> Consequences
>  by shallow15
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Notes, Messages, and Warnings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


CONSEQUENCES

An “Equestria Girls” story by Erin Mills

“My Little Pony: Equestria Girls” ©2018 Hasbro/DHX Media


Tempest Shadow, Senior Field Agent for the Specialized Taskforce Overseeing Remarkable Matters, leaned back in the small chair at her hotel room desk, and pulled one knee up as she stared at her laptop screen. A spreadsheet was open, with her notes on the case she had gone over so far.

Two weeks ago, there had been an incident at the Canterlot Mall. A swath of destruction had been caused by a group of women apparently in combat. One had been a tall woman in a black overcoat and hat throwing around some sort of energy beams. There had also been three other girls opposing her.  In addition to them exhibiting strange abilities of their own, reports indicated all three had horse ears, while two of them also had wings.  

Footage of the destruction had come to the attention of the director of STORM, who had assigned Tempest to the case. The agent had arrived a few days previously and uncovered a litany of odd and unexplained events happening around Canterlot City over the past year and change. Everything from mass hallucinations to nighttime rainbows to actual demonic manifestations were whispered in the back alleys and coffee shops around town. Most of the city's residents didn't seem to believe them, but in her years of investigating and pursuing the strange and bizarre, Tempest had been pretty sure something was going on in this town.

All her investigations so far had pointed in the direction of seven local high school girls. While she had no proof of their involvement, Tempest had discovered that a group of eleven girls had won Canterlot Mall's Chance to Prance contest a few months ago. Seven of those girls had alleged costume pieces that consisted of horse ears and wings. More digging with mall management had given her a name: Rarity.  

However, a wrinkle had turned up. When Tempest had staked out the girl's house, she discovered that while Rarity was indeed one of the girls in the music video that had horse ears, no ears were present at the time. More importantly, she was now in a wheelchair. Something had clearly happened. Tempest was still waiting for someone at the local hospital to return her call inquiring about recent paralysis cases.  

Other leads included the former principal of Crystal Preparatory Academy. Something had happened back in March during something called the Friendship Games, and Abacus Cinch had shortly left her position afterward. Tracking the principal had been proving difficult. No one seemed to be sure where she was, or even if she still lived in the city.  

Another incident had happened at the mall over the summer. A giant woman had gone on a rampage, not as destructive as the one that had happened two weeks ago, but once again, the seven girls she was interested in were present, along with an eighth girl that no one seemed to be able to identify. Tempest had noticed something odd. The giant woman had suddenly vanished in a flash of light, but another teenage girl was there. Her skin tone and hair were identical to the giant woman. She had yet to follow up on that lead, but she did get a name: Juniper Montage.

And then there's that camp outside of town, Tempest thought, putting her hands behind her head and idly chewing on the inside of her bottom lip. I really need to schedule some time to talk to the owners out there. 

She leaned forward, grabbed her phone from the desk and made a note to herself. It was moving into October, so it was unlikely Camp Everfree was still open for the season, but the staff could still be there prepping for winter. The sooner, the better.

	The last lead was the most dangerous. It had been an open case in STORM's files for almost as long as the agency had been in existence. Multiple instances of violence and strife appearing in random small towns across the country and reports of three young women who appeared out of nowhere and vanished just as quickly. Tempest had worked the case a couple of years ago, and even with her reputation for success, they had managed to slip through her fingers.

She was pleasantly surprised to have overheard Adagio, Aria, and Sonata in a local diner just after she had arrived in town. If she was lucky, she'd be able to close two cases at once. Those three were somewhere in this town and Tempest was sure they knew something about everything that had been happening.

Tempest leaned forward and tapped a couple of keys. The winning music video from the Chance to Prance contest came up and started to play. After a few moments, she tapped the space bar, pausing the video. She looked at the seven girls on the screen, memorizing their faces in anticipation of encountering them while she did her business around town.  

Her phone emitted a beep. Tempest glanced at the screen and saw a notification that she had received a voice mail. She had set her phone on silent while she worked. She picked up the phone and accessed the voice mail.

“Yes, Agent Shadow, this is Principal Celestia of Canterlot High. I understand you've been trying to reach me for the past few days. I apologize that it took me so long to get back to you. If you're free, I'd be happy to talk to you tomorrow morning at my school. Will ten AM be acceptable? Please return my call at your earliest convenience. Have a lovely day.”

Tempest frowned. That was the other issue. Most of the events around the city had some connection to Canterlot High School. And yet, getting hold of the principal had been incredibly difficult. This was a red flag to the experienced agent. The principal knew something, and Tempest knew finding it out was going to be difficult.  

“Principal Celestia, this is Agent Shadow. Ten AM will be fine. I will see you then.”





Sunset Shimmer had been doing her homework when the magical journal she used to communicate with Princess Twilight Sparkle back in her homeland of Equestria began buzzing, indicating a message from the princess had arrived.  

Oh crap, I forgot! The Festival of Friendship is today!

A few days before, Princess Twilight had told Sunset about the massive festival in Canterlot she had been planning. Sunset had been invited to attend, but over the course of those few days she'd forgotten about it.  

Sunset grabbed the journal and a pen, ready to write an apology and a promise to head for the portal to Equestria as soon as she could. She flipped open the journal to the glowing page. Her eyes widened at the frantic message penned there.

SUNSET! ARE YOU THERE? IT'S STARLIGHT GLIMMER!

“Starlight?” Sunset said aloud. “What the hell?”

I'm here, Starlight. I was about to leave for the portal.

	The response came almost immediately.

NO! Stay over there! I had to close the portal!

Sunset stared, incredulous, at the message. She quickly scribbled a response.

What? Why? Where's Twilight?

	I don't know! Nopony does! She's missing! So are Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Spike! 	

What the hell's going on, Starlight? 

	Equestria's been invaded! We don't know who they are, but they hit Canterlot! The other princesses and most of the ponies in the city have been captured! Trixie and I just barely managed to escape! We just got back to Ponyville, and the invaders are right behind us! 

	Sunset quickly looked around her apartment, mentally figuring what she would need to take with her. Open the portal, I'm on my way!

	NO! STAY THERE!

	The message almost filled the page with random splotches of ink surrounding it. After a moment, a new message began to appear.

Twilight asked me to get both journals and close the portal if anything like this ever happened. Trixie and I are heading to the Everfree Forest to hide for now. We'll see what we can do once everything dies down. 

	Are you sure? I can help! Let me help you, Starlight!

	Twilight and the others are still out there, and from the looks of things, the unicorn who was leading the invaders is still looking for them. Hopefully, the girls will get help. But the last thing we need to give the invaders is access to a completely new dimension. Please, Sunset, stay put. I will keep you posted as often as I can. 

	Sunset clenched her teeth and hissed out a breath. Starlight was right, of course. Interdimensional war was the last thing either world needed. A government agent named Tempest Shadow was sniffing around all the events with the magic that had been unleashed over the last year or so. The agency she worked for, STORM, had a reputation of shooting first and asking questions later. Celestia only knew what would happen if they found the portal and got access to Equestria. Shutting down the portal was the best option, since it wouldn't naturally open again for at least another few months, rendering the magic land inaccessible

Sunset hated how much it made sense. Her homeland was in danger, and she was stuck on the wrong side of the mirror to be able to do anything about it. Her best friend on the other side was missing, her mentor captured, and another friend on the run from the invaders. She felt her face flush as frustration and anger surged through her. She got up from the table and punched a cushion on her couch, before returning to the journal.

All right, I'll stay, but be careful, Starlight. And if you need me, tell me, I'll come running.

	I will. And try not to worry too much. It's Twilight. She'll find a way to stop this.

	I hope so, Starlight.

I have to go. I'll try to write you later tonight.

Okay.

	Sunset waited, but no further messages came. She closed the journal. Equestria invaded on one side, government investigation on the other. Sunset slumped back in her chair and sighed.  The thought was out before she could stop herself.

What else could go wrong... oh shit.

Sunset sat up, blushing furiously. She wasn't normally superstitious, but the last couple of weeks had been extremely taxing for her and she was trying desperately not to jinx things any further for herself or her friends. She looked down at the journal and forced herself to not write more messages. Starlight needed time to escape. As much as she wanted to help, Sunset knew that right now there was nothing she could do.

She pulled out her phone and dialed a number. “Rarity? Yeah, are you free? Something's happened and I really do not want to be alone right now.”





Canterlot City sat in a picturesque valley surrounded by mountains and forests. The edges of the city butted up against the woods on nearly all sides. As a result, it wasn't unusual for  the employees of Night Shift's Gas N Go on the edge of the suburbs to find their trash cans assaulted by woodland creatures. Night Shift himself had invested in a padlocked dumpster after far too many of these overnight assaults.  

He stared in disbelief at the remnants of that self-same padlocked dumpster. An entire corner of the dumpster looked like it had been ripped apart and the contents dragged over the ground behind the station. Trash and old food was strung in a rough line from the dumpster into the woods. Beside him, a police officer pushed his hat back and whistled.

“You ever see anything like this before?” the cop asked. Night Shift shook his head.  

“I don't know what the hell could have done this,” he said. “I mean, the worst we've had is when a bear showed up a couple of years ago, but it only scratched the damn thing up.”

The two men walked closer. One of the plastic lids of the dumpster lay upside-down on the ground. One end had been ripped to shreds, peeling off in curled strips of industrial grade plastic. The padlock that had kept the lids secure had been broken, the hasp twisted backwards.  

“I'll tell you something, Night,” said the cop. “I wouldn't wanna be out here at night whenever what did this shows up.”

“Right there with you, pal,” Night Shift replied. The two looked back into the shadows of the woods. They froze when the heard a faint noise that sounded like an roar of something very big, very hungry, and very, very, angry.

“Did you hear that?” Night Shift asked.

“No,” lied the cop.

“Neither did I.”
> Surprises, Concerns, and Television
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Coming!” Rarity's voice chimed from behind the closed front door of her house. Sunset waited patiently on the front stoop, giving her friend the extra time she needed to get to the front door. Rarity had been wheelchair bound for the last couple of weeks, since a tragic accident during a fight with a magically overpowered enemy had caused her to fall from a great height and land hard.  

Fortunately, her spinal cord had escaped any damage. Her brain was not so lucky. The impact had caused some trauma with the result that the fashionista was unable to feel anything from the waist down. She had been attending physical therapy on almost a daily basis, with a determination her friends had rarely seen. Rarity may have been a drama queen when it came to any sort of personal disaster, but where this was concerned, she channeled her energies into getting better and committed to walking again when she had been told it was a possibility.

Sunset frowned as she heard a regular thumping noise coming from behind the door. The deadbolt snapped and the door opened. Sunset blinked and stared as Rarity appeared, smiling brightly.

“Ta-daaaa!” she sang. Sunset's expression of surprise turned to an excited smile. Rarity was on her feet. Her legs were in braces and she was leaning on a set of canes, with cuffs that held her forearms in place. She had lifted one cane up in a showgirl pose.

“You're on your feet!” Sunset cheered. Rarity mirrored her excited expression.

“I know!”  

“You've got canes!”

“I know!”

“When did this happen?” Sunset's voice was high with excitement. Rarity was just as giddy, her eyes sparkling as she explained.

“This afternoon! Tough Love surprised me with them. Earlier this week I started feeling things below my legs and after checking at each session, he said we could start working with the braces and canes!”

“That's great!” Sunset leaned forward and embraced her friend. Rarity leaned one cane against her hip and freed her arm, allowing her to return the hug. They separated and Rarity put her arm back in the cane.  

“I'm still getting used to them,” Rarity explained, making her way back into the house and allowing Sunset in. “I get tired fairly quickly, but I just had to show off!”  

Rarity led Sunset to the living room, where her chair was. She lowered herself into the seat and disengaged from the canes. “Could you be a dear and lean those up by the door, darling? I'll take them back to my room later.”  

Sunset leaned the crutches up against the door frame and sat down on the couch. Rarity leaned forward. “Now then, darling, what's going on? You sounded a bit distracted on the phone.”

Sunset sighed and explained about the conversation she had with Starlight in the journal. Rarity's eyes widened when she heard Sunset's homeland had been invaded.

“So, I agreed to stay here,” Sunset finished. “But I hate it. I feel like I should be over there. Looking for Twilight or helping Starlight or something. Not here where I'm safe. They need all the help they can get and I feel like I'm... I don't know... shirking.”

Rarity took her hand. “You are doing no such thing, Sunset. No, you aren't back in Equestria, on the front lines,  but you are doing what you've promised you would do: protect this side of the mirror. Starlight is right. We have enough problems in this world without these invaders coming through and making things worse.”

Sunset sighed. “I don't know, Rarity. I mean, yeah, we have Agent Shadow sniffing around town, but we've stopped using our magic for right now and, hopefully, in a couple of days she'll leave town and we can get our lives back to some semblance of normal.”

“And there's always the other possibility, darling,” Rarity replied. “You have to admit, there's still a few people out there that have witnessed what's happened around us who might not be so amenable to keeping mum about the magic.”

“I know,” Sunset sighed. “I just feel so helpless. I can't do anything to help Starlight, and unless something happens here, I can't do anything about that either.”

Rarity gave her a soft smile. “I know the feeling, darling, believe me. You reach a point where you've done absolutely everything you can possibly do, and it doesn't feel like enough. So you rack your brain, trying to figure out what else you can do, convinced there has to be something.”

Rarity's expression turned somber. “But there isn't. And you have to accept it, no matter how much it angers you, or frustrates you... or even hurts you.”

Sunset looked at Rarity's sad expression. Ever since the slumber party the previous Saturday, where Rarity had detailed her struggles adapting to her injury, Sunset and the other girls had done everything they could to support her. She leaned forward and put her hands on Rarity's shoulders. Rarity smiled again.

“Sorry, darling, didn't mean to bring down the mood. The point is you being here in case something goes wrong while Agent Shadow is in town is just as important as whatever Starlight is doing in Equestria. And, supposing you did go over there. I know what would happen. You'd be losing your mind worrying about us and trying to figure out how to get back here as soon as possible.”

Sunset chuckled. “Yeah, I suppose I would.”

“So, we cut out the futility of worrying about things we can't change.” Rarity grabbed the remote control for the TV. “For now, you and I are going to take our minds of our respective troubles in the manner common to girls our age.”

Sunset quirked an eyebrow. “Trashy teen dramas and junk food?”

Rarity waggled the remote. “I have the latest episode of Greendale on the DVR.”

“Do I look like the kind of person who watches Greendale?”

“Oh, I beg your pardon.” Rarity brought up the DVR menu and highlighted the “delete” option. “Shame though. From what I hear, Vanessa finally has it out with her mother, and she decides to give Adam a shot.”

“What?!” Sunset sat up straight. “Why in the hell would she give Adam the time of day?! He was at the quarry the night Rachel was killed! God, what are the writers thinking?! There is no way Vanessa would ever be that stupid!”

Rarity smirked. Sunset blinked and blushed.  

“Not that I... watch the... I caught a couple of episodes over at Twilight's, okay!”

“So, you won't mind if I delete this episode then?”

“NO!” Sunset jumped up, her face panicked. Rarity giggled and Sunset sat down on the couch, folding her arms. She pointed at Rarity. “You better have cookie dough,” she pouted.

Rarity put the remote on the coffee table, and turned to wheel into the kitchen. “Please, darling, we're not savages. Chocolate chip or peanut butter?"
> Questions, Suspicions, and Threats
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday morning was usually something to be looked forward to at Canterlot High. The impending freedom of the weekend lent an anticipatory energy to the school from students and staff alike. In general, this was still true.  

In the principal's office, however, things were tense.

Very tense.

“Would you like anything, Agent Shadow?” Celestia asked as she sat behind her desk. “Coffee? Water?”

“I'm fine,” Tempest answered. “Thank you, Principal Celestia.”

“Now, how exactly can I help you?” Celestia steeped her fingers and looked at the STORM agent. Tempest reached into her inner jacket pocket and pulled out her phone.

“As I said on the phone, the Taskforce investigates unusual phenomena, and recently we've gotten several reports originating here in town.” She brought up her notes.  “Some of them pertain to this school and we were hoping you could provide some insight.”

“I'm happy to help in any way I can.”

Tempest nodded and swiped a couple of times. “So, the most recent thing I've found was last March during something called the Friendship Games.”

“Ah yes,” said Celestia. “A friendly competition between the students here at CHS and Crystal Prep Academy. Academic and athletic. It promotes camaraderie between the two student bodies.”

Tempest held up her phone. On it were two pictures, one of the Wondercolt statue, the other of the empty plinth. “From what I understand, there was some sort of incident that destroyed the statue out front?"

“A prank that went wrong,” Celestia replied. “Despite the name and the intended purpose, the Friendship Games have tended to start prank wars in the days leading to the competition. The usual things. Toilet papering the grounds, stealing mascot heads or trophies. That kind of thing.”

“And the statue?” Tempest quirked her visible eyebrow.  

“The plan, as I understand it, was to set off fireworks after the final event and the winner was announced. Some of the students at Crystal Prep felt their victory was assured and wanted to rub it in. They used several illegal types which, unfortunately, caused more damage than anything else. The Wondercolt, sadly, was a casualty.”

“And did they win?”

Celestia blinked. “I beg your pardon?”  

“Did Crystal Prep win the Games? I assume so, since they set off the fireworks.”

“Actually, they were declared a draw. The fireworks went off prematurely right as we began the third event,” Celestia answered. “Given the damage, we felt the Games should end right there. The score was one to one, so it was a draw.”

“'We?'” Tempest asked.  

“I beg your pardon?”

“You said 'we,'” the agent clarified. “I was curious who was involved in the decision.”

“Ah... yes.” Celestia put her hands down. “That would be myself, Vice Principal Luna, and Principal Cadance of Crystal Prep.”

Tempest glanced down at her phone. “That's odd. I asked around and I kept hearing about someone named 'Principal Cinch' was in charge at Crystal Prep during that time.”

“Abacus Cinch. Yes, she was the principal at Crystal Prep during the Games, however, she retired last April. She also agreed to the draw.”

“I see.” Tempest went back to looking through her notes. Celestia's brows came together, but quickly returned to a neutral position as the agent looked up. “Would you happen to know where Ms. Cinch is now? I'd like to get her take on the events.”

Celestia swallowed. “Unfortunately, I don't. Part of the reason for the rivalry between our two schools was Ms. Cinch's own rather... competitive streak. She doesn't exactly get along with people. Principal Cadance can probably help you with her current address.”

“Mm-hm.” Tempest glanced back down at her phone then back up. “Another incident. Back in November, I understand the school held some sort of music concert at the Canterlot Bowl? Reports came in of... odd things in the sky over the venue.”

Celestia's smile returned. “Yes that. One of the bands teamed up with out resident DJ and created a holographic light show. We didn't know anything about it and it surprised everyone. I spent the next day explaining what happened to the authorities.”

“Yes, I talked to them. There's was also a... gas leak last fall as I understand it?”

“Yes. During the Fall Formal. Tragic. Fortunately, everyone was in the gymnasium at the time, away from the front of the school.”

“Really?” Tempest's lip curled upward slightly. Celestia noticed and braced herself. “From what I've heard, there was a student in the crater that remained.”

“She fell in following the explosion, when everyone came out to see what had happened. A few bumps and bruises, but she was otherwise fine.”

Tempest crossed her legs. “I'd like to speak to her, if I could. And the band who created the light show. And any other students who may have witnessed any of these events.”

Celestia's frown returned. “I don't know if I can agree to that. At least not without notifying the parents of the students in question.”

Tempest said nothing, only quirking her eyebrow again. Celestia matched her look. After a moment, Tempest spoke.

“Principal Celestia, I'm sure you already know that, since this is a federal investigation, I could force the issue.”

“And I'm sure you know that I have a responsibility to ensure the safety of my students. And that includes making sure their families are well aware their children are being asked to speak to a federal agent of a government agency with, you must admit, nebulous credentials.” Celestia's voice was polite but firm. Tempest's eyes narrowed.

“You're talking about obstruction.”

“Nothing of the kind,” Celestia said airily. “I will be more than happy to facilitate your interviews with my students... after their parents are properly notified. Or...”

Celestia leaned forward and a pleasant but dangerous smile spread across her face. “You can come back with a warrant and I will gladly arrange things so you can speak to the students that interest you.”

Tempest's frown deepened. “You should tread lightly, ma'am.”

“So should you,” Celestia replied, the smile vanishing. “Because I will not be bullied into violating the rights of my students by an agent of the federal government. So, you can either leave me a list the students you'd like to speak to and I will make arrangements so you can interview them with full knowledge of their parents or you can return with a warrant. Either way...”

Celestia got to her feet and leaned over the desk. “... you will not be speaking to any of my students today, Agent Shadow.”

Tempest slowly lifted her gaze, then the rest of her body followed as she stood. She straightened her blazer. “Do you have a card, Principal Celestia?”

Celestia stood upright and pulled a business card out of her desk. Tempest took it and glanced at the text before speaking again.

“I will send you a list of the students I want to speak with later today. Will the weekend be sufficient time to notify their parents?”

“As long as I receive your list before one PM, that will be acceptable.”

“Excellent. I'll be in touch. Thank you for your time, Principal Celestia.”

“My pleasure, Agent Shadow.”

The two shook hands again, and the STORM agent left the office. When the door closed, Celestia let out a sigh. She looked at the clock. Ten minutes, then I call Sunset and her friends.





Outside, Tempest made her way to the exit, frustrated. The principal was right, of course, but usually when STORM interviewed civilians, they could count on their interviewees not realizing where the lines were. The fact that the principal was ready for Tempest's gambit told her one thing.

She prepared for this. She knows our playbook. 

Tempest frowned. The principal knew something. She could tell.  

Her thoughts were interrupted when the bell rang, releasing the students into the halls. The agent scanned the crowd, automatically memorizing faces and details. She was certain some or all of the girls from the music video were here.

“Rarity!”

Tempest's head snapped around at the sound of the name. She saw a girl with poofy pink hair nearly tackle the girl she had staked out earlier in the week. Tempest noticed with interest that Rarity was now on a pair of canes and had braces on her legs. Another girl, a redhead with streaks of gold in her hair, was standing behind Rarity, putting books into the backpack the violet-haired girl wore. The three began chatting. Tempest observed them for a few seconds, and nodded to herself before leaving the school.  

Three out of seven. We will definitely be having a discussion on Monday, ladies.
> Lunch, Silence, and Danger
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lunch came and it found Fluttershy in the woods behind the school. She had decided to eat outside since the weather was still nice. She sat on a log and pulled a sandwich out of her backpack. As she munched, she listened to the sounds of the forest, enjoying the rustling of the breeze through the leaves.  

Fluttershy smiled to herself. It's so nice to get away from the noise and the crowds in the school. Just me and the birds and the trees. I wonder if there's any squirrels around?

	She sat up and looked around. There were always one or two squirrels behind the school, having been trained to show up at lunch time by generations of students handing out food. Fluttershy glanced up in the limbs of the nearby trees and was surprised. There wasn't a squirrel to be found.  

Her eyes popped open when she realized she couldn't hear the birds that usually chirped in the trees either. She scanned the branches of the trees and frowned when she couldn't find a single one.

“That's strange,” she said aloud. She stood up. “Is anyone there?”

When no furry friends presented themselves, Fluttershy frowned. She reached for a pocket of her skirt, but hesitated. She and her friends had agreed to not use their magic while Tempest Shadow was in town investigating everything that had happened to them since the previous year's Fall Formal. As such, none of them had been wearing their magical geodes for the last few days, but Fluttershy still carried hers in her pocket, just in case.

No, I don't need that right now. I just need to look around and see if I can find them.

	Fluttershy dropped her hand to her side and began making her way down the path. As she walked, she noticed something wrong. The birds had stopped chirping. The woods were silent. Her expression became worried, her boots making the only sound as she shuffled along the path. A chill ran over her arms as she became aware she wasn't seeing any sign of life in the woods.

“H-hello?” she called nervously. “Is anyone there? Y-you don't need to be afraid. It's just me.”

A snap. Fluttershy's eyes opened wide and she bit her lip. There was another snap, then another. She froze and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that whatever it was would somehow ignore her.  

Something brushed her shoulder and Fluttershy let out an ear piercing shriek that Pinkie Pie would be impressed by. It was countered by another shriek in a familiar register. Fluttershy's eyes popped open and she stared at Twilight Sparkle, who was clutching her chest with one hand and breathing heavily.  

“F... F... Fffffff...” Twilight wheezed. Fluttershy turned red in embarrassment.

“Oh, Twilight, I'm so sorry! You startled me.”  

“It's... okay,” Twilight gasped. She took a deep breath and stood upright. “What are you doing all the way out here? Lunch is almost over.”

“I was trying to find the squirrels. They're usually out here, but not today.”

“Really? That's odd. Are they hibernating early?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Squirrels don't hibernate. They usually bunk down in their nests and only come out if they need to during the winter. But even so, it's still not cold enough for them to start doing that yet. And the birds have gone quiet.”

Twilight adjusted her glasses, listened for a moment, and frowned. “That is strange. How far were you going to go?”

“There's a clearing up ahead. I thought I'd check that out and see if any animals are there.”

Twilight pulled out her phone. “We still have ten minutes left. Let's go!”

Fluttershy smiled and the two friends kept walking down the path. After a few moments, they emerged into the clearing... or what was left of it.  

“What the...?” Twilight said.

“What happened here?” Fluttershy said, stunned.  

The clearing had been forcibly enlarged. Broken limbs and branches were scattered all over the clearing. Several trees were now listing at odd angles. One or two had been snapped in half and three were completely uprooted.  

“What could have caused this?” Twilight asked.

“Nothing that normally lives in these woods,” Fluttershy answered. “Maybe it was a storm?”

Twilight shook her head. “The weather's been clear the last few days. Plus, a lightning strike wouldn't uproot the trees without setting this whole clearing on fire. An earthquake might, but we definitely would have known about that.”

She shrugged off her backpack and began rummaging inside it. She pulled out a... device was the only word Fluttershy could think of. It was a cobbled together mish-mash of all sorts of electronic devices soldered to what looked like an old microwave oven door. In the center was the anomaly detector she had brought to the Friendship Games.  

“Is that your magic detector?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight had built it a couple of weeks ago when Sunset had been attacked.  

“Yes,” Twilight said, powering it up. “If this wasn't natural, we need to know. With Agent Shadow around, we're probably going to need to deal with this as soon as we can.”

The lights around the detector spun, then began flashing near the top of the disc. Twilight let out a gulp.

“It's definitely magic,” she said. She looked up at Fluttershy. “And it's somewhere out there in the woods.”

Fluttershy put her hands up to her mouth. “You don't think it's going to come back, do you?”

Twilight shook her head. “I don't know. But I think we better get back to the school and tell the girls.”

“Right.”

