Sunset's human world origin

Ms. Trees’ classroom
Date: May 29th, time: 11:30 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

Ms. Trees was going on with a history lesson that Sunset was only half listening to. Sunset still didn’t like history. Something that Ms. Trees said caught Sunset’s attention.

“Back when America was first formed, we had no formal military. The Revolutionary War was fought by minutemen. These were ordinary people, with guns, who wanted to defend our country. They were called that because they were expected to be able to fight at a minute's notice. This was the only military we had until the formation of the Continental Army in 1775. The history of the minutemen is what led to the first amendment and our cultural idea of every American being responsible for defending our country.”, Ms. Trees said.

Sunset raised her hand.

“Yes, Ms. Shimmer?”

“So, what you’re saying is that every American is expected to be a warrior?”

“It’s more complicated than that, but that wouldn’t be an incorrect generalization.”

“Does that include immigrants?”

“An American is an American. It doesn’t matter where they were born. Your family is no exception to that. Do you have any other questions?”

“No, thank you.” An entire country of warriors. I think Mom and Dad might actually like it here.

Canterlot Veteran Memorial Wall
Date: same day, time: 6:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

“Here they are.”, Minerva said, pointing to six names on the wall. “These are the people from my platoon that didn’t make it back.”

“Phantom Luck, Cardinal Blaze, Joshua Walker, Reginald Velvet, Bayonetta Banet, Jane Summers.”, Sunset read off the names on the wall. “How’d they die?”

“It was a landmine. They were in the lead vehicle when they ran over a landmine in the ground. It was - loud.”, Minerva said sadly.

Brigid went to hug the smaller woman, and Sunset took a few steps back to look at the wall in its entirety. The wall was big. It would take Sunset several minutes to run from one end to the other, and it was also tall, six feet tall. The side they were standing on was completely full, and the other side was about half way full. The names weren’t in big, bold fonts, but rather they were small enough that Sunset couldn’t read them from where she was standing. All these deaths, just from one war, and it’s still going. Sunset couldn’t give exact numbers, but she estimated that all the names on the wall equal about a tenth of Equestria’s total military forces, including the royal guard. Americans really are a warrior people.

CHS
Date: June 3rd, time: 2:30 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

Sunset and Flash snuck into the high school again. At this point, they’ve been in the school so much that they didn’t need the map. Sunset and Flash quickly made their way to the pre-1900’s section. Their plan was the same as always, walk around the section, occasionally calling out to the ghost in hopes of a response. However this time, they had a new toy. Sunset had purchased an EMF sensor and brought it along. EMF sensors detect the fields emitted by electrically charged moving objects, and, supposedly, ghosts classify as such. Although, so far, the thing was acting like a brick.

“Ya know, I’m starting ta think that “official policy” was just some bored teenager’s attempt at scaring their younger sibling.”, Flash said.

“Yeah”, Sunset said, dejectedly.

“I heard that the motel on Hopkins street is supposed to be really haunted. Maybe we could-” “Flash, look.” The sensor lit up like a Christmas tree.

“Whoa”, Flash said.

Sunset waved the sensor around and found that it was picking something up from inside one of the classrooms. Sunset tried the handle but found the room locked. “Hold this.” Sunset handed the sensor and pulled out her lockpicks. It only took Sunset a few seconds to get in.

“How has this school not gotten robbed or vandalized?”, Flash asked.

“To be fair, all of the other outside doors are good. It’s just that one door that was installed improperly. Plus, I’m good at what I do.” Sunset repacked her lockpicks and took the sensor back from Flash. There was no doubt about it, something was in there. Sunset was moving around, trying to find the source, when her head began pounding. It was nothing like she ever felt before. She heard what sounded like screaming. She also felt like she was being burned, which she had felt before. Sunset collapsed to the floor, clutching her head.

“Sunset!” Flash ran to Sunset.

Sunset didn’t answer at first. After a minute, the pain subsided. “I’m fine. Did you hear anything?”

“I think I might have heard screaming, but I was - well - distracted.”

“I heard screaming, and I felt like I was being burned. It must have been the ghosts of the children. There’s no other explanation.”

“Sounds like it, but I think we should get you out of here. It seems like you and ghosts don’t mix well.”

Flash helped Sunset up. As Sunset stood up, her eyes locked onto something just to the left of the whiteboard. Even though Sunset’s thestral senses carried over, she couldn’t make out what she was seeing. It looked like a small, pitch black, shadowy blob in a vaguely humanoid form. “Flash, shine your headlamp over there.” Sunset pointed to the shadowy blob. Sunset didn’t carry a headlamp or flashlight, as she had no need. Flash did as he was told, but as he did, the entity faded into the wall. “Do you see that?”

“See what?”

How? Did it meld into its own shadow? That’s not- uhg, the thing’s not a thestral. It probably didn’t even use shadow magic. “It’s gone now.”

“What did you see?”

“I think it was one of the kids that died.” Sunset walked over to where she saw the entity. “It looked to be made out of shadow. It faded into the wall when you shined your light onto it.”

“Creepy”

“Yeah”

“Do you have the evidence you need?”

