as he poured tea into his cup and took a bite as well. “Kids will be kids.”

---

In another universe, a starship captain felt a slight flutter. He paused for a moment then felt his stomach. Shrugging, he resumed walking down the hall.

---

Sunset pulled into the charging station at the mall and shut the car down. She assembled her chair, transferred into it, then locked the car. She plugged her car into the charging station and rolled into the mall.

As she got to the food court she noticed that the place was completely packed. There were kids everywhere, young girls mostly, gathered around the Sushi Cafe. As Sunset rolled towards them, she saw Mr. Namori in front of the cafe speaking with a rather animated group of young girls.

She had only gone a few meters when Lyra swooped in behind her and gently placed her hands on Sunset's shoulders. “Change of plans, Sunset! Trust me. You’re not going to make it through that madhouse. Allow me, please!”

Sunset turned and nodded. “Okay, Lyra. Go ahead,” she said. Lyra put her hands on the grips on the back of the chair and guided Sunset into the sporting goods store just down from the food court. “Hi, guys! Little emergency! Coming through,” she smiled as they passed through their stockroom and out the back door. The crew just smiled, waved, and nodded as they passed through. Sunset waved back awkwardly as they passed by.

Once they were in the alley behind the stores, Lyra rolled Sunset down to the back door of the Sushi Cafe. Reaching into her pockets, she pulled out a keyring and opened the door.

“How do you have the keys to the store, Lyra?” gapped Sunset as Lyra pushed her into the cafe then locked the door behind her.

“One sec, Sunset! Almost there,” Lyra answered. Looking out through the door and into the cafe, she caught Mr. Namori’s eye. She waved. He smiled and nodded. In return, she flashed him a thumbs up. Returning to Sunset, she pushed her into the breakroom and shut the door.

Sunset turned to Lyra in confusion. “So Lyra ...what the heck was that all about? And how do you have the keys to the store?” she asked.

“Mr. Namori gave me the keys this morning so I could sneak you in through the back door. He asked me to keep a lookout for you and head you off before you were seen. We came up with the plan this morning when we figured out what was going on,” said Lyra.

“Uh, what is going on? Why are there hundreds of people out in front of the cafe? And why do I have to sneak in?” Sunset asked, confused.

“Because of this,” answered Lyra as she handed over her phone. The phone was open to the MyStable app. Sunset looked at the picture then read the article below it. Her jaw dropped open then slammed shut.

“Ah, sweet Celestia! Crab-nuggets!” she swore, shaking her head.

---

…Meanwhile in the astral realm...

Faust sipped her tea, grinning at her friend. "Guess what?" she teased. "One of my great granddaughter's friends got accused of being you! Isn't that a lark!"

"What? You're kidding, right?" laughed Chang'e. "That's a first, at least lately. What happened?"

"Apparently they hijacked the lunar rover left on your moon. They drove it past one of the probes while she waved like crazy mugging for the camera. So of course the story now is that you got bored sitting on the moon and decided to play with the toys men left. Priceless, right?" laughed Faust.

Chang'e laughed out loud, "Oh wow! That is rich! Hahaha!"

The two goddesses chuckled over their tea.

---

Joyfulness cannot be sought, bought, earned, nor made, it comes only from living your every moment with love, grace, and gratitude - The Celestial Teachings

---

Mikoto - Academy City

School out for the day, Toma wandered back towards his dorm. Looking up, he noticed Mikoto looking out over the horizon, lost in thought. He walked over and stood beside her.

“Hi Zapper! What are you doing?” He greeted her.

“Oh, hi Toma,” she responded, unfazed. She looked towards a blimp passing over them, its side flashing notices for the residents of Academy City. “I really don’t like those.”

Toma scratched his head. “Why’s that?”

“Because it's a machine telling humans how to think. It’s wrong,” she explained.

Toma thought for a moment. “You mean Tree diagram?”

“Yes,” Mikoto responded. “I wonder, does it even exist?”

Toma was puzzled over what she meant by that. Frustrated, Mikoto gave him a light smack on the head then stormed off.

“What was that for?” wondered Toma, looking after her then resuming his walk home.

---

Author's Note:

Events in A Certain Magical Index during this time:

• The Sisters Arc (Index).

Comments

[Stet709]

Faust sipped her tea, grinning at her friend. "Guess what?" she teased. "One of my great granddaughter's friends got accused of being you ! Isn't that a lark!"

Great granddaughter huh? Now I'm curious about the lineage.