The two turned to head back to the school, but there was a rustling in the underbrush. They turned just in time to see a raccoon come out into the clearing. Fluttershy quickly pulled her geode out, put it on and activated it. She knelt down and pulled some pet snacks out of her pocket. She offered them to the raccoon, who took the snacks and began munching.  

“Um, I hate to interrupt your snack,” Fluttershy said, smiling gently. “But, do you happen to know what happened here?”

The raccoon looked up at her and began chittering. Fluttershy listened while Twilight looked on. After a couple of minutes, she thanked the raccoon and gave it the rest of the snacks. The racoon dashed off back into the woods.

“What did it say?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy swallowed. “He doesn't know what it was, only that it was very big, very hungry, and very, very, angry. The other animals are terrified. None of them have seen or smelled anything like it before. They've all gone deeper into the woods.”

Fluttershy looked at Twilight, fear in her eyes. “Twilight, what are we going to do?”

Twilight looked around at the destruction and then back at the blinking light on the detector. She frowned.

“We're going to get the girls,” she said. “And then, we're going to find out exactly what we're dealing with here.”
> Reprimands, Flashbacks, and Leads
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tempest had decided to forego eating in her car for lunch, and was sitting at a table inside a Hey! Burger restaurant. She ate mechanically, her attention occupied by her investigation. The school would clearly be a problem, but there was nothing she could do about that right now. Therefore, it was time to look into some of her other leads.

A call to Crystal Prep had yielded mixed results. While Principal Cadance was willing to meet, her schedule was booked until the following Monday. That caused the STORM agent to raise her eyebrows. School administrators were busy, yes, but after being stonewalled by Principal Celestia, a brush off from another was a little too coincidental for Tempest's liking.

The other leads required her to locate people who didn't want to be found, required talking to either an unavailable or uncooperative principal, and someone who may or may not have been still employed at the mall movie theater.  

The mall. There was that girl at Nobody Loves Me who went quiet when I asked about the fight. 

She frowned as she remembered the encounter a few days previous. There was a good chance that the girl working the counter at the alternative clothing shop was also a CHS student. Legally, Principal Celelstia had no authority over her students off school grounds, which meant Tempest was free to question the girl as long as it wasn't at the school. Answers could be gotten that way.

Save it for the weekend. More likely she's working during the day, and less likely she'll report the incident to Principal Celestia when Monday rolls around.

She made a note to visit the mall again the next day. As she did, she spotted the one lead she hadn't done anything with yet: Camp Everfree. She looked at the clock on her screen and nodded to herself.

I doubt I'll find any leads to find Adagio and her cronies until after sundown. I have some time to kill. A nice trip out to the forest could be worthwhile. 

Tempest cleaned up her trash and deposited it in the wastebasket before heading out to her car. She searched for the camp's address in the GPS app on her phone and drove out of the parking lot. It was about a ninety minute drive out to the lake where the camp stood. Tempest turned on her usual driving music. Early 80s punk blasted out of the speakers. She tapped her fingers along with the beat as she drove.  

After a few minutes, the music was interrupted by an incoming call. Tempest tapped the “answer” icon on the display in the dashboard.

“Agent Shadow,” she said. She winced when the voice of Cosmos Stormking, the director of STORM, came bellowing out of the speakers.

“Tempest! What's going on out there? Progress report, now!”

Tempest stifled as sigh and spoke. “I've confirmed that three of the girls in the music video attend Canterlot High, sir. And one of them is definitely one of the girls who were at the mall rampage.”

“Are they in custody?” The director's voice was harsh.  

“Sir, at the moment we don't have any hard evidence that they were involved. To arrest them now would – “

“I don't want your excuses, Tempest! I want whatever the hell is going on out there under control.”

“Yes, sir, but right now, nothing is happening. And as much as I would like to – “ Tempest rolled her eyes. “ – arresting teenagers without knowing exactly what they have to do with all of this might be another PR problem. I don't really feel like repeating what happened out west last year.”

There was a pause, and then the director spoke again, his voice cold and deadly. “How many times do I have to remind you, Agent? Your feelings don't matter here. You should remember the last time you let your feelings lead an investigation.”

Tempest's jaw clenched and one hand left the steering wheel to rub her scarred eye under the shock of hair that flopped over it. She took a deep breath and let it out. “Yes, sir.”

“Get on with it, Agent. And remember, you get me what I need, and I'll get you what you want.”

“Yes, sir.” Tempest struggled to keep her resentment out of her voice. She put both hands on the wheel and squeezed.  

The Director's sneer was audible. “How long, Tempest?”  

“Give me five days, sir. I have some difficult leads to track down, but I know I can find them.”

There was a moment of silence, then: “Fine. But if you don't have results by Wednesday, I'm going to take a deep... personal... interest this in case.”

“I understand, sir.”

“Results. Now. Or you're not getting anything from me. Ever.”

“Yes, sir.”

There was a beep as the call disconnected. The pounding beat and expressions of rage returned. Tempest drove in silence, her knuckles white on the steering wheel. She took a series of deep breaths, trying to calm the raging monologue in her head.   

It's not working. It's not working. Something calming. The ocean. The beach. The waves. The river. NOT THE RIVER! NO! 

Tempest let out a scream of frustration and pulled off the road. She got out of the car and paced around the car until her heart stopped racing and her breath slowed. Another deep breath, and she ran her hand through her hair before getting back in the car and on the road.

She drove, her face carefully neutral, while she counted silently by fives in her head. Her phone rang again. Her hand approached the screen in the dashboard, but hesitated. She blinked and let out a quiet growl. She stabbed the “Answer” icon with her finger.

“Agent Shadow,” she hissed.  

“Yes, Agent Shadow? This is Record Holder from Canterlot City Hospital. I'm returning your call?”

Tempest let out her breath and relaxed. “Yes, Mr. Holder, excuse me. I'm looking for someone who may be a witness in an incident I'm investigating. I don't have a name, but she's a teenage girl with a serious injury that was admitted roughly about a week and a half ago?”

“I'll be happy to help you with that, Agent Shadow. One second.”

Tempest heard the clacking of keys. A few moments later, the clerk came back on the line.

“Do you have any further details, Agent Shadow?”

Tempest frowned. “Let me guess. There is no record of any teenage girl being admitted a week and a half ago with a serious injury.”

“What? No,” said Record Holder. “We're a hospital, we get things like that all the time. But, there was a couple of odd cases that might be related.”

“How so?”

“Well, we had a paralysis case around then, but three days earlier we also had coma paitent who was admitted.”

“Coma patient?” Tempest frowned. “What happened there?”

“Well, that's the really weird thing. You'd have to talk to Dr. Cross for the details, but that particular patient was abducted the night the paralysis patient came in. In fact, both of them came in the same night of the abduction.”

Tempest's eyes widened. “Were they together?”

“Hmmmm.. yes! Along with a third patient with a broken arm. She was treated and released.”

A broken arm. Tempest felt her lips curling up into a smile. The girl with the pink poofy hair she had seen with Rarity and the redhead had a cast on her arm.  

“I'm currently outside of town, Mr. Holder, but would it be possible for me to stop by this afternoon to talk to you about these cases? Around four o'clock?”

“That would be fine. You can find me on the third floor. Just ask for me at the desk.”

“Thank you so much, Mr. Holder. I will see you this afternoon.”

“Happy to help, Agent Shadow. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

Tempest ended the call, and the punk returned. Her smile turned into a grin.  

If the director wanted results, then results were exactly what he was going to get.
> Theories, Plans, and Secrets
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Wow,” said Rainbow Dash. “You guys weren’t kidding.”

School was out for the weekend. Twilight and Fluttershy had rounded up their friends and brought them to the clearing in the woods to show them what they had found. Applejack whistled and pushed her hat back off her forehead.

“I ain’t never seen something wreck trees this bad, and that includes the time Granny accidentally reversed her truck backward through the orchard.”

Twilight blinked and looked at the cowgirl. “How did that happen?”

Applejack smirked. “Let’s just say it was a cider-related incident and leave it at that.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and took out her magic detector. She tapped the center of the device, which activated and the LEDs flashed. After a moment, the one that had lit up during lunch began pulsing again, although with less frequency than before.

“Whatever it is, it looks like it’s moved on. I’m only getting some residual readings,” she reported.

“What I want to know is, how could somethin’ big enough to do this not have been spotted before?” Applejack asked. She looked over at Fluttershy, who shrugged.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “None of the animals in this part of the woods have ever seen this… thing before. Most of them aren’t even sure how to describe it other than ‘wrong.’”

“Is it possible it came through the portal from Equestria and we never noticed?” Rarity asked, sitting on a log to one side, her canes resting next to her. The girls all looked at Sunset, who was surveying the damage with her arms folded, her expression dark. She didn’t answer.

After a moment, Rarity cleared her throat. “Sunset, darling, did you hear me?”

Sunset blinked. “Huh? Oh, sorry. I was thinking. What did you say?”

“Is it possible whatever did this came through from Equestria?” Rarity repeated.

Sunset shook her head. “Not likely. The other side of the portal is a magic mirror that Princess Twilight keeps in her castle. If something this large came through, I’m pretty sure she would have notified us.”

“Didn’t you say she was missing?” Rarity asked. 

“WHAT?!” Pinkie shrieked.
“Princess Twilight’s missing?” Fluttershy asked.

“When were you going to tell us?” Rainbow Dash demanded.

Sunset sighed. “I was still trying to decide if I should, because there’s nothing any of us can do. Yesterday, Starlight Glimmer messaged me through the journal. Equestria’s been invaded. Three of the princesses have been captured, and Princess Twilight and her friends are missing. Starlight’s been keeping ahead of the invaders and she took both journals to make sure the portal stays closed until the invaders are repelled.”

“Sunset.” Twilight put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. Sunset gave her a sad smile then gently brushed Twilight’s hand off. 

“I only told Rarity because I had to tell someone, so I could figure out what I was going to do. And right now, that’s figure out what’s happening here so we can deal with it before it attracts more attention from Agent Shadow.

“As for it coming through from the portal, I don’t think so. Someone would have noticed something on either side by now. Starlight didn’t mention anything and I’m pretty sure she would have if something that big went through the portal.”

“Could it have been banished here, like the Dazzlings?” Rarity asked. Sunset shook her head.

“If that was the case, we probably would have run into it by now. At the very least the news would have reported on it. No, I’m willing to bet that whatever it is, it was on this side of the portal already and whatever’s enabling it to do all this is something recent.”

“Okay,” Rainbow said. “So we break the geodes back out and go find this thing and do whatever we need to do to get it under control! Easy!”

“No,” Sunset said. Rainbow frowned.

“Huh? What do you mean ‘no?’” she asked.

“I mean just that,” Sunset said. “Until we’re sure we need it, the no magic rule stays in effect. I don’t want anything we do while we’re looking for this thing to attract Agent Shadow’s attention.”

“Sunset, darling,” Rarity began, gesturing to the destruction. “Just look around us. It’s clear that when we do find whatever this is, we’re going to have to use our magic to deal with it. If it can cause this much destruction, we’d be out of our minds not to use it.”

“I’m not saying we be stupid about this,” Sunset replied. “Once we know where and what it is, then yes, we’ll break out the geodes. But we need to find it first.”

“We don’t even know what it is we’re looking for!” Rainbow complained. “How do you expect us to find it without magic?

“Watch the news, keep our ears open around town,” Sunset answered. She stopped for a moment then let out a groan. “And… I just thought of someone else we can talk to who might know what’s going on and where we might be able to find it.”

“‘Someone?’” Applejack asked, suspicion in her voice. 

Sunset sighed. “I know… a guy. He kinda helped me out when I first came through the portal. He taught me how to survive over here, at least until I got a chance to bring over some bits and gems from Equestria to sell. He usually knows everything that’s happening in town, especially stuff the public doesn’t.”

“Why haven’t we heard about this person before now?” Rarity asked. Sunset blushed.

“Because I left him behind when I got myself set up and he’s part of the old me’s life. A part I really hoped I wouldn’t need to visit again.”

Sunset rubbed her arm and looked at her feet for a moment before looking back up at her friends. “But, short of talking to the police ourselves, he’s probably our best bet at getting any sort of leads on this thing.”

She sighed. “But it won’t be cheap. I’m gonna have to dig into my stash. Can somebody give me a ride later tonight. Around eight?”

Fluttershy slowly raised a hand but Sunset shook her head. “Not you, Flutters. It’s nothing personal, but I don’t think you should go where I need to go.”

Applejack quirked an eyebrow and held up a hand. “Reckon I can give you a lift then, Sunset. But where in tarnation are we goin’ that you think Fluttershy couldn’t handle?”

Sunset sighed again and bit her lip before answering. 

“Klugetown.”
> Evasion, Searches, and Discoveries
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gloriosa Daisy looked up from her computer as she heard a car pull into the Camp Everfree parking lot. She picked up her phone and called her brother, Timber Spruce.

“Yo.”

“Hey,” Gloriosa began. “Were we expecting any deliveries or workmen or anything today?”

“No,” Timber replied. “Do you need me to come up?”

“No no, it's fine. I'll take care of it. You keep working on the storm windows.”

“All right. Call if you need me.”

Gloriosa ended the call. She got up from her desk and headed to the door. She opened it, and found herself facing a tall woman with a violet complextion. Her head was mostly shaved, except for a crest of bright red hair that flopped over on one side, covering her right eye. She was dressed in a slim black suit, with a matching turtleneck. A pin in the shape of twin blue lightning bolts was on her lapel.

“Hello,” Gloriosa said, taken aback. “Um... welcome to Camp Everfree.”

“Hello.” The woman reached into her pocket and presented a wallet with a badge and ID. “Gloriosa Daisy?”

“Yes... can I help you?”

“Agent Tempest Shadow. I'm with the Specialized Taskforce Overseeing Remarkable Matters. I'd like to ask you some questions.”

Gloriosa swallowed, then stepped aside, holding the door open. “Um... okay. Please come in.”

Gloriosa led Tempest back to her office and sat back behind her desk. “I'm sorry, but I don't have any coffee made or anything.”

“That's fine, Ms. Daisy.”

“So... what's all this about?”  

Tempest pulled out her phone and brought up her notes. “I'm investigating a strange event that happened at the Canterlot Mall a couple of weeks ago.”

“Oh, I saw something about that on the news,” Gloriosa replied. “But, what does that have to do with me?”

Tempest looked up. “I spoke to one of the mall investors. Filthy Rich?”  

Gloriosa's expression hardened. “Oh?”

“He mentioned back in April some sort of deal to buy the camp fell through?”

“He was not going to buy the camp!” Gloriosa hissed. “He was going to swindle it out from underneath me and my brother!”  

“I apologize. I'm going by what Mr. Rich said.”

Gloriosa frowned. “Oh really? And just what else did Mr. Rich say.”

“Primarily that some teenagers happened to be able to put together a last minute fundraiser to help you with your financial difficulties.” Tempest kept her face neutral as Gloriosa visibly relaxed.

“Yes, those were some students from Canterlot High who had come up here for Spring Break. They found out about our financial issues and managed to get quite a few former campers to contribute.”

“Wow,” Tempest replied. “Sounds like you lucked out.”

“Yes,” Gloriosa smiled. “If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be here now.”

“Mr. Rich also mentioned some kind of strange plant life he saw around the grounds, and some... structural damage?”

Gloriosa tensed up again. Her voice rose. “There were a few mishaps. I kind of went... overboard for the kids. I thought it was going to be our last group of campers, so I tried to do everything myself  and there were a couple of things that I didn't pay as much attention to as I should have. A couple of things broke, but fortunately no one was hurt and the chaperones were very understanding.”

Tempest said nothing, but looked back down at her phone. She tapped the screen a few times. Gloriosa felt her fists begin to clench, but forced her fingers back open.  

“Is there anything else, Agent Shadow?” she asked, trying to keep her voice even.  

Tempest slowly looked back up. Her expression was dark. “Yes, Ms. Daisy. I would like to know exactly – “
The door to the office opened, admitting Timber Spruce. He was carrying a toolbox which he put down on the floor. “The storm windows are all up and the shingles are replaced. What's ne – oh, hello.”

He dusted his hands off and extended one to Tempest. She stood and shook it.  

“Agent Shadow, this is my brother, Timber Spruce,” Gloriosa said. “Timber, Agent Shadow is here about what happened last April.”

Timber blinked. “Well... no offense, Agent Shadow, but, why? We just hosted some high schoolers, and they helped us get the money we needed to keep the camp open.”

“I was informed that there was some unusual plant life that appeared during that time,” said Tempest. “It may have something to do with the investigation I'm conducting in Canterlot City.”

“Oh that?” Timber smiled. “We had a kudzu infestation break out.”

“Kudzu?” Tempest quirked an eyebrow.  

“Nasty stuff, kudzu. Grows like crazy. The night before, nothing. Next day, boom. Kudzu.”

Tempest looked from Timber to Gloriosa, who quickly smiled. The agent returned her gaze to Timber, who looked casual and relaxed.

“I didn't think kudzu would survive this far north,” she said.

“So did we,” said Timber. “But apparently in the spring and summer months the conditions are right. We looked it up afterward.”

“Oh yes,” Gloriosa added. “Turns out it's been found as far north as Caneighda.”

Tempest looked out the window at the campgrounds. The grass between the office and the cafeteria was lush, green, and unmarred. “Seems like you took care of it.”

“Yeah, cost us a bit, but we needed to get things ready for summer.” Timber put an arm around his sister's shoulders. “Anything else?”

“Would it be all right if I took a look around the grounds?” Tempest asked. “Maybe I'll find some kudzu that you missed. I'd like to ask Mr. Rich to compare it to what he saw when he visited.”

Timber frowned. “Filthy Rich?”

“Mr. Rich mentioned seeing some strange plants here when he visited during the fundraiser,” Gloriosa explained. She looked at Tempest. “Feel free to look around, Agent Shadow. Although we did a pretty thorough job getting rid of the kudzu, but if you find any, please let us know.”

“Thank you for your time, Ms. Daisy. Mr. Spruce.” Tempest left the office. After a moment, the siblings heard the door to the building close.

“Do you still have Twilight Sparkle's phone number?” Gloriosa asked.

“I'll call her as soon as we're sure she's gone.” Timber answered.





Tempest spent twenty minutes wandering the campgrounds. She didn't believe the story about the kudzu in the slightest.

They know something. She thought. Something happened here.

She followed a path leading away from the campgrounds and soon found herself in the woods. She walked the path, lost in thought.

Something about this doesn't feel right. Something definitely happened here, but the damage was minimal. If it wasn't for the kids from Canterlot High being involved, I'd write this off as a dead end.

	Tempest sighed. All she'd accomplished was confirming that Canterlot High was at the center of everything that had been happening. The director wouldn't be happy with these results. And if he didn't get the results he wanted...

I don't get the answers I need. Dammit!

	Tempest kicked a rock on the path. It flew through the air, bounced off a tree and off into the woods. Tempest kept walking but stopped when she heard a faint crack coming form wehere the rock had disappeared. It sounded like the rock had bounced off another stone.

She walked off the path and pushed through the brush. She came out on an overlook. Below her was a rock quarry with a sizable cave. Tempest frowned and slid down the overlook to the quarry. She walked into the cave and stopped.

The cave was lined with geodes and crystals in a variety of colors. The natural beauty would have held her interest if she weren't working, but her eyes scanned the cave out of habit. She paused as she spotted something yellow fluttering above her. She took out her phone and activated the camera. She zoomed in on the object and frowned again. 

“Streamers?” she said, confused. She put the phone away and ventured further into the cave. After a few minutes she came upon an antechamber. There was a hole in the ceiling of the chamber. A shaft of sunlight shone down on a broken stalagmite in the center of the antechamber. Tempest came closer and blinked as she saw something sparkling on the stalagmite. 

As she got closer, she saw seven small holes in a circle in the flat surface of the stone. She reached into another pocket and pulled out a penlight. She clicked it on and flashed it in each hole. Multicolored sparkles reflected the light back. She frowned.

Geodes don't work like that. One or two colors, yes, but not seven in the same place. 

She took a pocketknife from her pants pocket and scraped a sample of each colored rock from the holes, placing them in small evidence bags. As soon as she was done, she pocketed the knife, took the penlight out of her mouth and grabbed the bags with her other hand.  

As soon as the bags came in contact with each other, there was a flash of multicolored light. Tempest's eyes widened and she looked at the rock chips.  

Maybe I spoke too soon.
> Outfits, History, and Doubts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset sighed as she opened the large storage cabinet in her apartment that served as her closet. An adjustable shower rod served as the bar she hung her clothes from. In the bottom of the cabinet were a few pairs of shoes and boots, a couple with worn out soles that Sunset couldn't bring herself to throw out.  

Going back to her old haunts in Klugetown meant a change in wardrobe. While Canterlot City didn't have a huge problem with crime, Klugetown was unquestionably the bad side of town. Toughness was key, or at the very least, projecting an aura of toughness.  

While Sunset loved her current blue top and jeans, and the denim jacket and ankle boots that she wore with them, it wasn't quite the right level of tough that would make anyone wanting to start something think twice.  

So there's really only one choice, isn't there?

With a resigned sigh, Sunset reached into the cabinet and pulled out a battered and worn leather jacket. She looked it over. While she had worn it on and off again following the Battle of the Bands, she had gradually phased it out of her regular wardrobe. Every scuff a memento of a fight. Every blemish a reminder of her bad girl days. 

She ran a finger over the haphazard stitching she had done to repair the shoulder after she had been blasted with the Magic of Friendship. She sighed again and grabbed her knee high boots with the magenta flame pattern on the toes. She put the jacket on the back of her couch and the boots on the floor next to it, before going up to her loft. 

She dug through her dresser drawers, unearthing the magenta tank top with her cutie mark on the front and the orange skirt with the two stripes. She put them on her bed and frowned. 

I really don't want to do this, she thought. She shrugged off the denim jacket she was wearing and began stripping out of her clothes. But what else can I do?

Soon, she was back in the tank top and skirt. It felt weird to be wearing it after so long. She glanced over at the terrarium set up next to her bed. Her pet leopard gecko, Ray, was sunning himself under the heat lamp on his favorite rock. She walked over, lifted the lid and took the little lizard out. Ray gave her a sleepy look. Sunset smiled and ran her fingertips over Ray's head and neck.

“What do you think, buddy?” she asked. “Can I pull this off again?”

Ray looked up at her and gave the smile that never seemed to be far from his face. He craned his head upward. Sunset smiled and brought her face closer, letting him nuzzle her cheek.

“You always make me feel better, Ray.”

She put Ray back in the terrarium and went back down to the main floor of the apartment. She picked up the jacket and began shrugging her way into it. She paused as she heard a series of small pops. She looked down and groaned as she saw the popped stitches on the ripped shoulder. She grabbed her phone off the end table and dialed a number.

“Rarity? Yeah,. Sorry to bother you, but I have kind of a fashion emergency. Do you have time to fix the shoulder on my jacket? No... my old jacket.” Sunset rolled her eyes. “It's a long story. I'll explain when I get over there. Fifteen minutes or so? Okay. Thanks Rarity.”

Sunset ended the call and dialed another number. “Applejack? Can you come over a little early? I need a ride over to Rarity's before we go to Klugetown. Great. Oh, and AJ? Dress tough.”





“Honestly, Sunset, you should have brought this to me much sooner,” Rarity said as she worked on Sunset's jacket. “Not to belittle your skills, but leather's much trickier to repair than most people think.”

“And, no offense, Sunset,” Applejack said from where she sat on Rarity's bed. “But why are you wearin' your old clothes anyway?”

Sunset sighed. “Look, I haven't been to Klugetown in a while, but there's a reason everyone says to not go there. The people there will rob you blind and sell you for parts if you're not careful.”

“How exactly do you know all this, darling?” Rarity said, looking up with concern.

Sunset sighed. She looked around, but the only place to sit was Rarity's wheelchair. She looked over at the fashionista who was sitting at her desk. Rarity nodded and Sunset sat down in the chair.

“When I first came here, I had nothing. No money, no friends, nothing except these clothes.” Sunset

gestured to herself. “I wound up in Klugetown and probably wouldn't have lasted long if the guy we're going to see hadn't taken pity on me.

“He taught me how to think on my feet out there, along with... other things I needed to know to survive over here.”

Rarity let out a gasp and her and Applejack's eyes widened. Sunset groaned and held up a hand.

“Not that. Just certain skills that I don't want to talk about right now, okay?”

“Sorry, darling.” Rarity blushed and went back to sewing.

“Either way,” Sunset continued. “I didn't exactly part ways with him on the best of terms. So if I'm gonna go back there, I need to at least look like I did back then.”

“And me?” Applejack asked.  

Sunset looked her friend over. Applejack was dressed in black jeans, her boots and hat, a T-shirt with a large apple on the front, and a blue denim jacket. She nodded. It wasn't the toughest look, but Applejack's height and build would give her an edge.

“You just need to look intimidating,” Sunset answered.

“Hm,” Rarity hmmm'ed. Applejack and Sunset looked at her.

“You sayin' I ain't intimidatin'?” Applejack asked.

“I'm saying you could look more intimidating, darling.” Rarity motioned to Sunset and tossed her the now repaired jacket. Sunset caught it and put it on. She looked a the shoulder and marveled at how the repair was almost invisible.

“Nice work, Rarity.”

Thank you, Sunset.” Rarity put her arms in her canes and got up from her desk. She made her way over to Applejack and leaned forward. Applejack's eyebrows raised.

“Somethin' wrong with my face?”  

“I think, with the right makeup, we can ensure no one will harass you or Sunset while you're down there.”

Applejack paled. “Oh, no. No no no. We danced that dance before!”

“Yes, and I learned my lesson,” Rarity answered. “This isn't going to be anything like what I did before.”

“Do I want to know when this happened?” Sunset asked.

Rarity blushed. “The... um... the night of the Fall Formal.”

“Ah ha.”  

“The point,” Rarity said, quickly changing the subject. “is that while what you're wearing is a good start, Applejack, your face is a little too... open to be truly frightening. Let me do a little make up on you, and I think I can ensure anyone looking to be... ungentlemanly is going to think twice about it.”

Applejack looked skeptical. She glanced over at Sunset, who shrugged.   

“It couldn't hurt,” she said. Applejack sighed.

“Oh, all right,” she groaned. “But nothin' over the top, y'hear?”

Rarity let out a squeal of delight.





“Well?” Rarity asked, expectation in her voice. Applejack got up from the bed and looked in the mirror. True to her word, Rarity hadn't gone as overboard as she had during the Fall Formal. In fact, she had applied mascara, eyebrow pencil, and a dark shade of blush in a subtle way, so that Applejack's features were more sharply defined, giving her a lean, dangerous look. Applejack frowned into the mirror and almost scared herself.

“Wow,” she said. “Reckon you really got somethin' here.”

Sunset looked at the result and blinked. “Can you do something like that for me?”

“Of course, darling,” Rarity replied. She had returned to her wheelchair while she had been working on Applejack's face.  