“Yeah, I do. Let’s get out of here.” With that, they left.

As they walked down Sunset’s street, Flash and Sunset began talking. “Ya know, we could make some money doing this.”, Flash said. “Doing what?”, Sunset asked. “Ghost hunting. I’ve seen channels on WebTube that do the same thing we do, and they get a lot of viewership. What do you think?” “Sounds like fun, but how would we get to any of the haunts without a car?” “Oh, right. I guess we’d have ta wait until high school before we could do anything like that.” Sunset noticed how close they’ve gotten. Sunset’s feelings towards him have also become more clear. She liked him and the popularity being with him got her. Sunset reached out and grabbed his hand. Flash looked at her with a surprised face. “I’m still not ready to kiss you, but I do like you.” Flash said nothing and just looked ahead with a dorkish smile on his face.

Katon family basement
Date: June 15th, time: 8:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

Sunset was taking care of some laundry. It was not her favorite chore, but at least she didn’t get her clothes wet. Sunset did not like getting her clothes wet. The basement, itself, was nothing too special. It did have its own pellet stove, which was nice. The side of the basement Sunset was on had the washer and dryer, the water heater, the basement bathroom, and the stairs. In the center of the basement was a game table. The section of the basement that would be under the kitchen held Sunset’s parents’ locking cabinets. These things had good locks too. Anzhong being an expert lock picker made sure of that. These cabinets held liquor, guns, edo period weapons, ninja tools, various explosive components, and other ninja stuff. Her father assured her that nothing in them was illegal on their own, and he had special permits for everything else, but they still liked to keep things within their own lockboxes within the cabinets and keep the various explosive materials in different cabinets.

The last item of note was a locking chest that, at this point, only contained one item. About a month ago, Emi had received a gift of a Talking Annibell doll from one of her classmates. Emi hated that thing from the moment she got it. She said it was creepy and it watched her. She had it locked up in the empty chest since the second night she had it. Sunset hated it too, but it wasn’t until the last couple of weeks that she felt afraid of it. The thing felt malevolent. Neither of their parents believe in ghosts or demons or anything like that. Apparently, Dad can’t sense ghosts. Even when they got Minerva and Anura down here, and they said the doll was host to something evil, they didn’t believe them. Emi tried to get them to let her throw the thing out or bury it, but they said it was rude to destroy a gift.

Sunset walked over to the chest. Every single one of her instincts were screaming at her to run. It felt as if there was a thick, black, malevolent aura around the chest. ‘Black’ wasn’t quite the right word. A direct translation of the Ponish word for what she was feeling was ‘an absolute lack of color, including black’ or ‘indescribably wrong’. Sunset pulled out her EMF sensor. She had been bringing it down here whenever she came down, hoping to get tangible evidence for her parents. The sensor went straight to red, the highest it could go. The highest it ever got in the school was orange. “Hello” Sunset jumped when she heard that. Sunset looked around before realizing - it came from the chest. Shouldn’t the batteries be dead by now? “I can see you.” Sunset’s heart fell into her stomach. Sunset bolted up the stairs, screaming for her parents.

“Sunset, what is it?”, Brigid asked, alarmed.

“Hetta - dedede - t-toy.”, Sunset tried to stammer out.

“Sunset, what?” Brigid was now rubbing her arms, trying to calm Sunset down.

“It’s the toy.”, Emi said. Sunset nodded her head.

“Which toy?”

“The Talking Annibell, it’s evil.”, Emi stated.

“Girls, dere’s nothin’ evil ‘bout a doll.”

“Yes there is!”, both girls emphatically said. “I heard it say “I can see you”. It’s not programmed to say that, and the batteries should be dead by now.”

“Look, how about I go get the key for the chest, and we’ll all look at it together. Does that sound good?”, Anzhong asked.

Anzhong turned off the burners and went up stairs to grab the key from their room. Upon returning to the ground floor, they all went down into the basement. As they approached the chest, Emi was hiding behind Mom’s leg and glaring at the chest as if she was trying to set it on fire, and Brigid became visibly uncomfortable. “What da hell?”, Brigid asked under her breath. As soon as Anzhong opened the chest, everyone, even Mom and Dad, reared back like they were hit. At this point, Sunset had passed fear and gone straight into anger. She was angry that this thing, whatever it was, dared enter their home, dared to make her sister afraid. Sunset was growling as loud and openly as Ki now. Sunset reached in. The aura felt sticky. Imagine sticking your hand in vaporized sugar. That’s about what it felt like. Sunset grabbed the doll by its neck. The part of her arm that came into contact with the aura began to physically hurt, but she didn’t care.

“You know, I think it would be okay if you got rid of the doll.”, Anzhong said.

Sunset turned the doll over to remove the batteries, but when she opened the compartment, she found no batteries. “That’s not- how?”

“Nope, nuh-uh, no way.” Emi grabbed the toy from Sunset’s hand and ran out the basement, presumably to throw it into the bin.

Sunset began rubbing her arm and looked back at the chest. I hope that aura goes away.

“Sweety, are ya okay?”, Brigid asked.

“That thing had time to build up an aura, and it hurt to reach through it.”