Applejack looked at her phone. “Reckon we'll need to take off as soon as you're done, sugarcube. I'm gonna use the bathroom before we go.”

“Don't smear my work, darling,” Rarity warned as Applejack left the bedroom. She looked back at Sunset, who was staring at herself in the mirror. “Sunset? Are you all right?”

“Huh? Oh. Yeah... I guess.”  

Rarity frowned. “Sunset, if something's bothering you, you can tell me.”

“I just... seeing myself in these clothes again... it's weird. Like I'm going back to where I started.”

Rarity reached up and touched Sunset's arm. “Darling, I will deny I ever said this, but... they're only clothes. They only have the meaning that you ascribe to them. And you've worn them since the Formal.”

“Yeah, but only when I didn't have a choice, or couldn't do laundry or whatever.”

“Then why not just get rid of them?”

Sunset looked down at Rarity and blushed. “I still... kinda... like them.”

Rarity smirked. “I thought so.”

Sunset sighed. “I know they're just clothes, and yeah, I think I look pretty badass in them – “ Sunset and Rarity chuckled.    “ – but, I don't like who I was when I wore these, but I can't bring myself to get rid of them. So they just sit in my cabinet, gathering dust.”

She sighed again and sat on the bed. “Stupid, right?”

“Not at all, darling.” Rarity picked up an eyebrow pencil and leaned forward, beginning to work. “They're special, even if painful memories are associated with them.”

“Yeah,” Sunset said. “I wish I hadn't ruined them for myself.”

“Well, give it time,” said Rarity. “You never know. Now, let's get this done so you can see your friend in Kludgetown.”

“I don't know if I'd call him a friend,” Sunset said. “But you're right.”





“Good luck, darlings!” Rarity waved from her front porch as Sunset and Applejack drove off in Big Mac's pickup. As she saw the taillights disappear down the street, she sat for a while  in thought. She blinked and smiled as inspiration hit her.  

She wheeled her way back into the house and to her room. She grabbed her sketchbook from the nightstand, flipped to a blank page and started sketching.  

If old memories keep her from enjoying that outfit, then maybe it's time she makes some new ones.
> Complications, Reunions, and Precautions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luna put her beer down and stared at the message that had suddenly popped up on her computer monitor, interrupting her Uberguard game. She finished as quickly as she could, made some hurried goodbyes to her team, and logged out of the game. She looked back at the message that had popped up.

From: Cacophonee

208.99.47591.8.20596.11

Ph03b3

Luna quickly activated several innocuous sounding programs, then opened another browser hidden within several layers of folders. She entered the number URL and the prompt for another chat client came up. She logged in with the User ID “Ph03b3” and a new chat window opened. There were no other users in the room. However, a few seconds later, there was a chime as a new message appeared.



 Cacophonee: There's a problem.



Luna frowned. She leaned forward and quickly typed out a response.



 Ph03b3: What kind of problem?

Cacophonee: I found a bot in the chat we had last week. It was well hidden, but it was logging everything in the main chat and all the private chats.  



”Shit,” Luna cursed. She had worried about that. Various government agencies had been snooping around that chat server for a while. One of the users in the general chat that night had turned out to be a plant.



 Ph03b3: What did they get?

Cacophonee: Not much, but enough to send up some warning to STORM. Have you seen that agent yet?

Ph03b3: She visited the school this morning. She left unhappy.

Cacophonee: Be ready. By now they've probably run every handle in the chat. “NightmareMoon”  is sure to raise some alarms.



Luna let out a breath of frustration through her nose. She knew using her old handle while reaching out to her old contacts for information on STORM was a mistake, but it was the only way she could get Cacophonee's attention. Speaking of...



Ph03b3: Is it safe for you to use that handle?

Cacophonee: I'll be burning it after I talk to you. Do you still have copies of the info I gave you?

Ph03b3: Yes.

Cacophonee: Burn it. Burn any copies you have. If they figure out what I got for you, it's going to cause major problems for you if it all goes south. Some of that stuff is classified and just having it is a felony. 



Luna leaned forward. She had expected the information Cacophonee had gotten would be sensitive, but this was unacceptable.



 Ph03b3: Classified? What the hell, Cac?

Cacophonee: You were the one who wanted answers. I got you the answers.  

Ph03b3: I didn't ask you to commit full on espionage!

Cacophonee: What were you expecting? STORM's an agency the government doesn't even acknowledge the existence of unless they absolutely have to. 



Luna let out a groan of frustration. Serves me right for going back to him for this. He always goes too far. 



Ph03b3: Why is it that every favor I ask of you ends up biting me in the ass?

Cacophonee: Because you have no sense of pattern recognition.



Luna sighed. He won... again. Like he always did.



Ph03b3: I'll burn everything. Anything else?

Cacophonee: Wipe everything on the computer you're using. Don't come back to the room.

Ph03b3: Okay.

Cacophonee: And until this all blows over, don't try to find me. If anything comes up, I'll find you.



Luna blinked. This was new.



 Ph03b3: Did I do something wrong?

Cacophonee: No. This was my fault. I was sloppy.  

Ph03b3: Are you sure? Because I didn't want this to be a problem for you.

Cacophonee: It isn't. I just need to go dark and it was about time to retire this handle anyway.

Ph03b3: Okay, if you're sure.

Cacophonee: I'm sure. Now log off. And do what I told you.

Ph03b3: I will.

Cacophonee: Later.

Ph03b3: Be careful.

Cacophonee: Always am.



There was a chime and suddenly the whole chat vanished and the browser displayed a popular search engine. Luna sighed and opened another folder, clicking an icon labeled “Scorched Earth.” Her computer screen immediately went dark and the system began rebooting. When it finished the process, every trace of the more questionable programs and files would be gone, while keeping her innocuous stuff intact.

Luna got up from her chair and left her office. “Celestia? We have a problem.”
> Apprehension, Transactions, and Cards
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack parked the truck next to the curb and she and Sunset climbed out. The street they were on was quiet and dirty. Old brownstones lined the street, most of them defaced with one form of graffiti or another. Potholes were scattered across the asphalt, and just about every other streetlight was burned out, casting shadows over the building.

“You weren’t kiddin’ about Klugetown bein’ rough,” said Applejack. Sunset looked around and nodded.

“Yeah, you need to be sure you know where you’re going and what you’re doing or you might as well resign yourself to being mugged or worse.” Sunset pointed to a brownstone a few doors down. “That’s the one.”

She started walking down the sidewalk, but Applejack grabbed her arm, stopping her.

“You sure you wanna do this, sugarcube?” she asked. “Ain’t nothin’ says we gotta go lookin’ for more trouble than we already got.”

“I don’t want to do this either, AJ,” Sunset answered. “But we need to find this thing as fast as we can before Agent Shadow gets a whiff of it. This is exactly the kind of thing she investigates and it could lead right back to us. I’d rather make sure she doesn’t have an excuse to stay around any longer than she has to.”

“And you’re sure this ‘friend’ of yours can find this thing faster’n we can? Is he really that well connected?”

Sunset sighed and grabbed her elbow. Her shoulders slumped. “How do you think I got all the paperwork I needed to enroll at CHS in the first place?”

Applejack blinked as Sunset started down the street again. She quickly caught up and followed the redheaded girl to the brownstone indicated. Sunset took a deep breath.

“All right, when we get in there, let me do the talking,” she instructed. “All you have to do is look mean.”

“Right.” Applejack pulled down on the brim of her hat, hiding her eyes in shadow. Sunset nodded in approval.

“Good. One last thing, try not to lose your temper. These guys play rough and for keeps, understand?”

“Gotcha.”

Sunset shook her head and grabbed Applejack’s shoulders. “I’m serious, Applejack, do you understand? Because the last thing I want is for you to get hurt if things go completely bad in there.”

Applehack saw how serious her friend was and nodded. “I understand, Sunset.”

Sunset let out a relieved sigh and let go. “If we’re lucky, we’ll get one of the lower level goons.”

She reached out and rang the bell. After a few moments, they heard metallic clunks as deadbolts were unlocked. The door opened a crack and a part of a pale face with a large brown eye peered out at them.

“What the hell do you want?” a husky feminine voice demanded. Sunset stepped fully into the porch light.

“Hello, Caelano. Is he in?”

The eye widened then disappeared before the door flew open, revealing a tall, willowy woman. Her skin was just as pale as her face indicated. She had short spiky green hair, with some feathers stuck in the back. She was dressed in brown leather: boots, pants, and vest. She wore no shirt. A knife was in a sheath at her belt, and spiked bracelets circled her wrists.

“You’ve got a set of solid brass ones to show your face around here again, you little bitch,” Caelano sneered. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t slit your face right here and now.”

Applejack growled and stepped forward but Sunset put out an arm and stopped her. She fixed Caelano with a grin. “I have money and I want to make a purchase. I’d rather deal with my old friends…”

The sneer was audible to everyone on the stoop.

“... but, if I have to, I could always go visit Grumm,” Sunset finished. “He’s still running things out of that flea market on Hsiao, right? Be a real shame if Capper didn’t get first crack at my money because someone’s still holding a grudge over something that happened years ago.”

“You broke my goddamn arm!”

“I paid your medical bills, didn’t I?” Sunset replied. Caelano grumbled and Sunset smiled again. “So we’re even. Now, why don’t you run along and tell him I’m here?”

“Why don’t you go f--”

“Of course, I could always send him a nice email telling him who tipped Verko off on that big score that could have wiped out his debt in one fell swoop. Where exactly were you that night again, Caelano?” Sunset folded her arms and looked at the lieutenant.

Caelano’s face scrunched up like she had bitten into a rancid lemon. She let out an angry breath through her nose, then slammed the door. Applejack turned to Sunset.

“What the sam hill are you doin’? She ain’t never gonna let us in now!”

Sunset held up three fingers and slowly lowered each. When she got to her index finger, she pointed at the door, which opened. Caelano stood there, fuming.

“He says he’ll see you. Get your asses in here.”

“See? Was that so hard?” Sunset taunted as she and Applejack entered the brownstone.





“Sunset Shimmer,” came the voice from the shadows of the large chair behind the desk at the end of the room. Sunset folded her arms and frowned.

“Surprise,” she said flatly.

Motion from the chair. “Now, what was it you said the last time we were in the same room together? Oh yes. ‘I’m outta here, you two-bit, know-nothing chisler.’”

A form got up from the chair and slid around the corner of the desk. Applejack felt her fists clench. Sunset stood motionless as her eyes tracked her old acquaintance’s movements.

“And now, here you are, just a few years later and Caelano here tells me you’re asking for a favor.” The minimal light in the room reflected off his eyes, causing them to glitter like emeralds in the darkness. 

“I just want information, Capper,” Sunset replied. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small cloth bag. “I can pay for it.”

“Hm. Lemme see.” Capper held out a thin hand with long, narrow fingers into the light. Golden skin shimmered. Sunset tossed the bag and the crime lord caught it with ease. The hand disappeared into the shadows. There was a clap, and a light came on over the desk. 

Capper was slim, handsome, and surprisingly short, not much taller than Applejack. He wore a pair of black pants with a matching button down shirt. A red vest was visible under his darker red overcoat. Two shiny gold buttons were at the lapels of the coat. Green catlike eyes surveyed his visitors.

He upended the bag, causing six gold coins and ten gemstones of various colors to spill out onto the desktop. Applejack stared and looked at Sunset, who glanced at her out of the corner of her eye and mouthed the word “later.” Applejack got herself under control and went back to trying to look menacing.

Capper picked up one of the gold coins, studied it, then produced a jeweler’s loupe from his pocket. He screwed it into one eye and looked at each gem. He took his time, not saying anything.

“They’re real,” Sunset said, annoyance in her voice. Capper looked up at her.

“I know,” he answered, and went back to examining the gems. Eventually, he put the last one down and took out the loupe. “It’s not enough.”

“You don’t even know what I’m asking for yet,” Sunset protested.

Capper idly buffed his nails on the lapel of his coat. “Doesn’t matter. It’s not enough. Not for you.”

“Oh for the love of -- what the hell do you want from me, Capper? I’m sorry I called you that when I left, all right? I was fourteen and stupid.”

“Some would argue that coming back here is just as stupid.”

“Maybe, but right now, something is out there causing trouble and I’m looking to head it off before it attracts the wrong kind of attention.”

Capper’s head turned, a frown crossing his features. “What kind of attention?”

“Federal,” Sunset answered. “There’s a fed snooping around town. Right now, it’s just her, but if I don’t take care of this soon, there may be more.”

“Oh, please,” Caelano snorted. She started moving toward Sunset and Applejack. “Cap, this is just another of her bullshit stories. She’s wasted enough of our time.” She reached out to grab Sunset’s shoulder. 

“Caelano, so help me, you put one finger on me or my friend and I will break your other arm.” Sunset’s gaze didn’t leave Capper, but it did cause his lieutenant to hesitate. Applejack’s frown deepened at the threat.

Caelano took another step forward and Sunset’s head turned to fix her with a cold, hard stare. “I can still do it. Don’t test me.”

Caelano returned the stare, but soon glanced over at Capper, who was looking thoughtful. He waved Caelano off. She stepped away from Sunset.

“You got lucky last time,” she snarled.

Sunset shrugged. “Maybe. Whatever lets you sleep at night.”

“All right, enough,” Capper said. He walked back behind the desk and sat down. He gestured at the chairs in front of it. “Sit.”

Sunset and Applejack complied. Capper steeped his fingers and looked at them for a long while.

“You hurt my feelings when you left, Sunset. Not smart.”

“No,” Sunset agreed. “It wasn’t.”

“But I chalked it up to you being a stupid kid,” Capper continued. He watched Sunset, who did her best not to react. “By all rights I should have Caelano call Boyle and Mullet in here to teach you and your friend some manners. However, I have a better idea.”

Capper reached into a desk drawer and withdrew a battered pack of playing cards. Sunset held her breath as she saw the familiar black-backed deck. Capper grinned, letting his perfect teeth show. 

“I see you remember these. Do you still got it, Sunny?”

“Don’t call me Sunny,” Sunset said quietly. “Are you serious?”

“Deadly. I’ve been struggling to find a shark as good as you ever since you left. So, I propose a friendly wager. You win, I dig up whatever you want to know, for free.”

“Capper!” Caelano gasped. Capper held up a hand, silencing her.

“And if I win… three wishes.”

“What do you mean ‘three wishes?’” Sunset asked. 

“Exactly that. You do me three favors, free of charge, no questions asked.”

“Sunset, let’s go,” said Applejack. “‘Tain’t worth givin’ this polecat anything.”

“Quiet, hayseed, the grown ups are talking,” Capper snapped. 

Sunset’s eyes flashed, and before Capper knew it she had snatched the cards from his hand and began shuffling. All eyes in the room watched in astonishment as Sunset made the cards dance between her fingers, sliding them up one arm and down the other, fanning them in intricate patterns before seeming to fly together of their own will and reforming into a neat and tidy deck on the desk in front of her.

“Insult my friend again, and that pretty face of yours is going to be indisposed for the next month.” Sunset cut the cards then flipped the top three: the ten of diamonds, the 8 of hearts and the queen of spades stared up at them from the table.

She looked over at Applejack. “AJ, I’ve got this.” 

Applejack nodded, but didn’t relax. Though her posture was tense, Sunset was smiling. But it wasn’t the same kind of smile she normally had. That one was friendly, open, and welcoming. 

This smile was colder, harder, more calculating. A mix of confidence and deviousness. It was a smile Applejack had hated to see when Sunset used to walk the halls of Canterlot High before the Fall Formal. It was one that she hated to see now, because it indicated something the farm girl was sure she didn’t like.

Sunset was enjoying this.
> Phone Calls, Inspiration, and Bad Ideas
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle had finished up her homework when her phone rang. She glanced at the screen and smiled as she saw Timber Spruce's name and picture. She slid her finger across the screen to answer.

“Hi, Timber!” She gushed, then winced at the volume of her voice. 

“Hey Twilight.”

Twilight frowned. Timber didn't sound like his usual laid back self. “Are you okay? Is something wrong?”

“I'm not sure. We had something weird happen out here at the camp this afternoon.”

“Weird how?” Twilight sat up in her chair, a sinking feeling in her stomach.

“Are you in some kind of trouble?” Timber asked. “Because we had a federal agent out here this afternoon asking questions about what happened last spring.”

Twilight sighed. “I should have guessed this would happen. You remember when I told you what happened at the mall a couple of weeks ago?”

“Yeah, what does... oh crap.”  

“Yeah,” Twilight said. “We caught the attention of some government agency. They've got their best agent looking into it. I guess she ran into someone who pointed her in your direction.”

“Filthy Rich,” Timber grumbled. “He told her about some of the plants Gloriosa grew and the damage to the camp he saw when we threw the fundraiser.”

Twilight's eyes widened and her breathing became rapid. “You didn't tell her anything did you?”

“Of course not! But I don't think she bought what we told her either. She snooped around for a while before leaving.”

Twilgiht swallowed hard. “You don't... you don't think she found the cave, do you?”

There was silence. Twilight bit her lip.

“Timber?”

“Sorry,” Timber replied. “I honestly don't know. She was gone long enough to get to the quarry and back.”

“Great,” Twilight groaned. She rested her head on her free hand.  

“I don't think you've got anything to worry about though, Twilight. Even if she found the cave, there's no sign of anything weird happening there now. We cleaned it all up after the fundraiser.”

“I suppose. I still better let the girls know. Thanks, Timber.”

“No problem. Hey, I know this isn't the best time, but are you free this weekend? I need to run into town tomorrow for a couple of things. You wanna grab lunch?”

Twilight felt her cheeks redden and she smiled. “I think I can be available for that. Call me when you're ready?”

“Sure thing.” There was another pause. “I'm sorry this is happening, Twilight. She caught us off guard.”

“I know. It's okay. Thanks for giving me a heads up.” She sighed, then smiled. “See you for lunch!”

“I'll call. Probably around twelve, okay?”

“Okay. I need to call the girls. Talk to you later.”

“See you later, Twi.”

The call ended and Twilight slumped in her chair. Great, as if we didn't have enough problems. There's got to be something I can do. I can't just sit here while Sunset's out trying to get answers. 

She pressed her hands to her eyes under her glasses and let out a groan of frustration. “Gotta do something!”

She glanced around the room and her eyes landed on her second desk she used as a workbench. Her magic detector lay on top of it. She looked out her bedroom window. The late afternoon sun was hanging low in the sky, just above the mountains in the distance. She sat up as a thought came to her. She grabbed her phone and tapped a contact.

“Hello?” came Fluttershy's voice.

“Hey, Fluttershy. Could you come pick me up?”

“I suppose, but why?”

“I think we can track the thing in the clearing down.”

“Just us?” Fluttershy's voice went high and tense. “Alone?”

“No, no!” Twilight said quickly. “I'm going to call Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie as well.”

“I don't know, Twilight. It's starting to get dark and...”

“That's exactly the point, Fluttershy!” Twilight exclaimed. She was startign to get excited as her brain fleshed out the details of her idea. “We might be able to find where it is! Please? I can't just sit here and do nothing when we could figure out how to deal with this tonight!”

There was silence on the other end, then Fluttershy sighed. “I'll be there in fifteen minutes. You call Pinkie Pie, I'll call Rainbow and pick her up on my way over there.”

Twilight's grin widened. “Thanks, Fluttershy. I'll see you soon.”

“I hope you know what you're doing, Twilight.”





“Twilight, are you really sure this is a good idea?” Fluttershy asked. The sun was setting and she, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie were back in the clearing behind Canterlot High. Twilight was scanning the area with her magic detector.  

“This is the perfect time, Fluttershy,” Twilight replied. “I realized that if nobody at school heard what was going on out here, then whatever caused this may be nocturnal. If we can track do where it sleeps, we might be able to figure out what to do about it before Agent Shadow comes snooping around.”

“But isn't this dangerous?” Fluttershy looked around nervously. “I mean, what if whatever it is gets angry we're encroaching on its territory?”

“Don't worry,” chirped Rainbow Dash, throwing an arm around her shoulders. “That's why you got me and Pinkie Pie. Anything happens, she'll start a distraction and I'll get us the hell outta here!”

“Yep!” added Pinkie Pie, holding up a canister of sprinkles. “Kablooey and shoo-y, that's us!”

Fluttershy giggled in spite of herself.  

Across the clearing, Twilight consulted her magic detector. One light was pulsing slowly. She waved it in an arc and stopped when the light began blinking more rapidly. She inhaled sharply and looked into the shadows forming among the trees.

“Girls, I think I've got a lead on it.”

“Well, let's go then!” Rainbow zipped across the clearing, but before she could disappear into the trees, Twilight grabbed her arm.  

“All right, let's be smart about this girls,” she said.  

“Too late for that,” Fluttershy muttered under her breath.

“What?” Twilight asked.  

“Sorry, nothing.”

Twilight blinked. “All right, I just want to make this clear. The point of this expedition is to see if we can find out where this thing, whatever it is, has its shelter. We're not going to try to capture it, subdue it, or anything else. We find where it's sleeping, get back to the car and come back with the other girls. Everyone understand?”

“Go in, find its lair, get out. Easy!” Rainbow grinned.  

“And I brought these, just in case!” Pinkie held up four flashlights in her hands.

“Where did you get those?” Rainbow asked.

“Um... hello? We're in the woods.  At sundown!” Pinkie replied.  

Rainbow opened her mouth to reply, then paused and shut it again.

“Okay then.” Twilight took a deep breath, and held the detector in front of herself. “Let's go.”

The four girls made their way into the woods, Twilight in the lead with Fluttershy bringing up the rear.

“Oh, this is such a bad idea,” she muttered.
> Records, Obstruction, and Reports
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tempest Shadow got back to the city with just enough time to make her appointment at Canterlot City Hospital. After giving her name and showing her credentials to Reception, she was given directions to the records room, where she was greeted by a plain looking man with glasses.

“Record Holder?” the agents asked. The man nodded.

“That's right. You must be Agent Shadow.”

Tempest returned the nod. “You have some files for me?”

“Yes, follow me, please.”  

He let Tempest behind the counter and brought her into the records room proper. The walls were lined with file folders. An elderly computer sat on a desk shoved up against one wall of the room. Record Holder sat at the desk and logged on.

“So you asked me to pull any unusual cases that came in over the last couple of weeks,” the clerk said as he navigated through the electronic files.  

“I'm interested in the paralysis case and the coma patient who was abducted,” Tempest said, leaning over.

Record Holder nodded, and opened another window. He jotted down a couple of file numbers then stood up. He scanned the labels on the shelves and withdrew a file. “Here's the paralysis case.”

As the clerk continued searching the files, Tempest took the folder and opened it. She smiled in satisfaction when she saw Rarity's name in the appropriate field. She looked the charts over and frowned.  

“What does 'NSID' mean?” she asked.

“No Spinal Injury Detected,” Holder replied. He was standing on a step stool and looking through a set of files. “It's rare, but sometimes paralysis has other causes besides injury to the spinal cord. Ah! Here we are!”

He pulled another file and stepped down. He flipped it open. “Huh. This is odd.”

Tempest closed the file she was holding and walked over. “What is?”

“While we did admit this patient and she was in a coma, it doesn't look like there was any actual diagnosis done.”

“What?” Tempest took the file and looked it over. She skipped the medical data and read the doctor's notes at the bottom.

The patient remains unresponsive to external stimuli as is normal with most coma cases. However, all tests and imagery provide no medical reason why she is comatose. Physically, she seems to be in excellent health. No injuries to the brain, no trauma. Aside from some minor abrasions, there are no other injuries evident. Recommend continued observation.

Another set of notes were scribbled in dated three days later.

Patient was abducted earlier today through means that are still being investigated. She apparently recovered consciousness during the ordeal and returned to the hospital. Iniital tests confirm no loss of cognitive function or physical injury. Recommend overnight observation.

The next day, there was a final set of notes.

Observation inconclusive. Patient is healthy and with no signs of trauma to either her brain or body. Have no alternative but to release her. Cause of comatose state: inconclusive.

Tempest frowned and noted the attending physician's name. “So this Dr. Cross released this girl despite not figuring out why she was in a coma to begin with? Why would he do that?”

Holder shrugged. “You'd have to ask him. I could call up to his office and see if he's free to talk to you if you'd like.”  

“Please.”  

As Holder got on the phone, Tempest looked at the coma patient's folder again. She glanced at the name and the corner of her mouth turned up.

Sunset Shimmer. I wonder if you know Rarity by any chance.

“Agent Shadow?”

Tempest looked up, startled out of her thoughts. “Hm?”

“Dr. Cross says he'll see you,” said Holder. “Fourth floor.”

“Thank you, Mr. Holder. One last thing. Could I get copies of these files?”





“No,” said Dr. Cross. In the chair on the other side of his desk, Tempest blinked.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I will not discuss patient details with you, Agent Shadow.”

Tempest frowned. “Record Holder told me – “

“That I would see you,” Dr. Cross finished. “And I am seeing you. Specifically to tell you that Mr. Holder does not have the authority to disclose information from hospital records to anyone.”

“Patient confidentiality is not recognized on the federal level, Dr. Cross.”

“But it is in this state. And, the last I checked, even agents of the federal government cannot supersede state law when it suits them.” The doctor held out a hand. “I would like the copies of the files you received from Mr. Holder.”  

Tempest's frown deepened and her eyes narrowed. “Dr. Cross...”

“Spare us both the aggravation, Agent Shadow. I called Mr. Holder while you were on your way up here. The copies, please. Or do I need to call the police and the state attorney's office?”

Tempest let out a long breath and tossed the copies onto the desk. This was starting to make her angry.  

“Why are you going out of your way to protect this girl, doctor?” she asked.

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

Tempest snorted. “I am investigating the events that have happened in this city over the last few weeks in order to determine exactly what's behind it. I strongly suspect that this case is tied to those events.”

“And if you have evidence of that, I will be happy to help you if you can provide a court order,” Dr. Cross replied. “I take my oath very seriously, Agent Shadow, and I will not violate it without the proper channels being followed. This patient has the right to privacy, especially from any sort of government inquiry.”

The doctor leaned forward, his expression darkening. “While I'm on the subject, exactly what agency do you report to, Agent Shadow. I'd like to have a word with your superiors.”

Tempest scowled and reached for one of the business cards in her pocket.








She was halfway back to her hotel when the call came.

“Would you please tell me what the hell you think you're doing, Agent Shadow?” The director's voice was low and deadly.  

“I'm encountering resistance from the locals, sir. They don't seem overly fond of our usual methods out here.”

“God save us from armchair Constitutional scholars,” the director muttered. “Tell me you at least got something useful?”

“I have some samples I'll be sending to the lab. I found them at the camp outside the city.”

“What kind of samples?”

“Rock samples, sir.”

There was a long silence, then: “Rock samples.”

“Yes, sir. Highly unusual ones. I found them in a cave. They resemble geode crystals, but there were more colors than you'd normally find in a single geode. There's something odd about them. I think it's in our best interest to find out what they are.”

“Fine, whatever. What about the hospital and this Dr. Cross? Anything useful there?”

“I confirmed the girl in the wheelchair is the same one who was admitted for paralysis two weeks ago. They let her out when there were no serious spinal injuries. I did spot a referral for physical therapy. I'll be checking out the clinic tomorrow along with a couple of other leads. I also have another name. Sunset Shimmer. No photograph, but I'm reasonably certain she's friends with Rarity.”

“Did you say Sunset Shimmer?” The director's voice had become interested again.

“Yes, sir. Does that mean anything to you?”

“I'm not sure yet. I'll have to do some digging on my end. If I find anything, I'll let you know. In the meantime, find out everything you can about them.”

“Yes, sir. There's also one other thing I feel I need to report. It's one of my other leads I'll be looking into later tonight. I'd like this on record.”

“What is it?”

Tempest took a breath. “I'm pretty sure POIs 4779 through 4781 are here as well, sir.”

Another silence from the other end. Then the director spoke again, his voice sounding even more interested.

“Are you absolutely sure, Agent?”

“About eighty percent, sir. Part of my investigation tonight is to confirm my suspicions. I just wanted a record in case something goes wrong.”

“Acknowledged. Do you require backup?”

“Not at this time, sir.”

“Very well, but you're still on the clock, Agent,” the director reminded. “Get me some solid answers by Wednesday or I'll use my own discretion. Understood?”

“Understood, sir.”

The connection was severed and Tempest leaned back in her seat, letting out a sigh of relief. She looked at the dashboard clock and determined she had enough time to get dinner before she went looking for Adagio and her cronies.

And maybe a drink. Or three.
> Queen, Ten, and Eight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack reached out and grabbed Sunset's arm, causing the other girl to look at her in surprise.

“What in tarnation are you doin', sugarcube?” she hissed.

Capper grinned. “What? You mean she never told you?” He shifted his gaze to Sunset and his catlike grin grew wider. “Sunset here used to be one of the best players in the city before she took off.”

“What d'ya mean, 'player?'” Applejack asked. Sunset blushed and looked away.

“She was a con artist,” Caelano snorted.  

“Best in the city... well, outside of me, anyway,” Capper added. “Sunnybun here bilked I don't know how many marks out of their cash while she ran with me.”

“Don't call me Sunnybun,” Sunset growled. She avoided looking at Applejack, who was frowning at her.

“Her three card monte game is still legendary.” Capper took the three cards lying face up on his desk and turned them over. He folded them lengthwise and began moving them around, faster and faster. He stopped and smirked up at Sunset. “You still got it... Sunnybun?”

Sunset's lip curled up in anger and she reached out and tapped the card on the left. Capper flipped it over, revealing the queen of spades.  

Sunset folded her arms and gave her old partner a smirk. “That's one.”

“Yes, it is,” Capper agreed. “My turn.”

Sunset reached out for the cards, but Applejack stood up and yanked her out of her seat. Sunset gave her a nasty glare then down at Capper. “Excuse us for a second, Capper.”

“Don't take too long,” said the crime boss.

Now it was Sunset's turn to grab Applejack's arm and steer her to a corner of the room. “What's your problem?”

“You were a crook,” Applejack said simply. “You were a rotten apple before Princess Twilight came here, but you never told us you were a crook.”

Sunset sighed. “Applejack, I told you, when I came here I had nothing but the clothes on my back. I had to do something to survive.”

“Con games? Seriously?”

“Con games, pickpocketing, breaking and entering, I did it all. And it kept me alive long enough to get back to Equestria when the portal opened again and I was able to come back with some bits and gems.”

“Sunset,” Applejack began, but Sunset raised her hand, silencing her.

“I'm not proud of what I did, AJ, and if you want to bawl me out about it, fine. But let's do it on our way home, okay? Right now, I need his help and if I beat him, I'll get it.”

Applejack grumbled and exhaled through her nose. “Fine. I don't like it, but fine. D'ya think you can beat him?”

That smile the farm girl didn't like returned. The confident, cruel smile that had been gone from Sunset's face for years.

“I know I can beat him.”

Sunset walked back to the desk and sat back down. She leaned forward and flipped the queen back over and began swapping the cards, faster and faster. Applejack sighed and walked back to her own seat.

I hope you know what you're doin', Sunset.

Sunset finished moving the cards and waved her hands over them with a flourish. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs.

“Pick a card. Any card.”

Capper's brow furrowed in concentration, then he reached out and tapped the center card. Sunset reached out and flipped it over. Capper's eyes widened at the ten of diamonds staring at him. He looked up at Sunset.

“Still got it, I see.”

“Was there any doubt?” Sunset replied.  

Capper flashed her another grin. “I thought after all these years, you might have gotten rusty.”

“Not a chance. My turn.”

Capper's hands danced over the cards and he leaned back. Sunset studied them for a moment then tapped the one on her left. The eight of hearts.

“Bad luck... Sunnybun,” Caelano chortled. Sunset ignored the lieutenant and grabbed the cards. She shuffled them around and skapped the desktop before leaning back. Capper pondered for a moment, a finger to his lips before reaching out and tapping the card on his right. Sunset flipped it over and scowled at the queen of spades.

“One to one, Sunnybun,” Capper smirked. Sunset's teeth clenched and she let out a small growl deep in her throat.


And so the game continued, each played taking turns to shuffle the cards and the other making their choice. Applejack watched Sunset with concern, noting that Sunset got a little more agitated when Capper made a correct choice or when she failed to do so. Eventually, the score was tied at four to four, with Sunset up to shuffle. As she reached out for the cards, a thought came to her.

“Double or nothing,” she said. Applejack blinked and Capper leaned forward.

“You sure about that?” he asked. Sunset nodded. Capper leaned back in his chair and shrugged. “All right. What are you offering?”

“One more hand. You guess right and I'll give you six favors, no questions asked.”

“Sunset!” Applejack whispered harshly. Sunset ignored her.

“You guess wrong,” she continued. “You help me and you owe me another favor somewhere down the line.”

Capper's gaze rolled upward and he rubbed his first and middle finger with his thumb as he considered Sunset's offer. “Any favor?”

Sunset nodded. Capper's eyes glittered.

“You sure? Because they may not be legal.” He chortled. “Who am I trying to kid? They won't be legal.”

“That's not a problem,” Sunset replied. Applejack sucked in a breath through her teeth.

“Sunset,” she warned. Sunset's head turned and fixed her with a glare.

“Not now, AJ.”

Applejack frowned. “Yes, now, Sunset.”

Capper frowned and gestured. Caelano stepped forward and clapped a firm hand on Applejack's shoulder. Applejack glared up at the lieutenant, but Caelano's face was just as icy.

“Quit interfering in our business, hayseed,” Capper said. His voice was quiet but there was an edge to it. “This is between me and Sunnybun, so butt out.”

Sunset's expression grew dark. She glared at Caelano, who took her hand off Applejack but still hovered over her, ready to make a move if the farm girl tried something unwise. Sunset looked down at her friend.

“I know what I'm doing, AJ,” she said. Her expression softened and she gave Applejack a reassuring smile. “Trust me, please.”

Applejack said nothing, but sat back in her seat, her expression clearly communicating she didn't like one damn thing about any of this. Sunset turned back to Capper.

“Do we have a deal or not?”

Capper looked down at the cards, then smiled at Sunset. “Deal.”

Sunset grabbed the cards, then began moving them around, slowly at first, then faster and faster. She didn't bother with the usual patter, knowing Capper wouldn't be distracted from it at all. She took a deep breath and increased the speed of the shuffle. Capper and Applejack leaned forward in their seats as Sunset's hands seemed to move in defiance of the laws of physics. Her fingers were a blur. Golden streaks dancing over the black backed cards. Sunset's face was a mask of concentration, her eyes focused on the cards as she made them move. Finally, she pulled her hands back and leaned back in her chair, gesturing to Capper.

Capper studdied the cards for a moment, then looked up and nodded at Caelano. Sunset yelped as the lieutenant gabbed her by the collar and yanked her jacket off.  

“What the hell, Capper?” she yelled. Applejack leaped to her feet but Caelano shoved her harshly back into her chair. Sunset's eyes flashed and she whirled, ready to pounce when she heard a click behind her. She turned to see Capper holding a small pistol in his hand.

“Sit down, Sunnybun. I'm just making sure you play fair. Let Caelano check your jacket for any surprises and we'll leave it at that.”

“You agreed to the deal, Capper!”

Capper nodded. “I did, but I know your tricks, Sunset. Hell, I taught you half of them. Let Caelano check your pockets and we go on. Or do you want to let her strip search you – “

“You really think I could hide a card in my underwear without anyone noticing?” Sunset demanded.

Capper ignored her. “As I was saying, you can let Caelano check your jacket and we go on with the bet, or you get strip searched. You...”

Capper glanced over at Applejack, his expression neutral. “And your friend.”  

Applejack blushed and she looked up at Sunset, fear in her eyes. Sunset frowned and, after a moment, sat back down. Caelano checked the pockets of the jacket and snorted when she didn't find anything but an old gum wrapper. She tossed it roughly in Sunset's lap.  

“There,” said Sunset. “Nothing. Happy now?”

Capper nodded and leaned over the cards, considering his move. Sunset shrugged back into her jacket and gently squeezed Applejack's hand. Applejack looked up, her face flush with embarrassment.  

I'm sorry, Sunset mouthed. Applejack nodded and tried to get herself under control.

Capper reached out a hand and held it over the center card. He frowned and breifly moved it to the one on his left, before bringing it back to the center.

Sunset swallowed and Applejack leaned forward in her chair, watching the crime boss with fear filled eyes. Capper glanced up at Caelano, who shook her head. He moved his hand over to the left card. Caelano nodded. Capper's frown deepened and he moved his hand away from the cards.

“What's the problem?” Sunset asked.

“I know when I'm getting played,” Capper replied. “I just don't know how I'm getting played. What do you really want, Sunnybun?”

“Stop calling me Sunnybun,” Sunset growled. She took a breath and forced herself to relax. “I want what I asked for: information. You could have just taken my money, gotten me what I wanted, and I'd be out of your hair, but you decided to play games. So... either play, or take my money, but you can't do both.”

Sunset's heart was thumping. She was gambling now. Gambling that Capper's own need to win would take precedence over his common sense. She wa salso banking on Caelano's flexible loyalty. If Capper backed down, it wouldn't be long before all his lieutenants knew it and the stage would be set for a power play. Hell, Sunset had considered her own back in the day, but figured the crew wouldn't follow a preteen girl, no matter how much she tried to assert her dominance.

Capper folded his hands and rested his chin on them. He looked over each card, then at the pile of coins and gems next to them. He pursed his lips. Applejack bit her own bottom lip and looked at Sunset, then the door, calculating how long it would take them to run if needed. 

Sunset's own gaze didn't leave Capper, but her jaw was tense and her teeth felt like they'd shatter under the pressure. C'mon,she thought. Make up your mind, damn it!

Finally, Capper grabbed the left card and flipped it over, not even giving Sunset the chance to do it herself.

All four pairs of eyes stared at the eight of hearts on the desk.
> Running, Jumping, and Climbing Trees
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Okay, I think that's far enough, girls,” said Fluttershy, gripping Rainbow Dash's shoulder. “Maybe we should head back now?”

The sun had set and the starts were coming out. The girls had broken out the flashlights and were making their way deeper into the woods. Twilight wa sin the lead, still consulting the magic detector. The LED was stong and pulsing steadily, indicating they were heading in the right direction.

“Don't worry, Fluttershy,” Pinkie chirped. “Who hasn't been wandering in the woods after dark looking for a potentially killer monster that can uproot and break trees like toothpicks? It's like bing in a horror movie!”

Fluttershy squeaked and gripped Rainbow's arm tighter. Pinkie grinned.

“I know! Isn't this great?”

Rainbow gave Fluttershy a reassuring smile then looked at Twilight. “Hey, Twilight? Fluttershy has a point. It's getting late. We any closer to finding anything?”

Twilight didn't answer. Rainbow rolled her eyes and lightly bumped into her friend. Twilight let out a yelp and glared at Rainbow.

“Earth to Twilight Sparkle,” the athlete said with a grin. “Anything?”

Twilight adjusted her glasses. “Well, we're still going in the right direction, but you have a point. I'm sorry, girls. This was a bad idea. Obviously, this thing's lair is deeper in the forest than I thought. Let's head back. We can try again tomorrow after--”

A thundering crash cut off the rest of Twilight's sentence. A moment later, there was another crash. The girls looked around, searching for the source.

“What was that?” Rainbow asked. Beside her, Fluttershy trembled.

“I think we know what that was,” she muttered. Twilight looked down at the magic detector. The LED was blinking on and off. As she watched, there was another crash, louder this time, and the light blinked even more rapidly. Twilight swallowed hard and looked at her friends. “It's- It's getting closer!”

Another crash caused the girls to scream and they huddled together. A tree in the distance suddenly toppled over, causing yet another thunderous boom. The magic detector began emitting an urgent beep.  

Rainbow's fists clenched. Twilight and Pinkie shined their flashlights into the trees. There was a chilling silence. Pinkie and Twilight cast the flashlight beams around the group.  

“See anything?” Twilight asked.  

Pinkie shook her head. “Nothing. Maybe it decided to go some other way.”

Twilight nodded and turned to face the group. “Let's get out of here.”

The other girls made noises of agreement and they tuned to leave. They saw the flash of reflected light a split second before the roar came. The girls closped their hands to their ears and looked up when it ended. A gigantic shadow loomed before them, eyes glowing yellow in the darkness. For a moment they stood transfixed as the shadow lumbered forward, knocking another tress aside as it passed.

“R...r... RUNNNNN!” Fluttershy shouted. The girls echoed the scream and dashed into the woods. Another roar and the shape began crashing through the trees behind them.  

“I don't suppose anyone ignored Sunset and brought their geodes?!” Twilight shouted. “Rainbow Dash?”
“Left it behind!” Rainbow shouted from up ahead. She looked over her shoulder. “Anybody else?”

Pinkie and Fluttershy, panting heavily, shook their heads. Another roar came behind them. The girls glanced behind them and screamed as the monster began gaining speed.  

Twilight's heart was pounding and her lungs were burning as she ran, adrenaline rushing through her system. She swallowed and tried to force her legs to run faster, all the while aware of the crashing noises behind her that indicated the monster was rapidly gaining on them.

This is my fault. I'm going to get us all killed! You've led your friends to their deaths, Twilight!

Her foot hit an exposed root and she yelped as she fell forward. Just before she hit the ground, a blur hand grabbed her and hauled her back to her feet.  

“Everybody grab everybody else!” Rainbow cried. Twilight reached behind her and grabbed Fluttershy's hand. Pinkie jumped forward and grabbed Fluttershy's other hand. Rainbow nodded.

“Keep running and don't let go!” she cried. She poured on the speed, forcing the other three to keep up with her.  

The monster roared again and the ground began to shake as its rampage brought it closer to the girls. Twilight risked a glance behind her. She still couldn't see many details, but she could see sharp pale claws reflecting the moonlight. The glowing yellow eyes now had angry red irises. Another roar echoed through the trees, the force of it causing Pinkie to stumble and fall to the ground.

“Pinkie!” Twilight cried. She pulled Fluttershy even with her and joined her hand to Rainbow's. “Keep going!”  

Twilight circled back and dashed toward Pinkie, who was getting to her feet. She grabbed Pinkie's hand and hauled her upright. “Are you okay?”

“I think so.” Pinkie held up her casted hand. It had broken and the bandage surrounding it had started to unravel. “Uh-oh?”

Twilight quickly wrapped the bandage back around Pinkie's hand,m then took her good one. They turned to run again when there was a loud thud and the earth shook, causing them to fall to the ground. The looke dup and screamed as the monster's shadowy form loomed over them. It roared again and they covered their ears, recoiling at the thing's fetid breath. The two girls cowered and hugged each other, certain of the end.

A rock came sailing out of the darkness, cracking the thing in the head. It staggered to the side, giving Pinkie and Twilight a chance to get to their feet. The monster's head moved back toward them, only to get another rock across the snout.

“Leave them alone you... you... big meanie!” Fluttershy's voice rang out. “How dare you?! Is this how you act when you're angry?!”

Twilight and Pinkie blinked as Fluttershy stalked out of the trees, fists clenched. Even the monster seemed confused by this turn of events, raising its head and peering at her. Fluttershy put her hands on her hips and glared up at it.

“Now, you stop this foolishness right now, mister, and go back to where you came from! You're just a big bully and I will not stand for this!”

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow began, stepping behind her. “Maybe it's not a good idea to lecture the giant magic monster thing that wants to eat us?”

But Fluttershy was on a role. “Do we have an understanding?!”

The thing looked down at her. Futtershy returned the glare, unmoving. The monster's head came down and unleashed another roar, covering Fluttershy in saliva. When it stopped, Fluttershy blinked and plastered an embarrassed grin on her face.

“Okay, I think you've learned your lesson so we'll just be going now! Buh-bye!” She broke into a run, her hear streaming wetly behind her. “RUN!” she screamed as she passed Twilight and Pinkie. Who briefly looked at each other and broke into a run, Rainbow Dash bringing up the rear.  

The girls ran as hard as they could. If she hadn't been so focused on not dying, Rainbow would have been impressed with how her friends were keeping up with the pace. She quickly glanced around, noting that the trees were beginning to thin out. She blinked as an idea came to her.

“Scatter!”

The other girls didn't respond, just following Rainbow's order. They split up, separating, but continuing to move in the same direction. The monster didn't slow down, charging through the trees, following Fluttershy. Fluttershy let out a scream when she realized it was still coming after her.  

“HELP ME!”

Rainbow skidded to a halt and changed course. “Hang on!”

Twilight and Pinkie Pie quickly caught up to her. “We've got to do something!” Twilight yelled. Ahead of them, the beast gained on Fluttershy. Rainbow looked ahead and saw a low hanging branch ahead of her. She glanced behind her. “Twilight! Slingshot!”

Twilight looked ahead, saw the branch and smiled. She nodded, and Rainbow leaped onto the branch. Twilight and Pinkie jumped up and grabbed the end. The branch bent downward with the two girls' weight. Rainbow braced herself. “Now!”

The girls let go and a branch swung upward, sending the athlete into the air. Rainbow somersaulted in the air as she passed over the monster and thrust a foot downward, managing to bring the sole of her foot straight into the monster's snout. It recoiled and roared again, taking a swipe with a massive claw. Rainbow screamed as it connected with her, sending her into the ground and sliding to a halt. She pushed herself upward, and blinked as Fluttershy grabbed her arm and helped her to her feet. They heard more trees crashing to the ground and looked up in fear, expecting the end to come.  

They blinked when the saw a path of destruction leading back into the forest. The sound of splintering lumber slowly receded into the distance. Twilight and Pinkie caught up to them and stopped, breathing heavily.

“You... scared... it... off...” Twilight wheezed.  

“Of course I did,” Rainbow grinned. “I'm awesome.” She put her shaking hands behind her back.  

“I don't know about all of you, but I think we should get out of here,” said Fluttershy. “All in favor?”

“Aye!” chorused the girls.  

“Let's get out of the trees and figure out where we are.” Twilight led the way through the trees, smiling widely when she saw the road cutting through the forest. “We found it! And I think w'ere only a mile or so away from the school!”
“What are we waiting for?” Rainbow cheered. “Let's go!”  

The four of them charged out of the trees. There was another flash of light and they screamed as something roared toward them. The four girls let out a collective scream, which was drowned out by the scream of brakes and skidding tires as the car came to a halt in front of them. The driver hit the horn, causing the four of them to dash back into the woods.

“Maybe we should stay to the treeline for a while,” Rainbow said, as they ran parallel to the road. She had a huge grin on her face.

“Good idea!” Twilight returned the smile, the relief and adrenaline making her slightly manic. Soon, all four girls were laughing like lunatics as they ran through the trees, making their way back to Fluttershy's car.
> Negotiations, Confrontations, and Idiocy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Capper leaned back in his chair, his expression unreadable. Sunset folded her arms and returned the steady gaze. After a minute, the crime boss spoke.

“What do you want?”

“You can't be serious!” Caelano shrieked. “You know what she does! She cheated! Everyone in this room knows it!”

Capper turned his emerald gaze on his lieutenant. “How?”

Caelano blinked and sputtered. “Well, she... she could have... wait... no... I don't know! But I know she pulled a fast one on us!”

“And if you can't figure it out and I can't figure it out, then I'd say that's just as good as a legit win, don't you?” Capper grinned and turned his attention back to Sunset. “You were saying?”

Sunset resisted the urge to let out a sigh of relief. “There's something in the forest surrounding the city. Something big and powerful.”

“And?”

“And I want to know what it is. We spotted some of the destruction it caused in the woods behind Canterlot High. I'm willing to bet there's been other sightings around town. I want to know about them.”

Capper idly buffed his nails on his lapel again. “Wildlife ain't exactly our bag, Sunnybun.”

“Don't call me Sunnybun,'” Sunset growled under her breath. She continued at normal volume. “No, but you have connections with the police and other public services. If this thing has been causing trouble elsewhere in town, there's bound to be reports of it. I want to know where and when.”

Capper nodded and leaned forward, resting his elbows n the desktop. “Why do you care?”

Sunset blinked. “I'm sorry?”

“Why do you care about this? I find it hard to believe you'd come back here looking for help from me, of all people, for some wild animal that's roaming around.”

“I don't think it's just some wild animal,” Sunset replied. She took a deep breath and let it out. “I think it's a monster.”

“Monster?” Caelano laughed. “What are you, six? Cap, this is bullshit.”  

She reached down and grabbed Sunset's shoulder. Sunset's eyes flashed. Before anyone knew what was happening, she had gotten too her feet, grabbed Caelano's wrist, bent her over the back of the chair, with her arm pulled up painfully behind her back.  

“I warned you,” Sunset hissed between clenched teeth. “Keep your god damn hands off me.”

Capper had jumped to his feet and was reaching for his pistol again, but Applejack reached out and touched Sunset's other shoulder.  

“Sunset, that's enough!” she said sharply. “Let her go!”

Sunset didn't move but continued to glare down at Caelano, who was biting her lip. Tears were forming in the corner of the lieutenant's eyes.

“Sunset! Now!” Applejack barked. Sunset looked at her and Applejack almost recoiled at the fury in Sunset's eyes. But she folded her arms and stood her ground, immobile as the trees that lined her orchard.  

“Let. Her. Go.”

Sunset snorted and let go. Caelano got herself upright and rubbed her shoulder. She and Sunset stared each other down.

“I'm gonna remember that,” Caelano hissed.

“Anytime, anywhere,” Sunset retorted. She glared at Capper. “Are you going to help me or not?”

Capper withdrew his hand from within his coat and smoothed his hair back. “Give me the weekend. I should have something for you by Monday.”

Sunset nodded. “I'll call you after I get out of school. Let's go, Applejack.”

The two girls turned to leave. Caelano snarled and started forward.

“Caelano!” Capper shouted. All three women turned back to look at him. Capper glared at Caelano. “It's over. They can go.”

The lieutenant let out a large breath through her nose and turned back to Sunset. “Don't come back here again.”

“We'll see,” Sunset said, matching Caelano's cold tone. She stalked out of the room, Applejack close behind.  

When the door closed, Caelano looked back at her boss. “You can't be seriously helping her.”

Capper shrugged. “It's harmless enough. And who knows? Maybe there is something out there we should know about.”

“This is going to bite us in the ass, Capper,” Caelano replied. “She was trouble then, and she's going to be trouble now.”

“We'll see,” Capper murmured. He folded his hands and rested his chin on them, lost in thought.





“What in the hell did you think you were doin'?!” Applejack yelled as the two girls drove away from Klugetown. “Pickin' a fight with that... that...”

“Bitch?” Sunset suggested. Applejack glared at her briefly before returning her attention to the road.

“Quit bein' a smartass. You know what I mean. What were you thinkin'?”

Sunset sighed. “I know, but something about her pushes my buttons. Always has. Back when Capper took me in, she had a problem with me.”

She leaned against the window and sighed again. “What you just saw was us being nice to each other. We've been worse. Much worse.”

Applejack glanced at Sunset again. “How much worse?”

Sunset turned her head slightly to look out at the dark streets. “By the time I started attending CHS, I had actually mellowed out quite a bit.”

Applejack blinked and silently went back to driving, not really wanting to consider what Sunset might have been like before she became the tyrannical terror of Canterlot High. There was a chime, and Sunset reached into her pocket to pull out her phone. She glanced at the screen and sat up sharply.

“What the hell were they thinking?!” she shrieked. She thumbed the screen and stabbed Twilight's name on her Contacts screen.  

“What's goin' on?” Applejack asked.  

“Our idiot friends decided to do something colossally stupid,” Sunset growled as the phone began ringing. “They're at Pinkie's. I swear, for someone so smart, Twilight can be a real moron sometimes.”

“Seems to be a trend tonight,” Applejack muttered. She hit the turn signal and began heading for Pinkie's house.
> Paranoia, Roommates, and Unwelcome Guests
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sonata Dusk paid the convenience store clerk and left, idly swinging the plastic bag with her purchases. Outside the store, she paused and looked at the handful of coins she'd been given as change and sighed. 

“Adagio's gonna be mad,” she muttered to herself. She pocketed the change and began walking down the street.  

Money had been tight for the three sirens ever since the Battle of the Bands and their amulets had been destroyed. While they couldn't feed on negative emotions or magic anymore, they found they could at least survive on regular food. So eating wasn't a problem.

Everything else, on the other hand.

Thanks to their voices, the three had been able to manipulate anyone to get what they needed. That included finding places to stay as they traveled from place to place. Money had never been a concern. After the amulets had been shattered, they had found that a lot of the generosity they had created was no longer available. As a result, they didn't have the funds to get out of Canterlot City, forcing them to stay in the city after their defeat.  

On the plus side, they owned the small house they were living in, free and clear, thanks to a mortgage officer they had charmed shortly after coming to town. Additional funds were raided by selling other property they owned in other cities, but Aria was insistent that money remain invested in various other stocks and properties. In fact, that was Aria's “job” these days: day trading and managing their portfolio. They may not have been able to touch that money right now, but Aria assured both of them that it would pay off in a few years and they'd all be able to live like they were used to for the rest of their lives.  

Until then, well, it was the generic cereal and mac and cheese currently swinging around in her bag. Sonata hummed a random tune to herself as she walked down the suburban streets. After a few months, their voices had returned. They couldn't charm anyone anymore, of course, but it was nice to be able to sing again. Not that you would know it, by how much Adagio claimed it was more a “cosmic joke” than any real relief.

There was a flash of light on the pavement ahead of her. Sonata turned her head to see a car slowly driving down the street behind her. She frowned. The speed limit was only twenty-five in the neighborhood, but this car seemed to be going slower than that. A prickling sensation ran up Sonata's spine.  