Brigid and Anzhong looked confused. “What do you mean?”, Anzhong asked.

“It’s like reaching your bare hand into a scorching oven. Neither of you felt it because you’re not attuned to it. I’m surprised either of you were able to detect it now. I guess when something like that is strong enough, even people completely without the gift can detect it.” Sunset was certainly surprised when she learned just how similar magic of Equestria and the supernatural of Earth really were. Although, she had no way of knowing how much of what she researched was true or hyperbole until she experienced it herself.

“Okay, by morning tomorrow, that thing will be out of our lives forever.”, Emi said, bouncing down the stairs.

“Girls, we’re sorry we didn’t believe you about the doll.”, Anzhong said.

“I won’t say I wasn’t hurt that you didn’t believe us, but I also get why.”, Sunset said.

“I’ll forgive you, only if I can throw away gifts that make me uncomfortable in the future.”, Emi said with her arms crossed.

“How ‘bout we talk about gifts like that, n’ if ‘hey really make ya uncomfortable, ya c’n throw ‘hem out?”

“Hmm, that is an acceptable compromise.”

Katon family home
Date: June 16th, time: 7:00 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

“Stop scratching.”, Anhong said.

“But it itches.”, Sunset protested, continuing to scratch her rash.

“It will scar if you continue scratching.”

“There are scars there already. A few more wont hurt me.”

“Okay, than how about this, if you cut yourself, it can get infected, and you can die.”

“Stupid doll, stupid rash, stupid bacteria.”, Sunset said under her breath. “Is there at least something I can put on it?”

“Brigid’s at the store, picking something up for you know.”

Despite what Anzhong said, it was just too damn itchy.

Canterville Park
Date: June 19th, time: 2:00 pm

*Emi’s perspective*

During the summer months, Mom agreed to take Emi and Anura to the park while Aunt Minerva works. Another kid that frequents the park is Rynin Khors, the boy who gave Emi the doll. As soon as Emi saw Rynin, she ran straight over to him.

“Hey, Rynin! I need to talk to you about the doll you gave me!”, Emi shouted.

“Hi, Emi. Do you like the doll?”

“Yeah, no, where did you get it?”

“From Toysmart. Why?”, Rynin said, looking confused.

“The thing was haunted.”

“Haunted?”

“Yeah, it spoke to my sister when it had no batteries in it.”

Rynin’s face lost its color at Emi’s statement. “You mean like those “Children’s Toys” movies kind of haunted?”

“We didn’t see it move on it’s own but yes.”

Rynin began to shift nervously. “Do you think you can come over and check to make sure none of my dolls are haunted?”

“Sure. Let me ask my mom first.”

Rynin’s room
Date: same day, time: 2:10 pm

*Emi’s perspective*

Rynin lived across the street from the park, so their visit could be a quick one, and they could go back to the park. This was the first time Emi was over at Rynin’s house. Rynin led Emi up to his room. Where the rest of the house had a slovic aesthetic to it, Rynin’s room had a mad toy collector aesthetic to it. It was filled with dolls ranging from some that Emi recognized to really old looking ones.

“Dude, you have a problem.”, Emi said.

“I don’t have a problem. My grandma and I are doll collectors.”

“That part’s fine. I was talking about you having all these dolls watching you while you sleep. That’s creepy.”

“It’s not like they’re alive or at least supposed to be. Can you tell me if they’re haunted or not?”

Emi looked around the room but felt nothing. “Ah can’t feel any ghosts.”

“How can you tell?”

“My sister and Ah can sense ghosts.”

“Really?”, Rynin asked skeptically.

“You don’t believe me? Then why did you ask me to come over here to check?”

“I thought you had some physical test.”

“You want a test, fine.” Emi picked up one of the nearby dolls. “No evil energy coming from this one.” Emi put it down and picked up the next one. “No evil energy coming from this one.”

“That’s not what I meant by test.”

“There is no proper test for this kind of thing. Imagine a world of bind people where there are only a few seeing people. One of the blind people asks a seeing person what color something is. That’s what you’re asking.”

“I see. What did you do with the doll?”

“We had to throw it away. The thing hurt my sister.”

“How?”

“Ah locked it into a chest in our basement, and it had enough time to build up an aura around itself and the chest. That aura burned my sister. She has a rash looking thing running up all over the part of her arm that came into contact with the aura.”

“Is she gonna be okay?”

“We don’t know. We never had to deal with anything like this before.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You couldn’t have known. Not even my parents believed me until it became strong enough for my parents to notice it. Come on, let’s go back to the park.”, Emi said

“You still don’t believe me, do you?”, Emi asked while walking down the stairs.

“I believe in you, but I want to do experiments to understand what you can do.”

“No needles!”, Emi shouted, recoiling.

“Hell, no needles! I hate needles!”, Rynin agreed emphatically.

“What is it like, living with your powers?”, Rynin asked while they were crossing the street.

“It can be annoying. People unknowingly bombarding me with their emotions and people doubting me just because they can’t feel what I feel.”

“People need evidence if they’re gonna believe you.”

“You, along with millions of other Americans, go to church every Sunday to worship a magic sky man.”

“A--- good point.”