She clutched the bag of groceries to her chest, set her eyes forward and began walking faster. An intersection was coming up. She could circle the block and approach her house from the other side. She bit her lip and set forward, crossing the street and then turning left. She walked for a few moments, occasionally glancing behind her.

The car turned onto the same street. Sonata's eyes widened and she picked up her pace, not quite running yet, as she tried to figure out what to do. The house was on the other side of the block, and all their neighbors had fenced in yards. She could try to make a break between the houses, but that meant climbing a lot of fences, and maybe even setting off some security alarms.  

She risked a glance behind her. The car was still there, moving at the same slow rate. Sonata squeezed the bag of groceries closer to her chest, took a deep breath, and broke into a run.

Her feet pounded down the sidewalk, almost in time with the pounding of her heart. Her eyes widened as she heard the enging of the car rev, increasing speed. Adrenaline kicked in and she ran faster, rounding the corner of the block.  

Come on come on come on come on!!! The phrase repeated incessantly in her head. She looked back behind her and she slowed as she saw the car continue through the intersection and didn't come after her. She slowed down and took a moment to catch her breath. When she calmed down, she started giggling.

“Okay, maybe Adagio and Aria are right. I do let my imagination run away with me.” 

She stretched and began walking home.





Aria was in the living room working on her laptop.

“Where the hell have you been?” she asked, as Sonata closed the front door.

“Sorry, got sidetracked,” Sonata answered.

“With what?” Aria snorted. “Some piece of trash blowing in the wind?”

“Nothing important.” Sonata walked past Aria toward the kitchen. As she reached the door, an arm shot out, blocking her access. Adagio appeared in the kitchen doorway. 

“I'll decide what's important around here,” the siren leader sneered. “Where were you?”

“I just ran down to the store for some snacks,” Sonata answered. “I thought someone was following me on my way home. They weren't. The car just kept driving when I turned down Rudell.”
Adagio quirked an eyebrow then stepped aside. “Next time, call if you think you're being followed.”

“Or, y'know, don't,” Aria chimed in. “One less mouth to feed around here if you get kidnapped.”

“Oh, screw you, Aria!” Sonata yelled back. 

“Never happen. Not with your fat ass.”

“MY ASS IS NOT FAT!”

Adagio groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Will you two knock it off?! I swear, one of these days all your caterwauling is going to make the neighbors come over here and – “

She was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing. The three looked at each other.

“Did somebody order pizza or something?” Sonata asked. 

“Not me,” Aria answered.

Adagio frowned and turned to Sonata. “You're positive you weren't being followed?”

“I thought I was,” Sonata answered. Fear was creeping across her face. “Can't we just ignore it?”

They were answered when an insistent pounding came from the front door. Adagio frowned and gestured at a kitchen knife sitting on the counter. Sonata grabbed it and held it close. Aria closed her laptop and got to her feet, picking up an umbrella from the stand next to the door. 

The pounding came again, followed by more insistent ringing from the doorbell. Adagio walked into the living room. Sonata followed after her holding the knife.

The three sirens faced the door, Adagio flanked by the other two. Aria held the umbrella in front of her like a sword while Sonata gulped and held the knife out in front of her. Adagio glanced at each of them. They nodded in reply. Adagio quickly ripped the door open and assumed a posture of defiance.

Defiance that was short lived. All three sirens' eyes widened. Sonata dropped her knife and scrabbled backward from the door. Adagio threw the door shut, but a hand stopped it and forced it back open, knocking the other two sirens to the floor.  

Adagio shook her head, dizzy, then looked up at their unwanted visitor. “You,” she hissed.

“I'm glad to see you remember me,” said Tempest Shadow as she entered the house. “Let's have a chat.”
> Mistrust, Violence, and Decisions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Nice place.” Tempest looked around the living room with approval. “I don't suppose you three actually paid for it?”

“None of your business.” Adagio got to her feet. “Get out.”

Tempest grinned. “What? And not catch up? It's been, what, five years since we last saw each other?”

“I think it's been six,” said Sonata. She frowned in thought. “No, wait, we came here... and then there was the thing before that... no, you're right, five years. Hey, where's the other one? Why isn't she with you?”

Tempest froze, her smile vanishing. “Sit down,” she ordered.

The corner of Adagio's mouth turned up in her crooked grin. “Oooh, something must have happened. Your partner leave you behind? Get a promotion to a nice, safe desk job?”

“She always did seem the softer of the two,” Aria jumped in. She grinned at Adagio. “Remember how we got her to do that strip tease at that club? The look on her face when she woke up was hilarious!”

“We probably shouldn't have uploaded the video to ViewTube,” Adagio replied.  

“But she did trend for almost a week before the video got pulled for TOS violation,” Sonata said. “Made the front page of Blueit.”

Aria let out a cruel laugh. “But look on the bright side, internet fame's almost as good as real money these-- ACK!”

Tempest whirled and grasped Aria by the neck before lifting her off the ground and pinning her to the wall. “I. Said. Sit!”

Aria gasped for air and kicked her legs. Tempest twisted out of the way of her feet, increasing the pressure on her throat. Her lips pulled back from her teeth with an ugly growl. Aria grabbed the agent's wrist and tried prying her hand away from her throat, but Tempest's arm was immobile.

Tempest's face was twisted up in rage. Her breath hissed through her teeth. Her fingers closed further around Aria's windpipe.  

Her eyes widened when she felt a blade at her throat.  

“Let her go,” Adagio hissed, holding the discarded kitchen knife. “I might not be able to mind control you anymore, but I will slit your throat right here, right now, and I don't give a damn if your bosses send a whole army after us.”

Tempest took a deep breath and let it out through her nose. She lowered Aria to her feet and released her. Aria fell to the floor and gasped for air. Sonata helped her to her feet and took her over to the couch.

Tempest raised her hands and glanced out of the corner of her eye, seeing Adagio's hair in her peripheral vision. She felt the edge of the knife pressing into her skin.  

“I let her go. Lose the knife.”

“I don't think so,” Adagio said. “Where's the rest of your goons?”

“Nowhere. I'm on my own. This is an investigation, not a detention.”

Adagio frowned. “Investigating what? Us?”

“No. I didn't even know you were here until I got to town.”

“The diner.” Adagio sighed. “I knew something was off when we left.”

“Forget that shit!” Aria hissed, her voice hoarse. “Cut her throat. We'll dump the body in the river outside of town.”

“Bad idea,” Tempest replied. “If I don't make regular reports, SOP is to send a team in to find out what happened to me. You remember what happened in Whinnyapolis the last time we met.”

Adagio's frown deepened and she pulled the knife away. “Sit.”

Tempest straightened her jacket and took a seat in the easy chair next to the couch. Adagio followed, sitting next to the other sirens.

“You all right?” she asked Aria, not taking her eyes off Tempest. Aria was sitting next to her, putting her head between her knees while Sonata rubbed her back. She looked up.

“I'll be fine. I still think we should kill her. We can steal her car and get the hell out of town afterwards.”

“We'll see,” Adagio replied. She looked Tempest over. “What do you want?”

“STORM's looking into the disturbance at the mall last week,” answered the agent. “They sent me to look into it.”

“We didn't have anything to do with that.” Adagio leaned back and crossed her legs.  

“I didn't say you did. But I've heard about other things that have happened in this town over the last year or so. Rainbows at night, girls with horse ears and wings...”

Tempest leaned forward and looked intently at the siren leader. “Odd monster sightings during Canterlot High's Battle of the Bands finals. You know anything about that?”

“Not a thing.” Adagio answered.

“Where's your amulets?” Tempest asked.

“We had to hock them. Money got tight.”
Tempest's eyes narrowed. “Bullshit. I know what those things did for you. And you already let slip you can't mind control people anymore. So what happened?”

“None of your business.”

“Oh, I think it is. You three are very much my business.” The STORM agent leaned back, crossed her own legs, and began counting off on her fingers. “Manehattan, Vanhoover, Baltimare, Fillydelphia, Whinnyapolis. Those files are still open and STORM is still wanting answers. In fact, I already mentioned to the director that you might be here. He was very interested in what I found.”

The three sirens exchanged a glance. Adagio's frown returned, but she said nothing.

“However,” Tempest continued. “I told him I only suspected you were here, not that I was sure. It could be entirely possible I was mistaken.”

“And what exactly would it take for you to be convinced you were... mistaken?” Adagio asked.

“Tell me what happened to your necklaces. What really happened.”

“Don't tell her a god damn thing,” Aria snarled. “Amulets or no amulets, we can still take her.”

Sonata looked at Tempest, eyes wide. “Can you get STORM off our backs for good?”

“If you're telling the truth about not being able to control people anymore, then that means you aren't a threat. I'm pretty sure I can get the case closed. If I feel like there's something more important I can occupy my time with, well...”

Tempest trailed off an smiled at the three on the couch. Adagio looked back at her, thinking. Aria turned to her.

“You don't seriously believe anything this bitch says do you?”  

“But if it'll get STORM off our backs --” Sonata said.  

Aria made a disgusted sound. “She broke four of your ribs and your wrist in Whinnyapolis, Sonata!”

“Well, we were trying to drown her.”

“Shut up, both of you!” Adagio snapped. She looked back at Tempest. “I don't trust you.”

“Which is probably a wise move,” Tempest answered. “But, for what it's worth, I'm not lying. Tell me what I want to know, and I'll call the director tonight. You could go on with the rest of your lives without worrying one day I'll show up again.”

She leaned forward, her expression hardening. “And I will show up again. No matter how far you run, no matter how long it takes. I don't stop. You know that.”

Adagio's lips pursed, pondering.  

“Don't do it,” Aria said.

“I think we should,” said Sonata.

Adagio ignored both of them and met Tempest's gaze. She leaned forward.

“Let's talk.”
> Regrouping, Reassessing, and Regret
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tempest mused to herself as she drove back to her hotel. Despite a rocky start at the school, and the consistent calls from the director, the day had been productive. Several leads checked out, some samples for the lab, and then there was Adagio and her friends.

They know more about what's going on around here than they're telling. They were right in the middle of it at one point. 

Adagio had asked for time to consider. Tempest had considered declining, but agreed to twenty-four hours. Aria was being stubborn, and the STORM agent knew the girl would be more likely to change her mind if she wasn't around. She had gotten Adagio to agree to meet her at the coffee shop in town the next day to get her answer. The meeting was scheduled for late afternoon, so Tempest turned her attention to her other lines of investigation.  

I need to talk to that clerk at the mall tomorrow. And while I'm there, I should swing into the movie theater looking for Juniper Montage. Even if she doesn't work there anymore, someone might know where I can find her. 

A grin slowly spread across her face as another idea came to her. Rarity. Her parents should be home this weekend. I might be able to get to the bottom of this without having to deal with the damn principal. Yes, that should--

“SHIT!” she yelped. Her feet slammed on the brakes, bringing her car to a screeching halt. Something darted out of the trees lining the road, right in front of her. Her seat belt locked painfully against her chest, knocking the wind out of her. She braced herself with her arms and barely managed to keep from banging her head on the steering wheel.  

She looked up and stared. Caught in the headlights were four teenage girls. Four teenage girls she recognized from the Chance to Prance video. A purple girl with glasses and a pony tail. A yellow girl with long pink hair. A blue girl with a shocking head of rainbow hair.  

And the pink girl. Tempest grinned. Now what are you doing out here at this hour?

Before she could get out of the car to talk to them, the four girls bolted across the street and into the trees. Tempest quickly got out of the car, trying to track them. She heard laughter in the trees but they had vanished into the shadows. She snorted and got back into the car.

There's no good reason those girls should be out here, she thought. Something's going on.

She put the car back in gear and headed down the road towards the center of the city.




“Stop yelling at me!” Twilight Sparkle yelled at Sunset Shimmer.

“I'm not yelling at you!” Sunset Shimmer yelled back. “I just want to know why in Celestia's name you would do something so mindboggingly dangerous and stupid!”

“You were paying a visit to a crime boss!” Twilight's fists clenched at her sides. “How is that any less dangerous and stupid that what we were doing?!”

“She does have a point, Sunset,” said Pinkie Pie, from where she was sitting on the couch between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.

“Stay out of this, Pinkie!” Both girls shouted. Sunset turned back to Twilight.

“I knew what I was getting into! I had a plan! We weren't in any real danger! You, however, not only risked your life, but their lives as well!” Sunset swept her arm in the direction of their friends.  

“Sunset,” Applejack frowned, a warning note in her voice. But the redhead was too far gone in her rant.

“You get so caught up in trying to figure out what's going on that you don't think about anyone's safety, not even your own! This is the Friendship Games all over again!”

The other girls let out a gasp. Twilight's eyebrows shot up. Sunset's brain caught up to what had just come out of her mouth and she slapped her hands over it briefly before holding them out toward Twilight.

“Twilight... I'm so sorry... I didn't mean it!”

Twilight stared at her, her eyes watering. She turned away and began heading for the door. “I'm going home. Fluttershy, can you give me a ride?”

“Um, I can,” said Fluttershy. “But don't you think... ?”

“Thank you. I'll be in the car.” Twilight went to the front door and left. Sunset slumped into a chair, burying her face in her hands. Fluttershy got to her feet.  

“I guess I'll go take Twilight home.” She walked over and touched Sunset's shoulder. Sunset looked up, her face haggard. “It'll be okay, Sunset. She knows you didn't mean it.”

Sunset nodded, then looked back at the floor. Rainbow Dash stood up and rubbed the back of her neck.  

“Yeah... I think I'm head home too. Think you can give me a lift as well, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy nodded and the two girls made their goodbyes and left. A few moments later, they heard the car start up outside and drive off. Pinkie and Applejack looked at each other, then back at Sunset, who hadn't moved.  

“Figure we probably oughta go too,” said Applejack. She walked over and touched Sunset's shoulder. “C'mon, sugarcube, it's been a bad night for all of us. A good night's sleep and we can figure out where to go from here.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie said. “I'm sure Twilgiht will be fine and totally not emotionally scarred by the fight you just had and you'll be able to work it out just fine!”

Sunset groaned and got to her feet. “I need to use the bathroom. I'll be out in a minute, Applejack.”

Applejack and Pinkie watched her head down the hall. Pinkie looked over at Applejack.

“It is going to be okay, isn't it, Applejack?”

“I hope so, Pinkie,” Applejack sighed. “I really do, 'cause I gotta bad feelin' about this whole thing.”





Sunset splashed water on her face and turned the faucet off. She braced herself on the sink and took a deep breath. She turned and dried her face on the towel hanging from the rack. She turned back to the large mirror above the sink. Her expression hardened as she looked at the clothes she was wearing. The old clothes. The clothes of the old Sunset. The Sunset she hated. The Sunset she thought she had forgiven during her time in the coma. The Sunset who, no matter how hard she tried, still kept coming out at the worst times.  

Sunset's fist clenched at her side. She brought it up and pulled it back. She glared at her hated reflection, felt the anger rushing through her veins, and let the punch fly.

She let out a grunt of pain as it smashed into the side of her face. She pulled her arm back and punched herself again, relishing the the pain that flowed through her jaw. She took another deep breath, checked her face for any signs of bruising, nodded when she saw nothing but a little reddening of the skin, and left the bathroom.
> Pain, Anger, and Hunger
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It didn't know what was going on. The last coherent thing it could remember was sunning itself on one of its favorite rocks in the forest, next to a stream that connected to the river outside of the place with the bright lights where the strange two legged things prowled. Then a flash of something fell from the sky and landed on a flower nearby.  

Normally, it didn't bother with flowers, not after the stinging thing nailed it in the nose one day and the pain didn't stop for nearly three appearances of the Great Sky Rock. But in this case, the flashy thing had landed on a flower, turning it from the color of the Sky Fire to the same color as the water in the depths of mating season. It really wasn't sure why the flashy thing had turned the flower the color of the water. It didn't really know a lot of things. Mostly the best places to hunt, the best places for water, the best places to sun itself on a rock, and the best places to mate.  

So it didn't really know why its first instinct had been to eat the flower. What it did know was the pain that followed. Flashes of light seared across its vision and it felt pain run throughout its body as muscles and bones grew. It felt its teeth elongate and its fur grew and became shaggier. It only lasted a few seconds, but the entire experience left it panting in the grass and its brain on fire.

Ever since then it felt hurt and angry. It rampaged through the forest, devouring anything that seemed like it could be edible. It had no idea how to stop the pain, but it was trying anything.  

It sought out food anywhere it could. The giant hollow rock behind the two legged things' cave with the bright lights which smelled of food had always been impossible to break open, but it had torn it apart with ease and ate everything it could. That sated it for a while, but the hunger and the anger had returned. It went to the place where the younger two-legs spent their day and occassionally fed the squirrels, but the pain in its head caused it to stay out of sight.  

And then, after the Sky Fire had disappeared and the Great Sky Rock appeared, it had smelled something familiar. The two-leg it thought of as She-Who-Speaks' scent along with several other scents it didn't recognize came through the trees. Light flashed in it's eyes, causing more pain, which caused it to charge forward, hoping to get rid of it.  

It charged through the trees, still smelling the fear of the two-legs running ahead of it. Two of them fell and it came to a halt, roaring to make its pain known. Then She-Who-Speaks threw rocks at it, hurting it's ear and nose. She roared back at it, but unlike other times She had spoken, it couldn't understand her. It roared again in pain and frustration. Then to its surprise, She-Who-Speaks ran away, along with the other two-legs. It had followed, trying to get She-Who-Speaks to understand.  

However, as had happened often since it had eaten the flower, its felt tired and listless. It broke off the chase and lumbered back to its shelter. It curled up and closed its eyes. It felt oddly sad. It wanted help and She-Who-Speaks didn't seem to be able to help it.

As it drifted off to sleep, it felt a longing. It missed She-Who-Speaks. It missed spending the days in the forest. It missed napping by the river.  

It snorted and let sleep take it. Maybe when the Sky Fire returned, everything would be better.
> Interrogation, Introspection, and Work
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tempest returned to the Canterlot Mall at about eleven on Saturday morning. The mall had been open for an hour and was bustling with the usual collection of weekend shoppers, teenagers, and employees. The STORM agent made her way swiftly to the Nobody Loves Me store and glanced inside. The girl with the three colored hair was stocking shelves, while a tall, skinny goth girl was manning the counter.  

Tempest straightened her jacket and went inside, walking up to the counter.

“How can I help you?” said the goth girl in a tone which implied “how can I help you?” was a synonym for “Death is inevitable and life a fleeting spark of nothingness.” “Inky Rose” was the name on the tag she wore.

Tempest pulled out her ID and flashed it. “Agent Tempest Shadow. May I speak to the manager, please?”

“That's me,” replied Inky Rose, in much the same way one would pronounce “the heat death of the universe is constant and nothing you say, do, or create will last and eventually we will all be forgotten in the endless void of entropy.”

Tempest stared at the girl for a moment before continuing. “I'm investigating the incident that happened here two weeks ago. I was hoping I could talk to the employee who was assaulted during that time?”

“Sure, no problem,” said Inky Rose, her tone implying that while she was personally glad her employee was alive, inevitably everyone in that room would die and nothing they did mattered in the slightest on the cosmic level. “Beachberry? This lady would like to talk to you in private. Use the stock room.”

Beachberry got up and turned around. She wore cats-eye glasses, jeans and a pink tank top, a beach ball shaped pendant on a chain around her neck, and a bright orange cast on one arm. She froze slightly when she saw Tempest, but quickly recovered.  

“Um... yeah. Sure. Right this way.” She led Tempest through an “Employees Only” door in the back of the store to a small room crowded with merchandise. Tempest produced her ID again and introduced herself.

“I'd like to hear about your experience on the day of the mall rampage two weeks ago,” she said. “I've seen the security footage. You're lucky.”

“I know,” Beachberry replied. “Look, I don't know what caused that psycho to attack me. I didn't even see her come into the store. I was putting some stuff back on the rack, when bam! The next thing I know there's a bright light and I'm crashing into the store across the hall and my arm is twisted in a direction it isn't supposed to be able to bend.”

“She must have had some reason,” said Tempest. “People don't usually randomly assault shop clerks for no reason.”

“You should be here during the holidays,” Beachberry muttered. She sighed. “I really wish I could help you more, Agent Shadow, but that's really all I know.”

“I don't believe you.”

“What?” Beachberry blinked as Tempest moved forward in the small space, forcing the teenager up against a counter of collectible figurines. She loomed over Beachberry, casting a shadow over her.

“I don't believe you. I think you know exactly why you were attacked. You haven't made eye contact with me once since your manager called you over. You've been looking everywhere in this room except at me while you told your story. It's a good story, probably mostly true, true enough to fool the police. But not me.”

Tempest's hand shot out, grabbed Beachberry's casted arm and held it up. “If this had happened to me, I'd be pissed. I'd want whoever was responsible to pay for what they did to me. So I have to wonder why you're going out of your way to avoid identifying them. Makes me wonder what it is you have to hide.”

Beachberry's eyes were wide and she swallowed hard. She looked around, as if expecting someone to be hiding among the T-shirts and posters scattered around the room. She turned to a desk that was crammed in one corner of the room. She grabbed a piece of paper off the top of a pile of flyers and handed it to the agent.

“I can't tell you much, because I'm genuinely not sure what happened. But I think, if you really want to know what was going on around here, you should be asking what happened to her.”

Tempest looked at the girl, searching for any tells that she was lying. Beachberry's expression was serious with a tinge of fear. But not enough fear to completely come clean. The STORM agent knew she had reached her limit with the girl. Whatever she knew, she was more afraid of the consequences of telling than of what Tempest might do to her if she didn't.

Tempest stepped back. “All right. Thank you for your time, Miss Beachberry.”

Tempest turned and walked out of the stock room. Beachberry's knees gave out and she grabbed the counter top to steady herself, sending boxes of adorable pop culture characters to the floor.  

As Tempest walked past the checkout counter, she looked over at Inky Rose. “Thank you for your help.”

“Anytime,” said Inky Rose, in a voice which pronounced doom and devastation to any who dared to waste the precious gift called life in this enclosed tomb of decadence and rampant consumerism.

Outside the shop, Tempest looked down at the flyer. Most of it was taken up by a color picture of a green, blonde haired girl dressed in an off the shoulder turquoise T-shirt and a gold pendant in the shape of the word “Boom!” She read over the text under the picture.




MISSING!

FIRECRACKER BURST

She is 18 years old, 6 feet tall, blonde hair, green eyes.

Last seen outside the Paddock Hills Apartment Complex

Please call if you have any information.




Tempest frowned. It was difficult to imagine a six foot tall teenage girl disappearing like that without a trace. It also made her wonder why Beachberry had pointed her in this direction.  

Tempest folded up the flyer and put it in her inside jacket pocket. She pulled out her phone and added another entry to her list of leads:





Who is Firecracker Burst?








Sunset wiped down the recently vacated table in her section and took the rag back to the busing station. She tossed it in the hamper and tightened the puffer fish shaped elastic holding her hair up.  

It was nice being back at work after so long. She would have preferred to be on nights this weekend, especially since Saturdays were date nights for a lot of people in town, which meant much better tips, but Koi Pond, the restaurant owner, had insisted that Sunset take days on the weekends for the next couple of weeks.  

“You've been in the hospital, Sunset,” the older woman had said when Sunset had called Koi to let her know she was available for work again. “I want you to take it easy for a bit. If this weekend goes okay, I'll put you down for Friday night next week. If that works out, I'll put you back on your usual schedule.”

Sunset had reluctantly agreed. While the money was better on nights, the lunch crowd hadn't been too bad so far. A few more tables over the course of the afternoon like the ones she'd had already and she'd make almost as much as she would have if she was working the night shift. She grabbed a glass of cola she'd put aside for herself and took a drink.

Her mind wandered back to the night before and how she had blown up at Twilight. She sighed and put the drink down. She felt horrible about what happened. Not what she had said, because it was the truth. Twilight always let her quest for knowledge overtake her common sense, and this time it could have gotten her and their friends killed. On the way home the night before, Applejack said, while she still saw Sunset visiting Capper as a dangerous move, what Twilgiht had done was far more reckless and risky and Sunset had been right to call her out on it.

But Sunset felt there was a better way she could have gone about getting that point across. She hated losing her temper with her friends. It always led to more trouble than it was worth.  

I better call her after work and see if she wants to talk, Sunset thought. Maybe we can come up with a better plan together on how to track this thing down now that some of us have actually seen it.

“Sunset?” Koi had stuck her head into the small sectioned off area that comprised the busers' station. “One top, table eighteen.”

“Thanks, Koi,” Sunset nodded. “I'm on it.” 

She pulled out her order pad and headed out into the main dining area. She put her concerns about Twilight in the back of her mind and smiled brightly as she approached the table.

“Hi! Welcome to Sushi Paradise! What can I – “

Sunset cut herself off as she felt her throat suddenly constrict. She fought to keep the smile on her face as Tempest Shadow looked up from the menu.

“I'll have an iced tea, please,” said the agent. “What are your specials today?”
> Food, Drink, and Panic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset quickly recovered and turned the grimace she could feel her lips trying to shape into a credible smile and recited the specials. Tempest looked over the menu again and then looked up.

“I’ll have the Rainbow Roll and a side of edemame, please.”

“Right away,” Sunset chirped, writing the order down. “Anything else?”

Tempest shook her head and handed over the menu. “No, that’ll be it for now.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back with your iced tea.” 

Sunset quickly returned the menu to its usual place, entered the order in the restaurant’s point of sale system, and took a deep breath.

She doesn’t know you. She has no idea who you are or what you look like. She’s just a customer like everyone else. Relax. Everything’s fine.

She got the agent her tea and went back to the table.

“Here you go! Did you want your edemame now, or with your roll?”

Tempest looked up from her phone. “I’ll have it with the roll, please.”

“All right. If you need anything, just let me know. I’ll have your food out in a few minutes.”

Sunset turned to go then froze as Tempest said “Actually…”

Sunset swallowed and turned back around. Tempest held up her ID. “Agent Tempest Shadow. I’ve been looking into the incident that caused the destruction over in the other wing of the mall about two weeks ago. Did you hear about that?”

“Not until I got back,” Sunset answered. Tempest’s eyes narrowed.

“Back?”

CrapcrapcrapcrapCRAP! Sunset tried to force her heart to slow down. What do I say? Do I tell her I was in the hospital or do I say I was out of town? What does she know? What would Princess Twilight do? Oh, God, I wish I was in Equestria right now. Facing an invading army would be easier than this.

“I was… sick,” Sunset answered. “I was in the hospital when all that happened. I got out last week and they let me come back to work this week. I have a couple of friends who work in other stores. They told me what happened.”

“Really?” Tempest said in a tone Sunset didn’t like at all. “One of them wouldn’t be named Beachberry, would they?”

“We’re not friends,” Sunset said, trying not to wince at how defensive she sounded. “I mean, I don’t hate her or anything, and I’ve seen her around school, but we don’t really hang out or anything like that.”

“So you go to Canterlot High?” Tempest reached into her inner jacket pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. She unfolded it and handed it to Sunset, who blinked as she recognized the flyer she and her friends had handed out about Firecracker Burst’s “disappearance.” “Did you know this girl?”

“I knew her but we weren’t very close. She’s a senior. She disappeared while I was in the hospital. I volunteered to help put up flyers. It was kind of a friend of a friend of a friend thing. I just wanted to help.”

“I see.” Tempest took a sip of her tea. As she did so, a chime rang out.

“Order up!” Koi called from the window leading to the kitchen. Tempest looked at Sunset and smirked. 

“Saved by the bell,” she grinned. She took the flyer back from Sunset and returned it to her pocket. “Well, I shouldn’t keep you any longer. You have work to do and I’m technically on my lunch break. Thank you for your help though, Miss…?”

“Shimmer. Sunset Shimmer.”

“Miss Shimmer,” Tempest finished. She reached into another pocket and pulled out a business card. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to talk to you some more when you aren’t so busy. Use the cell number on the card. I’ll be around for a few days.”

Sunset took the card and put it in the pocket of her apron. “I will. Glad to be of help. I’ll be right back with your food.” 

She didn't notice Tempest watching her go, or the way one corner of the agent's mouth hiked up in a satisfied smile.

She did, however, glance around and breathed a sigh of relief as two more tables were seated in her section. With any luck, she wouldn’t have to focus any more attention on the STORM agent than she would any other customer. She quickly got the agent’s order and placed the bowl and wooden tray on the table.

“Anything else I can get for you?” she asked.

“Some more tea?” Tempest asked. “Otherwise, you’ve been very helpful. Thank you.”

“No problem. I’ll be right back with your tea.”

After she refilled the glass and returned it, Sunset dashed into the kitchen to the employee lockers. She quickly dug out her phone and sent a text to her friends.



Emergency meeting tonight! My place. 9 PM.



She put her phone back in her locker, not bothering to wait for replies. She took a deep breath and went back out into the dining room.





As she ate her lunch, Tempest watched the waitress work. She was polite, personable, and moved about the dining room with a speed and efficiency the agent approved of. Each interaction lasted just as long as it needed to, long enough to feel welcoming and cheery, but not to the point of overstaying her welcome. Refills and other customer requests were fulfilled in the same manner. 

Even when Tempest had finished her meal and asked for the check, Sunset provided it in short order with a bright “Thank you for coming! Have a great day!” that seemed genuine. Tempest paid the bill with her expense credit card, then left the restaurant, taking one last look back at Sunset, who was serving another party who had just come in.

“I knew her but we weren’t very close. She’s a senior.”

Tempest had noticed the change in tenses in the two sentences. Almost like the waitress had let slip something she didn’t want to be made public. And while she had noted Sunset’s interactions with the other patrons of the restaurant, whenever the girl came back to her table, there was a tenseness in her posture. Not a lot, but years of interrogations had trained Tempest to notice it when it was there.

Sunset Shimmer knew more than she was telling. Tempest frowned. This was going to take some finesse. Unless by some miracle Sunset Shimmer was on the list of students Tempest had sent to Principal Celestia, she was going to have to convince the school administrator to let her have a word with Sunset on Monday.

Her phone chirped and she pulled it out. A reminder had popped up on her lock screen.



Meeting with Canterlot Mall Cinema manager. Re: Juniper Montage.



Tempest swiped the message away then turned to leave for the movie theater. As she walked, she kept thinking about Sunset Shimmer. She now had another face from the music video to go with the name on the medical file that had been confiscated. She wasn't entirely sure how the girl fit into all this. At least, not yet.

Either way, Miss Shimmer, we will be talking again very soon.
> Opinions, Distractions, and Not-Dates
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey, are you okay?” Timber Spruce asked. “You've been quiet ever since I picked you up.”

“Huh?” Twilight blinked and straightened up in her seat, knocking her spoon onto the table. She blushed and giggled nervously. “Fine. I'm fine. Totally fine. Everything is just... fine.”

Timber gave her a look. “Really?”

Twilight deflated. “No. Sorry. I'm kind of killing the mood, aren't I?”

“It's just lunch, Twilight. It's not like it's a date or anything.”

Twilight's eyes widened and a manic grin spread across her face. “Date? Who said it's a date? This? A date? Pfft. Noooooo. Just us. Having lunch. Totally not a date. Haaaaaa!”

Timber opened his mouth to speak, unsure of what exactly he was going to say, when mercifully, Pinkie Pie rolled up on her skates with their food. The two had decided on lunch at the Sweet Snacks Diner at the mall, and had happened to get a table in Pinkie's section.

“Okay, double cheeseburger with curly fries for our favorite camp counselor,” Pinkie began, “And one grilled cheese and celery for Twilight!”

She blinked and looked at Twilight, who was blushing bright red and grinning stiffly. “Um, Twilight? Are you okay?”

“I'm FINE!” Twilight yelped, gaining the attention of several other tables. She let out a half-hearted chuckle and slowly slid lower in her seat.

Pinkie and Timber looked at her with concern. Pinkie took a quick look around and leaned close to Twilight. “Listen, I'm sure Sunset feels really, really bad about what she said last night. Don't let it ruin your date. He's REALLY into you!”

“Um, I'm right here,” Timber said.

“And you need a refill!” Pinkie said, brightly, grabbing Timber's glass. “Be right back!”

She zipped off, only to somehow return, rolling backwards. She bent herself backwards and gave Twilight a saucy smile. “Totally into you,” she whispered before zooming off again.

Twilight and Timber stared at her as she left before looking at each other. After a moment, they both laughed.

“Well, I guess that's one way to break the ice,” said Timber.

“Yeah.” Twilight took a deep breath then let it out. “I'm sorry I'm being such a flake. Things have been really stressful the last couple of weeks. And last night...”

“What happened? Is Sunset all right?”
Twilight sighed and related the argument she had with Sunset the night before. “And the worse part of it is that I know she's right. I didn't have a plan and I nearly got all of us hurt or worse. Pinkie had to get her cast reset before we could take her home. I don't even know what she told her parents.”

“Well, for what it's worth, I think you had a point too.”  

Twilight gave him an incredulous look. “Really?”

Timber nodded. “Really. Look, what you did was dangerous, yeah, but even if she knew what she was getting into, things were still just as dangerous. We've had some of the kids who live in Klugetown come to the camp. They're hyperaware of everything. It's a dangerous place and even if Sunset knew these people, they could have still done something to her and Applejack.”

“Well, yeah, but I almost got us eaten by whatever it is that's out there.”

“And she could have gotten herself or Applejack shot,” Timber countered. “From where I stand, last night, you were both idiots.”

Twilight blinked and stared, open-mouthed, at his serious expression. Then she sputtered when he grinned and shoved one of his fries into her mouth. She spit the fry out, which landed on the table between them. Timber grinned, speared it with a fork and ate it.

“Oh my god! That was in my MOUTH!” Twilight yelped.  

Timber grinned. “I know.”

Twilight couldn't help herself, she made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a gag. “You're so gross!”

“Maybe, but it got your mind of your troubles for a bit, didn't it?”  

Twilight stopped cringing, looked at his smirk, and started laughing. He joined her and they calmed down after a minute.

“Seriously, though,” Timber said. “You're both right. You both did some seriously dangerous things last night, and with that Tempest Shadow person sniffing around, it could have drawn the kind of attention you guys don't want.”

“I know,” Twilight replied. “But we have to do something. The longer it's out there, the more likely she'll start looking into it and that may lead right back to us.”

“I'm not saying you stop looking for this thing, I'm saying you all should try to be smarter about it. I don't know what, if anything, she found at the camp, but I don't know if the giant magic light show is going to be your best option when you do find this thing. And maybe suggest to Sunset she try not to involve criminals in what's going on when a federal agent is looking into what you guys do.”

“If she's still speaking to me,” Twilight muttered, poking at her sandwich. “We've kind of been at odds with each other these last couple of weeks. We have a conflict, we resolve it, and then something else crops up and we're right back where we started.”

“And you guys work the problems out and move on. And judging from what Pinkie just said, Sunset probably feels as bad as you do. If talking to her solved your other problems, it should work for this one, right?”

“Maybe. I just wish I didn't keep --”

She was interrupted by a the sound of her text notification going off. Twilight reache dinto the pocket of her skirt and pulled out her phone. She blinked. “It's from Sunset.”

“What's it say?”

Twilight read the text then held out her phone to Timber. At that moment, Pinkie Pie returned with Timber's refill. She put the glass on the table. “Whatcha looking at? New meme? Is it the one with the otter dressed like a 16th century nobleman and he asks really mundane questions in iambic pentameter? I love that one!”

Twilight gave Pinkie her phone. The bouncy girl's face fell. “Oh... bummer.”
> Dilemmas, Debates, and Jacuzzis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aria found Adagio brooding in her usual place. While the house they lived in was small, it at least had come with a pool and attached jacuzzi. Whenever Adagio became too stressed, too angry, or just wanted to get away from the other two former sirens for a while, she would come out to the hot tub and soak until she felt calm enough to get on with whatever was bothering her. 

While she’d never admit it out loud, Aria had come looking for her because Adagio had gone out to the pool deck at about nine that morning and it was now almost one in the afternoon. 

She’s probably boiled herself to death by now. Aria thought as she opened the sliding glass door to the backyard. And with my luck, I’m gonna have to be the one to clean up what’s left of her and keep Sonata from losing her shit.

Adagio had not boiled herself into oblivion. She sat in the roiling water of the jacuzzi, her voluminous hair somehow pulled up into a gravity defying tower on top of her head. Her shoulders were bare, which wasn’t surprising. All three of them swam and soaked in the nude. 

The fences were high enough to keep the neighbors from peeping, although a few of the middle school boys had tried to get a look every now and then. Aria preferred hurling a rock at them, while Sonata usually waved and Adagio would either give them a violent tongue lashing or a show, depending on her mood. 

The mood today was clearly dour. Adagio was resting her head on the edge of the jacuzzi, eyes closed, face tense. In a rare moment of self-restraint, Aria resisted the impulse to splash cold water from the adjacent swimming pool onto Adagio’s chest. Instead, she nudged her fellow siren with the toe of her foot.

“You missed lunch. I called for you, but you didn’t answer. There’s no leftovers. Sorry.”

“Mmm.” Adaigo didn’t open her eyes. “Where’s Sonata?”

“Her panic attacks were annoying me. I gave her forty bucks and told her to go to the movies. There’s gotta be some cartoon or gory horror flick playing to keep her occupied for a couple of hours.”

Adagio nodded, then opened her eyes and sat up in the hot tub. “I need some advice.”

Aria snorted. “I told you to lay in a supply of Plan B six months ago, but you just had to --”

“I’m serious, Aria,” Adagio interrupted. Her voice was firm but quiet. Not the usual imperious demanding tone she usually used. That was enough to get Aria’s attention and to get her to turn off the snark.

Adagio gestured to the jacuzzi. “Join me?”

Aria shrugged and stripped out of her clothes, sliding into the water and taking a seat on the bench across from Adagio. Adagio was frowning in thought. It was a rare expression as the lead siren usually had at least five different plans ready to go for any given situation. 

“What is it?” Aria asked.

Adagio was silent for a moment, then turned to Aria with a serious expression. “I don’t know what to do about Tempest.”

“Kill her and skip town,” Aria replied. “Problem solved. Is that what you’ve been out here brooding about for the last four hours?”

Adagio gave her a look and an irritated sigh. “That will just bring more heat down on us from STORM. Tempest isn’t some anonymous pencil pusher there. You know that.”

Aria was forced to concede the point. She had been the one who hacked into STORM’s database after their first encounter with the agent. “You aren’t seriously considering telling her anything, are you?”

Adagio shrugged. “I honestly don’t know.”

Aria groaned. “You’re not Sonata. You have a brain you can use. There’s no reason in Tartarus to believe she’ll leave us alone if we tell her what she wants to know. For all we know, she’ll go after the Rainshrooms or whatever the hell they’re calling themselves now, and then once she’s got them, we’re locked up right along with them.”

“That’s true,” Adagio murmured. “But what if she isn’t lying? What if she can get the case closed? We’d be free. No more hiding. No more worrying.”

“She’s a goddamn spook!” Aria protested. “They’re trained to lie and make it look good. Okay. For the sake of argument, let’s take her at her word. There’s other ways to close the case without bringing us in or letting us go.”

Adagio looked at Aria, perplexed. Aria rolled her eyes, made a gun shape with her first two fingers, put them to her head then pulled them apart from each other while making a gunshot noise with her mouth. 

“You think she would go that far?” Adagio asked.

Aria gave her an incredulous look, tilted her head and pointed at the bruises on her neck where Tempet’s fingers had been. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

The next thing out of Adagio’s mouth shocked Aria to the core and spoke to how seriously the Dazzling leader was taking their situation.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Aria stared, wide-eyed. “This is really getting to you, isn’t it?”

Adagio nodded. “I’d like to get revenge on Sunset Shimmer and her little pals just as much as you would, but putting Tempest on their trail?” She shook her head. “No one deserves what will happen if she catches them.”

“Maybe they can rainbow blast her and take care of her that way,” Aria said. “I mean, I’d rather just kill her for all the shit she put us through, but if we have to give her something, it’s not like they can’t defend themselves.”

“True.” Adagio sat in thought for a bit, then: “So you agree with Sonata? We tell Tempest what she wants to know?”

Aria considered. She really didn’t give a damn about Sunset Shimmer and her friends, and if it would get STORM off their back for good, then it was stupid not to take advantage of the STORM agent’s offer. On the other hand, Aria trusted Tempest and the rest of STORM about as far as she could throw them. The few run-ins the sirens had already had with STORM proved the agency wasn’t the type to let things like them go. 

“I wish Cantata was here.”

Aria blinked and looked up sharply at Adagio. A scowl crossed her face and she felt anger flowing through her. “Well, she’s not!” she snapped. “And in case you’ve forgotten, STORM’s the reason why!”

Aria stood up, not caring she was exposing herself. “You damn well remember what they did! What she had to do! You know what? No. Fuck. No. Don’t tell Tempest anything. Why the hell should we help them after what they did to us? To her!”

Aria began climbing out of the jacuzzi. “And fuck you for trying to manipulate me into giving you permission to tell Tempest what she wants to hear! If you decide to give up and sell the Rainblooms out to her, just keep in mind that you’re probably going to sell us out as well and we’re all going to end up just like she did! Fuck this. I’m out. Figure out your own damn problems! Serves me right for caring!”

Aria pulled her t-shirt on over her head and gathered up the rest of her clothes. As she turned to open the sliding glass door back into the house, she heard the water slosh.

“Aria, wait!”

Aria glared over her shoulder. Adagio had gotten out of the hot tub and was cinching the belt on her bathrobe. Her index finger of one hand was extended, while the hand itself was shaking. Aria blinked. She knew that gesture. It was one Adagio frequently adopted when a plan was forming. She looked at her fellow siren with skepticism. 

Adaigo’s hand stopped trembling and her familiar crooked grin crossed her face.

“I think I have an idea.”
> Frustration, Intel, and Fabric
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tempest stalked out of the Canterlot Mall movie theater, mentally grumbling to herself. While Juniper Montage had worked there for a while, she was not employed by the theater now. Her family had moved out of town near the end of the summer. The theater manager didn’t know where, and Tempest knew she didn’t have time to track her down. 

She pulled out her phone. At the very least, she had confirmed that the blue-haired pigtailed girl in the video from the incident at the mall during the summer was, in fact, Montage. Tempest typed out a note next to Juniper’s name, reminding herself to follow up on the girl’s current location if necessary. She sat down on a handy bench and looked back over her leads. She still had a couple of hours before she had to meet up with Adagio, so there was time to pursue other avenues.

Abacus Cinch,Tempest thought. I wonder if Grubber’s found anything yet.

She switched from the notepad app to her phone and thumbed a contact. After a few rings, Grubber, her contact in the Intel department, came on the line.

“THTORM Intel. ID and Thecurity Clearanthe, pleathe.”

Tempest gave the information. “Any joy on that lead I gave you?”

“The Printhipal from that prep thchool?” Grubber asked. “One thec…”

Tempest held the phone away from her ear, not wanting to hear the wet smacking sounds of Grubber eating whatever he had this time.  She rolled her eyes as her former partner started humming tunelessly. Once again, she thanked whatever higher powers there were that he had gotten the transfer to the Intel department before she did something he would regret. Tempest herself was certain she would have enjoyed whatever she wound up doing to him.

“Okay, hereth’s what I got tho far,” Grubber lisped. “Abacuth Cinch wath the Principal of Crythtal Prep Academy for the latht twenty yearth. Last April, though, she took early retirement, thiting, and I quote, ‘a need to reatheth my profethional goalth and career path.’”

“That’s it?” Tempest asked. “She just burned out.”

“That’th her official reathon for retiring.” Grubber cackled and continued. “According to reporth I found with the Canterlot Board of Education, and the local PTA, ever thince this Friendship Gameth thing, she had complaints filed against her from theveral studenth with powerful parenth. Even her own second in command over there filed some reporth of her own.”

Tempest quirked an eyebrow. Dissention in the ranks? “What kind of reports?”

“Ummm… No detailth here, justh noteth that the reporth were filed. But, I think I found thomebody who can help you there.”

“Yeah?”

“Prethident Neighthay of the Canterlot Education Athothiathion. They handle thingth like that where teacherth are involved. Hith office openth at eight AM on Monday.”

“Neighsay?”

“Neigsthay, right. That’th what I thaid.”

“Right,” Tempest said, trying not to sigh. “Get me the number, I’ll call them on Monday.”

“Thorry, Tempetht. Wish I had more for you.”

“It’s fine. I’ll –” 

Tempest closed her mouth as she saw a certain violet-haired girl in a wheelchair roll through her field of vision. Tempest watched her pass, then stood up. 

“Grubber, I’ll call you back.” 

She hung up without waiting for an answer and began following Rarity at a distance. Being Saturday, the mall was fairly busy, but Tempest managed to keep track of the girl from the movements of the crowd who parted for the wheelchair as it passed.

Soon, Rarity broke from the flow of foot traffic and made her way into the mall’s fabric store. Tempest watched her wave to the clerk on duty. Clearly, she was a regular customer. 

As Rarity disappeared into the shop, Tempest considered. On the one hand, she had an opportunity to question the girl directly about her injuries. On the other, doing so without a parent present could present problems. Not huge ones. The agent had dealt with situations like this in the past, but the resistance she had gotten so far made her wary. 

More observation then. See if an opportunity presents itself.

Tempest crossed the hall and entered the store. She nodded at the cashier on duty and began pretending to look at the various fabrics on display. A couple of rows over, Rarity was looking at a dark orange fabric and comparing it to a smaller swatch she had in her hand. 

“Hmm,” Rarity hmmm’ed. “Not quite the right shade, but… Thimble! Is this one still on sale?”

“Even better!” called the clerk. “We just marked it down on Wednesday!”
Rarity grinned. “Delightful!” Rarity put the bolt on her lap and wheeled over to a large cutting table at the back of the store. Tempest slowly made her way in that direction, watching out of the corner of her eye as Rarity put on a pair of red framed eyeglasses and spread the cloth out over the table, next to a built-in ruler.

“Let’s see… I need this much for the body… a little more for the sleeves. Oh yes, this will do nicely.” She grabbed a pair of scissors from a jar on the corner of the table and measured the cloth out again, humming a tune to herself. 

Tempest drifted across the room and moved behind her, pretending to look at the bolts on the rack next to the table. She slowly made her way down the rack, looking for any evidence of the horse ears Rarity had been wearing in the music video. 

“If you’re going to watch every move I make, you could at least do the courtesy of introducing yourself.”

Tempest froze as Rarity wheeled herself around and looked at the agent over the top of her glasses.

“Can I help you with something, darling?”
> Inquisition, Confrontation, and Rescue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tempest blinked in surprise, but quickly recovered. “Excuse me, miss.”

She presented her ID to Rarity and returned it to her inside pocket. “Agent Tempest Shadow. I’m with the Specialized Taskforce Overseeing Remarkable Matters.”

“Well,” Rarity said with smile. She removed her glasses and placed them in a cleverly hidden pocket of her skirt. “That certainly sounds impressive. And what exactly can I do for you, Agent Shadow?”

“I’m looking into the events that happened here at the mall about two weeks ago,” Tempest explained.

“Ah yes, I was there,” said Rarity. Tempest’s jaw tightened and she managed to keep her surprise off her face.

“You were? Do you mind telling me what you saw?”

“The same thing everyone else did. A seven-foot-tall woman in a black overcoat throwing what looked like some kind of energy beams around. I got caught up in the evacuation and didn’t really see much after the sparks started flying, as it were.”

“I see. And you didn’t see anything else unusual?”

“Define ‘unusual.’”

“On the mall’s security footage, there appeared to be three other women in the area. The thing is, two of them seemed to have wings.”

“Wings?” Rarity’s voice held a note of skepticism.

“Wings,” Tempest confirmed. “And horse ears.”

“No, I didn’t see anything like that,” Rarity answered. “As I said, I was hustled out with the rest of the crowd. No girls with horse ears and wings.”

“And in your music video?”

Rarity blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“You won the mall’s Chance to Prance music video contest last spring, correct? You’re winning video featured yourself and several other girls wearing horse ears and wings.”

“Pfft-tsk-tch,” Rarity sputtered, dismissively. “Costume pieces, darling. We were doing a mash up of various dance and music styles. I decided on the ears and wings as an artistic flourish.”
“Then why didn’t all the girls have them? Seven of you did, four of you didn’t.”

“Sadly, our budget ran out and we ran with what we had.” Rarity rolled back a bit and looked up at the agent, an eyebrow raised. “I’m not exactly certain where you’re going with all this, Agent Shadow.”

The agent ignored the inquiry. “How did this happen?” She nodded toward the wheelchair.

“I hardly think that’s any of your business,” Rarity replied. Her voice was polite but firm. “I had a rather unfortunate accident.”

“What kind of accident?”

“The kind that puts people in wheelchairs. And I believe this conversation is over.”

Rarity turned her chair and began to roll away. Tempest reached out and grabbed one of the handle protruding from the back of the chair, bringing her to a halt. Rarity looked over her shoulder her eyes flashing.

“I’m not up on the law, but I believe that qualifies as assault, Agent Shadow.”

“What kind of accident?” Tempest’s voice was hard.

“I fell from a great height,” Rarity spat. “Kindly release my chair.”

“Not yet. You say you saw the woman in the overcoat, but not the three girls with wings—”

“Two,” Rarity snapped. As soon as the word escaped her lips, her eyes widened and she snapped her mouth shut.

“What?” Tempest asked. 

Rarity’s expression was panicked, but quickly hardened. “You said there were two girls with wings, not three. Three girls with pony ears, two had wings.”

Tempest quirked an eyebrow. “Yes, I did say that, didn’t I? In any event, you say you didn’t see these girls, and yet in your own music video, you and your friends are wearing similar wings and ears. That’s quite a coincidence, wouldn’t you say?”

“I’m sure I don’t know. Now will you please let go? I have several things I need to do this afternoon and I –”

“We’re not done here,” Tempest interrupted. She grabbed the other handle of the wheelchair and began pushing Rarity toward the front of the store.
“Oh, I think you are, Agent Shadow,” came a stern voice. Tempest and Rarity looked up to see Luna standing in the next aisle over.

“Vice Principal Luna!” Rarity exclaimed.

“I think my sister made it quite clear the circumstances under which you could speak to our students, Agent Shadow.” Luna folded her arms and glared at the agent. 

“We’re not on school property,” Tempest snarled. “You have no authority here.”

“Maybe not, but it looked very much to me like you were planning on taking Rarity somewhere against her will. Which, as I’m sure you know, qualifies as kidnapping.”

“Don’t presume so much, Vice Principal.”

“I don’t’ presume anything, Agent Shadow. I’m merely telling you the same thing I plan on telling the police and Rarity’s parents should you take one more step toward that exit. Now, take your hands off the chair… or do I call security, the police, and your superiors right now?”

The agent and the administrator stared each other down, then Tempest took her hands off the wheelchair. She walked around it and glared down at Rarity.

“Thank you for your time, Miss Rarity.” She looked up at Luna. “Vice Principal.”

“Agent Shadow,” Luna replied. She and Rarity watched as the agent left the fabric store and disappeared out fo sight. Rarity let out a sigh of relief and collapsed against the back of her chair.

“Are you all right, Rarity?” Luna asked, coming around and kneeling next to her. “Do you need me to call your parents?”

“No, thank you, Vice Principal Luna,” Rarity sighed. “I’ll be all right. I wasn’t expecting to meet her in person so soon.”

“What did she say to you?”

“Nothing much. Mostly she asked questions about the fight here at the mall. She definitely suspects something. She’s seen the music video we did for the Chance to Prance contest. She’s put two and two together.”

Luna frowned. “That’s not good.”

“I agree. But what do we do?”

“I think you should go straight home and stay there,” Luna answered. “Do you have a ride?”

“No, I took the bus here.”

“I’ll give you a ride, then, just in case she’s hiding out there waiting to follow you.”

Rarity nodded. “Thank you, Vice Principal.”

Luna stood up. “Would you like me to push, or would you prefer to do it yourself?”

“I’ve got it, thank you.” Rarity gripped the wheels and rolled to the counter. She paid for the fabric she had come for and allowed Luna to escort her out.

“You should probably tell your friends what happened,” Luna said as she led the way to her car. 

“Sunset sent a text a little while ago. We’re meeting at her place tonight.”

“Really?” Luna pursed her lips in thought. “Could you text her when you get home and ask if it would be all right for my sister and I to join you? We have news of our own to share.”

Rarity blinked. “I believe she’s at work right now, but I’m sure she’ll respond by six. We’re meeting at nine.”

Luna held open the door leading to the parking lot. “This is a dangerous game we’re playing, Rarity. She smells blood now. It’s only a matter of time before she strikes.”

“I know,” Rarity replied. She let out a deep sigh. “I only hope when she does, we’re able to defend ourselves.”
> Rage, Frustration, and Memories
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tempest was fuming as she peeled out of the mall parking lot. Almost a decade of service to the country protecting it from threats the populace couldn’t even begin to dream of and she was being bested and blocked by a bunch of fucking high schoolers!

She could already hear the Director berating her in her head as she drove through the streets, heading for her next appointment. God help Adagio if she failed to show. The way Tempest felt right now, she’d be more than happy to hand over all three to STORM so she had somethingto show for all the wasted time spent in this town.

“You need to learn to let things like this go.”
 
Tempest winced as a familiar itch rippled along the scar across her eye. Her hand instinctively shot up to rub it. 

“Sometimes they’re ready for you. Sometimes they legitimately don’t know anything. All investigations hit snags. Nothing’s perfect.”
 
“Shut up,” Tempest hissed aloud. “You’re gone. You’re not here. Shut up.”

“You can’t just bully your way into every situation to prove you’re the one in charge. It doesn’t work like that. They’re people, not sheep.”

“Could have fooled me,” Tempest growled. “Fat lot of good it did you, didn’t it?”

“Listen… don’t let this harden you. Not everything is a threat.”

The memory of a cough echoed in the agent’s skull. Tempest’s knuckles whitened as her grip on the steering wheel became rigid. Her foot pressed down on the accelerator. 

“You’re not as much of a hard case as you think you are.”
 
“You don’t know me!” Tempest snarled. “You thought you did, but you didn’t know a god damn—”

A horn sounded, breaking Tempest’s trance and she let out a curse as she became aware of the delivery truck barreling at her from the side. She’d run a red light. She quickly swerved to give the truck more room and managed to shoot across the intersection without causing an accident. As soon as she was a decent distance away, she pulled into an alley and turned off the engine. She let out a scream of frustration and bashed her hands against the steering wheel.

She took a few deep breaths and picked up her phone.

“THORM Intel. ID and Thecurity—”

“It’s me, Grubber.”

“Tempetht? Whath’s up? You thound… off.”

“I’m hitting a snag. I need info. Now.”

“Thure, okay.” There was a sound of office supplies being scattered around. “Whatcha need?”

“Dig into the principal and vice principal of Canterlot High. Celestia and Luna. I want to know everything about them. If there’s so much as a citation for littering, I want it. You got that?”

“Okaaaaay,” Grubber was clearly perplexed. “Why?”

Tempest growled but decided to answer the question. “I have a hunch they know exactly what’s been happening out here. They’ve blocked me from talking to the people I need to talk to. I need leverage. Something. Anything.”

“Got it. Although…”

“What?!” Tempest snarled.

“Eathy, tiger,” Grubber soothed. “I jutht wanna make sure thith is what you really wanna do. I mean, it thoundth like that thing that happened in Lath Pegathuth—”

“JUST GET ME THE GOD DAMN INTEL, GRUBBER!” Tempest jabbed the “End Call” button and nearly threw the phone out the window before she stopped herself and put it down on the passenger seat. 

“Are you done having your tantrum yet?”

“Shut. Up.”

“You’re going to have a heart attack before you’re 35, you know that?”
 
“You are not here. You are not real.”

“In this job, kiddo, you’re going to find a lot of stuff you thought wasn’t real… is.”
 
Tempest grabbed the steering wheel, took a series of short breaths through her teeth, reared her head back, preparing to smash it into the wheel – 

--and was interrupted when the notification chime went off on her phone. She picked it up and glared at the screen.

4:00 PM. Meeting with Adagio.

Tempest took a deep breath through her nose, then put the phone away, started the car and drove out of the alley. She didn’t have time for this. There was work to do.
> Lies, Lies, and More Lies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“And here we are again,” said Adagio as Tempest slid into the seat opposite her. The former siren smirked at the agent’s annoyed expression. “Oh my. Someone had bad day.”

“Talk,” Tempest snarled. Adagio’s face fell.

“That’s hardly polite.”

“I’m done being polite. Start talking or I call for backup right now.”

“You don’t want to do that.”

Tempest’s lip curled up in a sneer and she reached for her phone. “Don’t test me.”

“And what, exactly, do you plan on telling them?” Adagio asked, putting her hands on the table and interlocking her fingers. “That you found the three POIs you lost in Whinnyapolis? The ones with the strange mind control powers? The ones you couldn’t give a clear description of in your reports?”

Tempest’s frown deepened. “My reports are classified.”

“Yes, they are,” Adagio replied. “But we’ve been around long enough to know how to protect ourselves when leverage is needed. We have ways of getting what we want, even without our song. And that’s our ace in the hole. Our song is gone. We can’t charm anyone anymore. Which means that if you were to call in your goon squad, they’d find that once again, Agent Shadow has unlawfully detained ordinary civilians with no unusual powers or abilities that fall under STORM’s mandate.”

Adagio leaned back and gave Tempest her crooked grin. “Just like that time in Las Pegasus.”

Tempest bolted forward and reached across the table, grasping for Adagio’s blouse. Adagio’s hand shot out, grasping Tempest’s wrist. When she spoke again, her voice was low and deadly.

“You lay one finger on me and I scream loud enough that the cops will be called and we’re right where I said we’d be.”

Tempest snorted and sat back in her seat. Adagio straightened her clothes and gave her a cool look.

“I don’t plan on leaving you empty handed. I just wanted you to know exactly what will happen if you’re planning on double crossing me.”

“Either give me something I can use,” Tempest growled. “Or I’ll find SOMETHING I can arrest you and your sisters for.”

“We’re not sisters,” Adagio replied. “As for something you can use, fine. I can tell you that what you’re suspecting is correct. This town has become a nexus for the strange and unusual. Even before we came here.”

“What’s causing it?” 

Adagio shrugged. “Not sure. We were drawn to it because it felt similar to our own power.”

“What about this Battle of the Bands I’ve heard about?” Tempest asked, her expression once again impassive. “That sounded like something you three would be involved in.”

“It was. We traced the power to Canterlot High School, decided to do our thing in an attempt to flush it out, and when we did, kaboom!”

“’Kaboom?’”

“We woke up a day later and our amulets were shattered. We couldn’t manipulate anyone anymore. We didn’t really have anywhere else to go, so we stuck around here.”

Adagio leaned forward again. “But you can be sure that whatever the hell is going on in this town, that school is at the center of it. There’s a power there. I don’t know what exactly it is or how it works, but that’s where you should be focusing your time.”

Adagio leaned back and gave Tempest an expectant look. Tempest took a sip from her water glass and slowly put it down.

“That’s it?”

“That’s a lot,” Adagio snapped. “Don’t pretend you aren’t impressed.”

“I already figured the school was involved, although, yes, it’s nice to have confirmation. But it’s still useless to me.”

“You asked what happened to our amulets. I told you. Now hold up your end of the deal.”

Now it was Tempest’s turn to smirk and Adagio’s to frown. “I don’t fully trust you.”

“Because you’re not an idiot,” Adagio snapped. “But that’s what happened. Sorry it wasn’t what you wanted to hear.”

Tempest grinned again, feeling herself sliding back into the position of power. “Assuming I believe this, it’s not enough to call the Director about.”

“Why am I not surprised? Guess I’ll just make my own call then.” Adagio produced her phone and unlocked it.

“Wait. I didn’t say I wouldn’t.” Tempest began drumming her fingers on the tabletop. “I’ll take what you’ve told me into consideration. If it’s the truth, I’ll call off the dogs when I’m ready to leave town.”

“And what guarantee do I have that you’ll do it?”

“You don’t have one. And you don’t have a choice. We’re just going to have to trust each other.” Tempest leaned forward, her expression dark. “And if you are lying to me, Adagio, life is going to get very, very hard for you and your little backup band.”

“Don’t make promises you don’t know you can keep,” Adagio snarled back. “You lay one finger on any of us again, and STORM will never find you. And unlike you, I cankeep that promise.”

Adagio got up out of the booth and tossed some bills on the table. “The snack’s on me. And don’t even think about following me.”

“Don’t need to. I know where you live.”

Adagio ignored the threat and stalked haughtily out of the coffeehouse. Tempest chuckled and pulled out her phone. It was nice to know that there was somebody in this town she could rattle. She reached into her inner jacket pocket and pulled out the missing person flyer she had gotten from Beachberry. 

Maybe it’s time I make friends with local law enforcement.
> Pieces, Clues, and Threads
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tempest pulled back into the mall parking lot around 6 PM, feeling satisfied with her plans. Canterlot City PD had been extremely helpful and she had information she could work from regarding the missing Firecracker Burst. But that thread was going to have to wait until tomorrow. The STORM  agent had other plans for the evening.  

She parked the car a decent distance from the food court entrance of the mall and waited. If she had time this right, then at any moment...


There.

Sunset Shimmer came out of the food court entrance, a short black denim jacket with orange chevrons on the sleeves over her uniform. The wooden sandals she had worn in the restaurant had been replaced by a pair of black sneakers. She was glancing down at her phone, then up at the parking lot.  

Tempest waited patiently. The girl was obviously waiting for a ride. A parent, most likely. Tempest split her time between Sunset and the entrance to the parking lot, looking for a likely ride. To her surprise, a battered pickup truck pulled up to the curb in front of Sunset, who climbed into the cab. Tempest quickly pulled out her phone and activated the camera, zooming in. The driver was a freckled blonde girl in a cowboy hat at the wheel. Tempest tapped the screen, getting a picture of the cowgirl. The two teenagers talked for a minute or two before the cowgirl put the truck into gear and began pulling out of the mall.

Tempest followed them into traffic, keeping a decent enough distance that they wouldn't suspect they were being followed. After about ten minutes, they turned into an area made up primarily of shops and older apartment buildings. The truck came to a halt art the curb a few feet from a small, two story, red brick apartment building. Tempest drove past the truck and parked further down before looking at the two girls in the rear view mirrors as they entered the building.  

She gave them five minutes, then got out of the car and walked back down to the building. She wnet to the front door and entered the building. The door led into a corridor. A mailbox with eight doors was installed in the wall, while a staircase led upward, presumably to the upper apartments. Tempest read the names on the the mailboxes, frowning when she encountered one reading “S. Shimmer.”

“'S. Shimmer?' She lives alone? At her age?

Tempest made a mental note to look further into Sunset's living arrangements. A minor shouldn't have been able to live alone, much less afford an apartment. Something else for Grubber to look for.

“Can I help you?”

Tempest turned to see a prim, yellow woman with green hair tied back in a severe bun. She wore half-moon spectacles and a sour expression.

“I'm sorry,” Tempest began. “I seem to have gotten lost. I was supposed to visit a friend at her new apartment, but I'm having trouble finding the building. I was just checking to see if this was it.”

The woman quirked an eyebrow. “I haven't had any new tenants in months. I own this building.”

“Oh, I see. I must have gotten it wrong, then.”

“You do know they have this marvelous thing called GPS now?” said the woman. “It tells you exactly how to get where you're going.”

“Oh you know Oodle Maps,” Tempest laughed. “Always trying to get you to go down streets that don't exist.”

“Hmm. Well, you know this isn't the place you're looking for, and I take the privacy of my tenants very seriously, so if you don't mind, I'm going to have to ask you to leave.”

Tempest felt her jaw clench, but she forced herself to relax. “Yes, of course, sorry to trouble you Mrs...?”

“Miss. Bookbinder.”

“Miss Bookbinder,” Tempest finished. “Thank you for your help.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Tempest exited the building, feeling Miss Bookbinder's gaze boring into her. As she made her way back to her car, she pulled out her phone and called Grubber.

“Good timing,” he said through what sounded like a mouthful of sponge cake. A repulsive swallowing sound came out of the phone before he spoke again, his voice much clearer. “I got that info on thothe teacherth you wanted.”

“One second.” Tempest climbed into her car and connected the phone to the sound system. “Go ahead.”

“Well, there'th not much on Thelethtia. Summa Cum Laude from Mareyland State. Educathion major. Been a teacher for almothst twenty yearth, printhipal of Canterlot High for the latht eight. Clean teaching record. Awardth and citationth out the yin yang. Although, she hath butted headth with Prethident Neighthay a couple of timeth.”

Tempest leaned forward. “Over what?”

“Mothtly budget contherns. Funding, teacher thalarieth. But hereth what'th interethting. You thaid she claimed that there wath a gath leak that cauthed damage to the school entranthe latht year?”

“That's what she claimed, anyway.”

“Well, it turnth out, Neighthay originally denied the requetht for repair fundth. According to hith initial report, the blueprinths of the school show no gath pipeth anywhere near the school entranthe. I did thome digging into thity recordth and yeah, there'th no way a gath explothion could dethtroy the front of the building, unleth it completely dethtroyed the whole damn plathe.”

Tempest felt a grin form on her face. “Gotcha,” she whispered.

“But that'th nowhere near ath interething ath her thithter.”

Tempest blinked and looked at her phone. “What do you mean?”

“She'th got a thealed juvie record. Couldn't get in there without a court order, of courthe, but I found thome memoth and reporth from CCPD that identify her as a perthon of interetht in theveral hacking-related prankths around town about fifteen yearth ago. Here'th what'th really interethting though: apparently the offither investigating the cathe put in hith noteth that he thuthpected Luna may have operated under the online aliath of... dramatic pauthe... NightmareMoon.”

Tempest sat up in her seat. “Tell me you have something that can prove this.”

“Thorry. Nothing ever proven. But after the ForeverNight viruth hit Manehattan, NightmareMoon vanished off the grid and the pranks in Canterlot Thity stopped outright. No thign of her after that.”

“Until a couple of weeks ago, when NightmareMoon shows up in a dark web chatroom inquiring about us.” Tempest pursed her lips in thought. “Can you reach out to the guys who had the plant in the chat room? Get us logs and see who she talked to. If I can get leverage on her, her sister might start playing ball.”

“I'm on it. But it'll take time. Tomorrow'th Thunday. They probably only have a thkeleton crew working.”

“Fine. Get me whatever you can. I've got plenty of other leads to go on.”

“Gotcha. I'll call ath thoon ath I have thomething.”

“Oh, one more thing. See what you can find on the owner and tenants of an apartment building here in town.” She rattled off the address. "The owner's name is Bookbinder. We're looking for any sort of documentation concerning a Sunset Shimmer."

"Who'th she?"

"I'm not sure just yet. But I think she knows something, and she's apparently living on her own, despite being a minor. I want anything you can find on her and the building."

"Got it. Call you back when I got thomething."

"Thank you, Grubber."

Tempest ended the call. She was getting closer. She could feel it. All she needed was one or two more pieces of information and everything would become clear. 

She glanced in the rear view mirror and noticed the pickup was still parked on the street. Having a friend over, Miss Shimmer? She thought. Maybe more than one?

Tempest started the car. If she was going to stake out the apartment building, she was going to need some supplies.
> Apologies, Strategy, and Unwelcome Surprises
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rest of the group arrived at Sunset's apartment about a half hour before the actual time they were supposed to meet. Finding room for everyone posed a small challenge. Sunset's apartment may have been tall, but there wasn't a lot of actual floor space. She basically only had five chairs.  

Fluttershy and Pinkie were on the couch, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were on the two chairs Sunset had for her dining table, Rarity had her wheelchair, and Twilight had been given Sunset's computer desk chair. Sunset herself remained on her feet, standing in front of the TV.

“Okay,” she exhaled. “We have a couple of problems that I think we need to deal with.”

There was a general sound of agreement.

“I met Tempest Shadow today,” said Sunset.  

“So did I,” added Rarity.

The other girls looked at them. Sunset herself looked at Rarity. “When?”

“This afternoon at the fabric store,” Rarity answered. Her expression darkened. “She attempted to abduct me. Fortunately, Vice-Principal Luna happened by and put a stop to that. That was when I texted you.”

“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked. Rarity smiled.

“I'm fine, thank you, darling. It was harrowing, but I got through it. That said, Agent Shadow does not appear to be a very nice person.”

“She's sharp, I know that,” said Sunset. “She came into the restaurant today. Asked me some questions. I'm pretty sure she suspects me.”

“She suspects all of us.” Rarity rolled herself forward. “She's seen the music video. Couple that with the mall security footage and she seems to be putting two and two together, if she hasn't already.”

“This is stupid! We haven't done anything wrong!” Rainbow snapped. “Without us, Firecracker Burst would still be on the loose, and who knows what other magic problems could have happened!”

“If I can play devil's advocate for a second,” Twilight began, “She doesn't know that. All she knows is weird things are happening around town and that we may possibly be involved.”

“So what do we do about it, then?” Applejack asked. “I'm pretty sure confrontin' her about it directly is just gonna be askin' for trouble.”

“I don't know,” said Sunset. “I hate to say it, but right now, our best bet is to play dumb if she questions any of us. We might be able to throw her off... for a while. Which brings me to our second problem.”

“The thing in the woods,” said Pinkie Pie. “It doesn't seem like it's going to lie low for our sake.”

“Right,” said Sunset. She turned to Twilight. “Before we get into that, though, I owe you another apology. You were right. Going to see Capper was just as dangerous as going after that thing in the woods and I shouldn't have lost my temper with you. I'm sorry.”

“I'm sorry too,” Twilight replied. “And you were right as well. It was dangerous and irresponsible to go after it without knowing what we were getting into.” 

“Yeah, yeah, love, hugs, and all that crap. What do we do about all this?” Rainbow asked, folding her arms.  

“The way I see it, the biggest problem right now is the thing in the woods,” said Sunset. She began to pace back and forth. “The longer it's out there, the more likely it is somebody is going to get hurt by it, and if that happens, you can bet Agent Shadow will come running to investigate.”

“So we focus on that for now?” Twilight asked. She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a small memo pad, and produced a pencil from her hair. She started making notes.

Sunset nodded. “We really can't do anything about Agent Shadow right now. Either she knows we're involved or she doesn't. If she doesn't, we play dumb if we encounter her. If she does, there's nothing we can do about it, except wait to see how she reacts. Either way, the thing in the woods takes priority. You four encountered it. Did you learn anything?'

“You mean, aside from the fact its breath smells like the dumpster outside the cafeteria on a hot day?” Pinkie asked. “Not much.”

“Um... I wouldn't say that,” said Fluttershy. The group turned their attention to her.

“What do you mean?” asked Sunset.

Fluttershy idly played with her hair. “Even though it attacked us, I don't think it's actually evil. I think it's an animal.”

“That... actually makes sense,” Twilight said. “It did stop to listen to you when you rescued me and Pinkie Pie.”

“I don't think it understood me though. None of us had our geodes. So it might have just been confused from my tone of voice. But I've seen animals act like that before. Usually when they're scared or hurt.” She looked over at Sunset. “I think it may have come in contact with some magic and it doesn't know what's happening. That may be why it's causing damage all over town. It's... hurt? Or maybe it's just scared of what's happening to it.”

Sunset considered this, her brow furrowing. “Okay. In that case, girls, I think we need to go back to wearing our geodes. We're probably going to need them if and when we find this thing.”

“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash reached into her pocket, pulled out her geode and slipped it around her neck. “What? Like you guys aren't carrying yours around too!”

There was an awkward silence as each girl, except Sunset, sheepishly produced her necklace. Sunset gave them a stern look.

“You all were just waiting for me to give you the go ahead, weren't you?”

“Well, darling, how else did you expect me to get my chair up here? This building doesn't have an elevator.” Rarity grinned and fluttered her eyelashes, causing the group to burst out laughing.

“Okay, fine,” Sunset said, smiling. “Just no using your powers unless it's an emergency, all right?”

There was a chorus of agreement.  

“What about Capper?” Applejack asked. “You think he'll actually be able to help?”

“I don't know,” Sunset admitted. “If there's anything to find, he'll find it. But I don't know how useful the information will be. I'll be calling him after school on Monday. Once I hear what he's found, we can probably start --”

Sunset was interrupted as a loud echoing bang echoed outside the building, followed by the sound of a car alarm going off. The girls rushed to one of the large picture windows on the wall. Down in the darkened street, they could see a car listing to one side, as if the tires were flat. A figure was standing outside the car, kicking at one of the tires. The alarm continued to blare, and the figure started fumbling with something, presumably a key fob, trying to silence the alarm.

“I hope they have one of those alarms that shut off automatically after a while,” Sunset said, darkly. “I really don't want to have to break into another car this week.”

“You what?!” the girls chorused.

Thankfully, Sunset was spared having to explain herself when there was a knock at the door.  

“That must be Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna,” Rarity said. “Luna mentioned they wanted to talk to us in private.”

Sunset pushed her way through her friends towards the door. “I hope they have some good news for us,” she said, unlocking the door and twisting the knob. “I don't know how many more surprises I can – what the hell are YOU doing here?!”

“You know, you guys really suck at being discreet,” said Adagio Dazzle. Aria and Sonata were standing on either side of her in the hallway. “Oh, and by the way? You're welcome.”
> Suspicion, Distrust, and Revelations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“How the hell did you find this place?” Sunset demanded.  

“We have ways of finding out what we want, even without our amulets,” Adagio replied.

Aria rolled her eyes. “I hacked into Canterlot High's Student Directory. Are you going to let us in now? I really don't want to be out in the hall.”

Sunset folded her arms, as her friends appeared in the doorway behind her. Rainbow Dash and Applejack took positions on either side of her. “No, I won't let you into my home. I don't know what twisted little game you're playing here, and I don't care. I have bigger problems to worry about than you.”

“Yes,” Adagio agreed. “You do, don't you?”

“Please let us in!” Sonata begged, causing Adagio and Aria to groan. “Tempest is gonna be pissed that we blew out her tires before coming up here!”

Sunset's eyebrows shot up. “Tempest? As in Tempest Shadow?”

“Mm-hmmm.” Adagio's crooked smile returned to her face. “Do we have your attention now?”

Sunset took a deep breath through her nose then let it out before looking over her shoulder at her friends. “Let them in.”





“Celestia, wait!”

Celestia slowed down and pulled over to the curb. “What is it?”

Luna pointed up the street. On the next block, just down the road from Sunset's apartment building, a tow truck wa spulled up to a sedan that was leaning dangerously on one side. Luna pulled out her phone and activated the camera. She zoomed in and nodded.

“I thought so. Look.”

Celestia leaned over and frowned as she saw Tempest talking to the driver of the tow truck. “Agent Shadow is escalating things, it seems.”

“We can't meet with Sunset and her friends now,” said Luna. “She sees us show up and there goes plausible deniability.”

“I know.” Celestia sat in thought for a moment, then pulled back into traffic, taking a left turn at the intersection before Sunset's block. “Rarity didn't happen to give you her number at the mall, did she?”

“She did. I'll text her right now.”

As Celestia drove away from the apartment building, a thought came to her. “Invite her and her friends to tea tomorrow afternoon.”

Luna blinked. “Tea?”

Celestia nodded without looking over. “And it should go without saying that they should be as discreet as possible when they come over.”

Luna returned to composing the text. Tea? Really? Any excuse to break out that damn tea set Mom gave you, sister dear?





Chairs were now officially in short supply. The Dazzlings had taken the couch, Fluttershy and Pinkie had taken the dining chairs, Twilight was back in the desk chair, Applejack was leaning up against the wall and Rainbow hovered over next to Sunset.  

“What happened to you?” Aria asked, spotting Rarity.

“An accident,” Rarity replied coolly.

Aria snorted. “Sorry I missed it.”

“All right, that's it!” Rainbow snapped, starting forward before Sunset grabbed her arm, holding her friend back.

“Not helpful right now, Dash.” Sunset looked at the three girls on her couch, resisting the urge to pound Adagio's smug grin to the other side of her face. “What do you three--”

A musical chime echoed through the apartment. Sunset stifled a groan and looked over at Rarity. “Seriously?”

“I'm so sorry, darling,” Rarity apologized, pulling out her phone. “I forgot to set it on vibrate. Oh! It's from Vice Principal Luna.”

Rarity quickly read the text and a hand flew to her mouth. She looked up at Sunset. “Tempest Shadow has been staking out your apartment.”

“What?!”  

“Like I said, you all suck at being discreet,” said Adagio. “So, we gave her something else to worry about while we came up here.”

Sunset shot Adagio a dirty look. “So you blew out her tires.”

“Only two of them,” said Sonata. “Just enough so she'd be busy with a tow truck.”

“Great,” said Sunset. “Like we didn't have enough problems with her.”

The grin vanished from Adagio's face. “You don't have any idea how much trouble you're in if she's on your tail.”

“And you do?” Twilight asked.

Adagio looked at her, then did a double take. “Wait. You're not her. She didn't wear glasses, and she certainly had better dress sense.”

“I beg your pardon?!” Rarity rolled forward and looked like she was going to claw her way out of her chair to strangle the lead Dazzling. 

“Rarity,” Sunset warned.

“I will not let this... this... hussy impugn the hard work Twilight and I have done to create a look that is solely hers and not a carbon copy of the princess! I demand an apology!”

“And I demand you all shut up and listen to us,” Adagio responded. “Because without our help, you are never going to outwit Tempest and I can guarantee she will send all of you somewhere you don't want to go.”

Twilight put a hand on Rarity's shoulder. “It's all right, Rarity.”

“It most certainly is not!”

“No, it isn't,” Sunset agreed. “But I doubt we'll get anything from these three that they don't want to give.” she looked back at Adagio. “How exactly do you know Tempest Shadow?”

“Do you really think you and your little friends were the only ones who tried to stop us?” the siren asked.

“Kicked your butts from here to Las Pegasus, didn't we?” Rainbow sneered.

Adagio ignored the barb. “We've run into her on a couple of occasions. They've never ended well for us.”

Aria snorted and rolled her eyes. “Just admit it for once, Adagio, she outsmarted you and we barely survived.”

“If it wasn't for Cantata,” Sonata murmured.

Sunset blinked as she saw actual regret cross Adagio's face. “Cantata? Another siren?”

“Hardly,” Aria said, but the sadness in her eyes betrayed the hardness in her voice.

“She was our friend,” Sonata said. “The only friend we really had ever since we were banished here.”

“What happened?” asked Applejack. 

“Tempest Shadow happened.” Adagio let out a long sigh and looked around at the group of girls surrounding them, before turning her gaze on Sunset. “And if the seven of you aren't careful, the same thing is going to happen to you.”
> Then, Hiding, and Help
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whinnyapolis. 5 years ago.

“Did we lose them?” Adagio asked, putting Sonata down on the ground in the alley. Aria carefully poked her head out of the alley and looked both ways before turning back to her fellow sirens.

“Looks like it,” she reported.  

“We can't stay here,” said Adagio.

“No shit,” Aria replied. She looked down at Sonata. “Is she all right?”

Adagio reached out and gently touched Sonata's shoulder. “Sonata? Wake up.”

Sonata stirred and her eyes opened. Her expression was glassy and dazed. “M'shoulder hurts.”

“That's because your dumb ass got darted,” Aria sneered.  

“Not now, Aria,” Adagio snapped. She looked back at Sonata. “We can't stay here. Can you walk?”

Sonata pushed off from the ground and tried to stand up. She staggered and slid back down the alley wall. She shook her head. “Don' think so. Dizzy.”

Adagio sighed. “Great.”

“Well, she's stoned out of her gourd,” Aria huffed. “Now what, Fearless Leader?”

“I don't know, Aria! Give me five minutes to think, will you?”

“We don't have five minutes! Those two spooks are going to figure out where we went soon enough!”

“I know!”

“And we need her functional for our damn song to work right!”

“I know!”

“Then do something!”

“I'm about to strangle you with your own goddamn pigtails!” Adagio screamed. “Would that make you happy, or at least get you to shut up and let me think?”

“You should have been thinking about it back in Baltimare!”

“Aria, I swear to Aris I will – “

“What's going on out here?” came a voice.  

Adagio and Aria looked over sharply. A door leading into one of the buildings that formed the alley was propped open by a dark orange woman with peppermint striped hair. She was wearing scrubs and bags were under her blue eyes. Said eyes widened when she saw Sonata slumped up against the wall. She jammed a doorstop under the door and pushed past Adagio and Aria and knelt down next to the dazed siren.

“Can you hear me?” she said. Sonata's head lolled up. The woman held Sonata's chin and looked in each of her eyes, before looking up at the other Dazzlings. “Is she on drugs?”

“Not voluntarily,” Adagio answered, then blinked at how fast she had responded to the woman.

“What happened?”

“Why do you care?” Aria frowned.

The woman looked up, a stern expression on her face. “I'm a nurse, and your friend is in bad shape. I need to know what's in her system so I can determine if I need to call an ambulance or not.”

“NO AMBULANCE!” Adagio and Aria chorused. The woman blinked then frowned again.

“You're in trouble,” she stated.

“None of your--” Aria was interrupted by Adagio, who pushed in front of her.

“Yes, we are. She was hit with a tranquilizer dart.”

The nurse looked confused. “That's... different. What did you do?”

“Nothing.” Adagio's hand went to her amulet. Behind her, Aria did the same. While their song might not have been as powerful without Sonata, getting one human to do what they wanted should be simple enough.

The nurse looked at Sonata, then back at the other two. She got to her feet and reached under Sonata's arms. “Help me get her inside.”

Adagio blinked. “What?”

The nurse sighed. “We need to get her up to my apartment. It'll be easier to figure out what to do for her if I've got light and she's more comfortable. Or would you rather wait out here for whoever's after you to find you?”

Now it was Adagio's turn to frown. She looked over at Aria, who looked just as conflicted. She looked back at Sonata, then bent over to take Sonata's legs. “Aria, close the door after us.”

They managed to get Sonata into the building and up the three flights of stairs to the nurse's apartment. It was small, but comfortable. The nurse and Adagio stretched Sonata out on the couch.  

“All right,” said the nurse. “Before I deal with her, are either of you two hurt?”

“A couple of scrapes and bruises,” Adagio replied. “Nothing major.”

“Right.” The nurse looked over at Aria, who was looking out the window onto the street. “How about you?”

“I'm fine,” Aria muttered.

“Not what I asked you. Are you hurt?”

Aria glared at her. “Worry about the ditz, not me.”

Adagio sighed. “Ignore her. She's always like this.”

The nurse nodded. “Okay. There's ibuprofen, bandages and ointment in the bathroom. I'm going to look your friend over, then we'll figure out what do next. Fair?”

“Why are you helping us?” Aria demanded. “For all you know, we could kill you and rob you blind.”

“Maybe,” said the nurse, meeting Aria's glare. “But I prefer to think the better of people. I don't know who's after you, but I doubt it's the cops. They don't use tranq darts. You might be dangerous, but I don't think you'll hurt me. But she's hurt and I intend to help her. What you choose to do afer that is up to you. In the meantime, I have work to do.”

The nurse turned and walked through a door, presumably to her bedroom. “You're lucky I was home. I'm usually on the night shift.”

“We appreciate your help,” Adagio said. Aria grabbed her arm.

“What the hell are you doing?!” she whispered.

“Until Sonata comes to, she's going to be dead weight. If this woman can get her up on her feet, it'll make things easier. I doubt she's going to call anybody. She seems too much of a goody-two-shoes for that. So we let her help us and if she becomes a problem, we enchant her and use her to get the hell out of town.”

Aria snorted. “Fine. But don't come crying to me if this bites us in the ass.”

“I don't cry.” Adagio smiled as the nurse walked back into the living room carrying a first aid kit. “Thank you so much for your help. I'm Adagio, this is Aria, and that's Sonata.”

The nurse smirked as she set the contents of the kit out on the coffee table. “That's funny.”

“What's funny?” Aria asked, suspicion in her voice.

“My name's similar. I'm Cantata. Cantata Luster. Nice to meet you.”
> Recovery, Planning, and Questions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two days passed before Cantata deemed Sonata well enough to become active. During that time, the nurse had opened her home to the three sirens, providing crash space for them in her living room. By the beginning of the third day, things were starting to get back to normal.

“Get out of the bathroom, Sonata!” Aria pounded on the door again. “You've been in there for an hour and a half!”  

“I haven't had a bath in two days!” Sonata's voice came from behind the door. “Get lost!”

Adagio rolled her eyes and went back to scribbling in the notebook on her lap. Now that Sonata was more or less recovered, it was time to move on. She tilted her head back. “Aria!”

“I'm gonna kick this fucking door down, Sonata, I swear to Aris!”

“Aria!” Adagio called again.

“I'M BUSY!”

“Go soak your head!” came Sonata's voice.

“I WILL WHEN YOU GET OUT OF THE GODDAMN BATHROOM!”

“ARIA! LEAVE HER ALONE AND GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!” Adagio screamed. Aria snorted and stalked back to the living room.

“Thank you, Dagi!” came Sonata's voice.

“If you aren't out of there in fifteen minutes, I'll help her break the door down and throw your naked blue ass out on the balcony!”

“Okay, okay... jeez.” Sonata's voice faded and the sound of splashing was heard. Adaigio rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed.

“What?” Aria snapped, flopping down in the love seat next to the sofa. Adagio looked up from the notebook.  

“What's our cash situation?”

Aria pulled out her phone and brought up a banking app. After logging in, she looked up. “Not good.”

“Do we have enough to get out of town without using our song?”

Aria shook her head. “We couldn't even afford a bus to the next state over.”

Adagio sighed. “I guess we should count ourselves lucky they haven't frozen our assets yet.”

“They never will. I made sure of that after Vanhoover.”

Adagio leaned her head back. “We need to do something.”

“We need to sing. We sing, rob the nurse blind, swipe her car and get the hell out.”

Adagio's head came back up with frown. “We're not going to do that.”

“Why not?” Aria matched Adagio's frown. “It's what we do.”

“Not this time.” Adagio closed the notebook.

“Why the hell not?”

“She saved Sonata. That;s worth something.”

“It's not worth shit if she sells us out,” Aria snapped.  

“She's not going to sell us out.”

“You don't know that.” Aria leaned forward. “Okay, let's say she doesn't intend to sell us out. You know how Tempest works. If she gets ahold of her, she'll talk.”

“I don't think so,” said Adagio thoughtfully. “She likes to help. She's stronger than she looks.”

Adagio put the notebook aside and looked her fellow siren in the eye. “And nothing happens to her until I say so, understand?”

The two faced each other down for a few seconds, before Aria rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Just don't come crying to me when we're getting tubes shoved up our asses in some lab.”

“As long as we understand each other.”

“Understand what?” Sonata appeared from the hallway, wrapped in a towel. Adagio looked up.

“Don't worry about it. But now that you're up and moving, we need to get ready to leave.”

Sonata's face fell. “Why? It's nice here.”

“It's also cramped as hell,” Aria muttered as she disappeared into the bathroom. “GOD DAMN IT, SONATA! YOU USED ALL THE HOT WATER!”

The other two sirens smirked at each other. Adagio opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted when the apartment door opened. They turned to look as Cantata came in. The nurse did not look happy, and she pinned Adagio with a glare.

“Kitchen. Now,” she said. She dropped her bag on the table next to the door and stalked through the door leading to the kitchen. Adagio and Sonata looked at each other.  

Adagio stood up. “Get dressed. I'll see what's up.”

As she turned toward the kitchen door, she grabbed Sonata's arm. “And get packed,” she whispered. “We might need to make a fast exit. Tell Aria.”

Sonata nodded and headed back toward the bathroom. Adagio took a deep breath and watlked into the kitchen. Cantata was sitting at the table. She looked up at the siren leader, her expression unreadable.

“Who is Tempest Shadow?”
> Soda, Secrets, and Plan A
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adagio sat down then smiled at Cantata. “I have no idea. Who is she?”

Cantata's expression didn't change. “Try again. And if you lie this time, all three of you can get out right now.”

Adagio didn't respond right away. The two of them stared each other down, Adagio frowning, Cantata waiting. Adagio's mind raced, trying to figure out the best angle. Would it be better to just get out now or come clean and risk Cantata throwing them out anyway?  

The siren leader was surprised to find she was actually having difficulty making the decision. The nurse had taken them in without question, genuinely wanting to help Sonata. She hadn't asked for anything in return and had offered to let the trio stay as long as they needed. She didn't ask any prying questions, and generally, had been a huge help to the three of them.

The hell with it.

“You met her, didn't you?” Adagio asked, slumping back in her chair.

Cantata nodded. “She showed up at the hospital last night. Her and her partner were looking for Sonata. She was... pushy.”

“That's what she does,” Adagio replied. “She smashes her way in and doesn't let up until you give her what she wants. That partner of hers is the reasonable one.”

“Agent Drops? Yeah, I got that impression. She did most of the talking. Shadow just stood there and glared as Dr. Caduceus answered their questions.”

Cantata got up and grabbed a soda from the fridge. “You want one?”

“I'm fine. Thanks.”

Cantata returned to the table and popped the can open. She took a long drink, then fixed Adagio with a more inquisitive look. “What did you do to get the government looking for you?”

“We exist,” Adagio sighed. “The three of us, we're... not from here. Not this country, not this world.”

Cantata quirked an eyebrow. “You're aliens?”

“Not in the way you think. How we got here and where we come from isn't really important, and it's probably better if you don't know. Tempest and her partner investigate stuff like us. We ran into them a while back in Manehattan. Managed to get away, but it looks like we crossed paths with them here.”

“What do you mean 'stuff like you?'” Cantata asked.  

Adagio sighed again. “Aria! Sonata! Get in here!”

“Gimme a damn minute!” Aria shouted. “I just got out of the shower!”

“Put on a damn towel and get in here!” Adagio shouted back. She groaned and looked at Cantata. “This is what happens when you're not here.”

“I've got sisters. I can relate.”

“We're not sisters.”

Sonata and Aria entered the kitchen. Aria in the aforementioned towel, and Sonata in a tank top and sweats.  

“What's going on?” Sonata asked.

“Tempest and Glitter showed up at Cantata's hospital last night looking for us,” Adagio reported. She gestured at Canata. “She'd like to know why they're looking for us.”

Aria frowned. “Plan A?”

Adagio shook her head. “No. Just a demonstration.”

Aria let out an exasperated sigh. “I told you this was a bad idea.”

“Not now, Aria.”

“Then when, Adagio? If they've tracked her down, it's only a matter of time before she becomes a liability. For all we know, she's stalling us long enough for Tempest to show up!”

“If she was going to do that, we'd probably be tranqed and in the back of a van right now!”

“Quit acting stupid!” Aria was leaning over Adagio and getting into her face. “You're the one who's supposed to be on top of shit like this! It's always been the three of us against this world! It's the only way we can stay safe!”

“And I say we can trust her!”

“You said we'd seen the last of Tempest in Manehattan too, and look where we are now!”

Cantata stood up, walked over to the purple haired siren and gently pulled her away from Adagio. “I know you don't trust me, Aria. But I'm not going to throw you out or turn you over to them. I just want to know what I've gotten myself into.”

“Then you should have minded your own business!” Aria snapped.

“Aria, enough!” Adagio stood up, and pushed past Cantata. “She's involved now, whether we like it or not.”

“Plan A would take care of it!”

“And I told you we're not using it! She wants to see what we can do, then let's show her.”

Aria blinked as Adagio winked at her. She looked past Adagio's hair to the nurse, and let out a snort.

“Fine. Whatever.”

Adagio turned back to Cantata. “Don't freak out by what happens, okay? We're not going to hurt you.”

Cantata nodded and sat back down at the table. “I'm ready.”

Adagio looked at her fellow sirens and the three stood in a line in front of the table. They opened their mouths and Cantata stared in awe as the sound of their voices washed over her.

Aaaaah-ah-ah. Aaaaah-aaah. Aaaaah-ah-ah. Aaaaah-aaah.

Cantata felt the song flow over her. She felt serene and relaxed. She leaned back in the chair, feeling her muscles relax and her eyelids grow heavy. The song penetrated her skull and soothed her mind. Nothing mattered but listening to the song. The song was everything. The song was all.

The song stopped.

Cantata blinked and shook her head. She was alone in the kitchen. She stood up sharply and dashed to the living room. The sleeping bags and blankets she had left out for the sirens were neatly folded and stacked on the couch. There were no signs of any of the three girls' belongings. 

Cantata went to her bag, still sitting on the small table next to the door. She wasn't surprised to see that all the cash that had been in her wallet was gone. What was surprising was the note in its place.




This is what we do. Thanks for the help. Please don't try to find us.

--Adagio 



Cantata crumpled the note in her hand.

“Sorry, Adagio. You don't get to make this decision.”

She nodded in satisfaction when she found her car keys still in her bag. She hoisted the bag on her shoulder and went back out into the late morning. She had friends to find.
> Found, Caught, and Escape
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Gotcha.”

Adagio looked up in surprise as Cantata sat down opposite her. They were sitting in a coffee shop near the city center. The siren leaned forward.

“What the hell are you doing here?” she whispered.

“Finding my friend,” Cantata said, putting her bag away.  

“We're not friends. Would you get out of here?”

Cantata gave Adagio an “are you kidding me?” look. “You take my cash, but not my credit cards or my car and you think we're not friends?”

“You gave us a place to stay when we needed it.” Adagio was looking around the shop while she spoke. “So we cut you a break.”

“Bullshit.” Cantata took a sip of her coffee. “You three don't have a problem with using those voices of yours to get what you want. You could have robbed me blind, but you didn't. That's not cutting me a break. Would you please look at me, Adagio?”

Adagio complied, fixing her with a dirty look. “I'm in the middle of something right now. Would you please leave?”

“Why?”

Adagio suddenly grabbed a couple of napkins from the dispenser on the table, tore off a couple of strips, wadded them up, and shoved them in Cantata's ears. Cantata opened her mouth to protest but the siren slapped her hand over it.  

“Just shut up and wait.”

Aria and Sonata appeared from the hall leading to the restrooms and the three began to sing. Cantata watched in amazement as suddenly, nearly every customer and employee began to argue. Mildly at first, then with increasing anger. She looked around as people started yelling in each others faces and arguing loudly. And in the middle of it all, the three sirens stood, singing, eyes closed. The scene continued for a a few minutes before the singing stopped. The arguing and fighting continued around them. Cantata just stared until Adagio grabbed her wrist and dragged her outside the shop. Aria and Sonata followed.

Adagio led them to an alley down the block and slammed Cantata up against the wall. “I told you not to look for us!”

“And I told you we're friends. Those agents are still looking for you and you're still in town. I'm not going to leave you three to get caught.”

“We're not going to get caught,” Aria said. “You saw what we can do. We sing, we get out of trouble, we move on.”

“And we can't do that if we have someone attached to us,” Adagio snapped. “Look, we really do appreciate everything you did for Sonata, but it's better if you go now.”

“Sorry,: Cantata replied. “You're stuck with me.”

“Cantata,” Adagio groaned.  The nurse held up a finger.

“Let me finish,” she said. “You're stuck with me... long enough for me to give you this.”

She reached into her bag and pulled out a thick envelope. She handed it to the lead siren, who stared at it.

“What is this?” Adagio asked.

“Enough for you three to get out of town and get set up somewhere else.”

Adagio opened the envelope and all three peered into it before looking up in surprise.  

“That's a LOT of money,” said Sonata.

“Too much money,” Aria frowned. “Where the hell does a nurse with a one bedroom apartment get this much money?”

Cantata shrugged. “I have some investments. I sold some stock.”

Adagio held the envelope out. “Take it back.”

Cantata folded her arms. “Nope. It's yours. Go. Set yourselves up somewhere else.”

“You don't want to get involved with us.”

“I'm already involved with you.”

“Yes, you are,” came a new voice.

The four women looked up to see two more women standing at the end of the alley. Tempest Shadow stood there with a shorter blue woman with short green hair. Tempest took off the sunglasses she was wearing and grinned unpleastantly.

“Seems you became a quartet since I saw you last.”

“Everybody put your hands on your heads,” said the other woman. “You're under arrest.”

“Run,” Canata whispered.  

Adagio blinked. “What?”

Cantata reared back and hurled her bag at the agents. They threw up their hands as the bag impacted. Cantata shoved Adagio hard.

“RUN!”

The nurse dashed back down the alley and drove into Tempest shoulder first. They collided with the other agent and fell to the ground. The three sirens stared at the scene, before Cantata looked up.

“RUN, GOD DAMN IT!”

“Let's go,” Adagio said, herding the other two down the alley. “Run... run!”

The three sirens bolted down the alley. As they ran, Adagio looked back to see the two agents hauling Cantata up and handcuffing her. She grit her teeth and turned away, getting ready to leave, when Sonata shoved past her, screaming as she charged the agents.  

“GET OFF OF HER!” Sonata leaped into the air, closing the distance. Tempest whirled and slammed a round house kick into Sonata's ribs. The blue siren screamed in pain as a sickening crack echoed down the alley. Sonata crashed into the wall of the alley and collapsed to the ground.  

Adagio snarled and reached into her boot, withdrawing the small switchblade knife she carried for emergencies. Aria appeared at her side. The two exchanged a glance and nodded to each other before rocketing down the alley.

Aria threw a punch, which Tempest easily blocked before countering with a jab at Aria's sternum. The STORM agent glanced over at her partner.

“Get her to the car. I've got this.”

“Are you nuts?” said the other agent.

“DO IT, GLITTER!” Tempest snarled. She grabbed Aria's arm and swung her into Adagio. The two sirens yelped as they collided and fell to the ground. Tempest grabbed Sonata's hair and yanked her to her feet, causing Sonata to scream again.  

“You should have run,” the agent grinned.  

Adagio's eyes flashed and her hand flew upward. Tempest let out a scream of pain. Blood poured down her face and both her hands flew to cover her right eye as she collapsed to her knees. Adagio glowered down at her.

“You should have quit.”

She turned to see Aria helping Sonata up. “Is she all right?”

“I think... my... ribs are broken,” Sonata wheezed. “My... wrist... hurts too.”

“We've got to get the hell out of here,” Aria hissed.

Adagio looked down at Tempest, then kicked her in the side of the head. Tempest fell to the ground unconscious. The siren leader turned back to the other two. “Let's get out of here before the other one comes back.”

“But... Cantata,” Sonata moaned.  

Adagio frowned and looked back down at Tempest's inert form, then at the knife in her hand. Her expression darkened, then she closed the knife and stuck it back in her boot.  

“Let's go.”





The train rumbled out of Whinnyapolis and into the night. The three sirens sat in silence in a sleeping compartment. Sonata's ribs and wrist had been bandaged as best they could, and she was now sleeping in one of the bunks under the influence of painkillers and booze. Underneath the bunk, Aria and Adagio sat. Aria thumbing through a magazine, Adagio looking out the window.

Aria sighed and glanced over at Adagio. She blinked and sat up.

“Are you... crying?”

Adagio's head shot up and she wiped away the tear that was rolling down her cheek. “No! I don't cry. You know that.”

Aria didn't reply. She looked back at the magazine, then put it down. “It's not your fault.”

“What?”

“What happened to Cantata. It's not your fault.”

Adagio snorted. “Sure.”

“She decided to risk her ass for us. It just all went south.”

“Which you warned me about.”

“Yeah, but... she was all right.”

Now it was Adagio's turn to look at Aria. “Seriously?”

Aria gave her a rueful smirk. “Yeah.” She sat back and sighed. “I wish we could have saved her.”

“Yeah.” Adagio looked out the window again. “When Sonata's better, we'll come back. We'll find her.”

The train rolled on.





Six months later, the sirens returned to Whinnyapolis.  

Cantata Luster was nowhere to be found.
> Conclusions, Advice, and Resolve
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“And you never saw her again?” Rarity asked, after Adagio had finished her story.

“We tried to find her,” said Sonata. “But by the time we got back to Whinnyapolis, it was like she never existed.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“Exactly that. Try to keep up,” snapped Aria. “Her apartment was rented out to someone else, the hospital had no record of her ever being employed there. No bank accounts, no social media, no DMV registration, nothing. Even people who we were sure had to know her pretended they didn't.”

“This is what you're up against,” said Adagio, looking at Sunset. “A quasi-fascist government task force who are so committed to keeping things like us a secret that even the people who know us aren't safe.”

“And Tempest?” Sunset asked.

“She's STORM's attack dog. They point her in a direction and let her off the chain. That partner of hers usually kept her restrained, but something must have happened to her, because when she visited us --”

“She did this,” Aria interrupted, pointing at the bruises on her neck. “The other times we met her, she only got this rough when we did something to her first.”

“We don't know what happened to her partner,” Adagio continued. “But it must have been bad. Just mentioning her set Tempest off.”

“Wait a sec,” Rainbow piped up. “I'm not understanding something. If Tempest has been after you for the last few years, why didn't she just arrest you at your place?”

“Because we pointed her in your direction,” Adagio said simply.

Sunset reacted immediately, blocking Rainbow from the Dazzlings, and Rarity grabbed Applejack's wrist as she stormed across the room.

“You two-faced, lying sack of –!” Rainbow started.

“Dash! Stop!” Sunset snapped. “It won't help.”

“Maybe,” said Applejack, “But I know I'll feel a hell of a lot better after givin' them a good thumpin'.”

“Not now,” Sunset replied. She looked back at Adagio. “Because if they had sold us out, we wouldn't be talking right now. Would we?”

Adagio's crooked smile returned. “You are the smart one.”

“Spill,” Sunset said, her voice hard “Or I let Dash and Applejack loose.”

Adagio blinked. “You and Tempest should get along fabulously.”

Sunset's frown deepened. “I am three seconds from kicking all three of you out of my house.”

Adagio sighed. “You really need to relax. You'll live longer. All I did was confirm some of her suspicions. She knows something is up at that school of yours. I just told her that she was right. I didn't mention your names, or confirm anything she asked about the Canterlot Bowl.”

“Why?” Sunset asked.

“Beg pardon?”

“Why would you not take the opportunity to get revenge? You could have told her everything, then sat back and laughed while she hauled all of us off. And we wouldn't have ever known you were involved. Why didn't you sell us out?”

Adagio looked at Sunset for a long time, gradually looking over at the other girls then back to Sunset. “Because STORM scares the shit out of me. Out of all of us.”

Sunset's frown vanished, replaced by astonishment as Adagio continued to speak.

“They already have too much power as it is. What happened to Cantata drove that home for us. Can you imagine what they'll do if they actually get a hold of Equestrian magic? You know it'll end up being used for the military or worse. In a stupidly ironic way, you shattering our amulets actually did us a favor. With them gone, we had a way to convince Tempest we weren't of any interest to STORM anymore. But we had to give her something, and the only thing we had was you.”

Sonata looked pleadingly at Sunset. “We just wanted to be free of her.”

“By putting us in her crosshairs,” Applejack snorted.

“You were already there,” Aria retorted.  

“She has a point,” Rarity said to Sunset. “Given our encounters with her earlier today, all Adagio did was cut short her investigation by a day or so. If she's that determined, she would have reached this point eventually.”

“If we believe her,” said Rainbow, folding her arms. She glared at the siren leader. “Personally, I think you're up to something. Magic or no magic, you three know how to get people to do what you want. For all we know, you've got some kind of plan cooked up with Tempest to lull us into a false sense of security, then bam! SWAT teams breaking down our doors.”

Adagio stood up and pushed past Sunset, facing off with Rainbow. “I don't care if you believe me or not. We came here to tell you what you're really up against. It's not just one agent. It's an entire damn secret army that can do whatever they like if they take an interest in you. They might play by the rules for a while, but eventually, they'll stop caring about the legalities and when that happens, you need to be ready.”

“Yeah, right,” Rainbow snorted.

“Dash,” Sunset warned. She stepped back into Adagio's field of vision. “What do you suggest we do then?”

“Get the hell out of town,” Adagio said simply. “As soon as we're done here, the three of us are gone. Don't ask where, because we won't tell you.”

“We can't just up and leave our families!” Fluttershy protested.

“And we don't run away from a fight!” said Rainbow.

“And it's bullshit bravado like that which is going to get all of you locked up in some lab somewhere,” Aria groaned. She got up from the couch with Sonata following. She looked around at the other girls. “If you care about your safety or the safety of the people you give a damn about, you'll do the smart thing and leave.”

“She's right,” said Sonata. “It sucks, but the only way to keep ahead of STORM is to go on the run. It's the only way to be safe.”

Adagio looked at Sunset again. “If you have a way back to Equestria, I suggest you take it and close it behind you. We may have caused our fair share of misery over there, but I don't even want to think about what STORM would do to it.”

Sunset sighed. “It's a moot point right now. I'm stuck here just as much as you are.”

“Then get on a bus, or pile into a car, or something, because sooner or later, Tempest is just going to start taking what she wants and it will not be pretty. People you care about are going to be hurt, and you seven might just wind up worse.”

“We can't just leave!” Twilight protested. “There's still the thing in the woods! We can't let it run rampant!”

“'The thing in the woods?'” Adagio quirked an eyebrow at Sunset.

“Rogue magic. It's been cropping up lately. We think something in the woods came in contact with it and now it's rampaging all over town.”

Adagio let out a rueful laugh. “Which, of course, is just going to draw her attention even more once she gets wind of it.” Her smile disappeared. “Leave town. Now. It's the only way.”

Sunset looked at each of her friends then back at the Dazzlings. “Maybe, but we have a responsibility to deal with the thing in the woods first.”

“I take it back. You're just as much of an idiot as your friends.” Adagio nodded to the other Dazzlings and the trio began walking to the door. “Hope that misplaced morality of yours keeps you warm when you're lying on a vivisection table.”

“We can take care of ourselves,” said Sunset.

Adagio paused and looked back at Sunset. “That was almost convincing.”

She opened the apartment door and the three sirens disappeared through it. Sonata paused and looked back at the group.

“Be safe. Please,” she said, then left and closed the door behind her.

“What...” Fluttershy began. She swallowed and tried again. “What do we do now?”

There was an uncomfortable silence. Sunset stood motionless in the center of the group, lost in thought.

“Sunset?” Twilight asked.  

Sunset blinked and looked at her friends' anxious faces. “We do the best we can.”
> Nightfall, Orders, and Messages
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tempest got back to her hotel around 11 PM. She tossed her jacket on the chair and stormed into the bathroom to take a shower. She emerged twenty minutes later, changed into her sleepwear and snapped off the lights, fuming as she climbed into bed.

She lay on her back, staring at the ceiling. Another delay. Another problem. Two flat tires on the passenger side of her car. It had taken an hour and a half to get the car towed to a local garage, and even then, the agent's expense account had taken a hit she was sure the bean counters were going to bitch about.

And not a god damn thing to show for it, she thought.

Her fist clenched and she pounded the mattress in frustration. The constant blocking and setbacks were getting ridiculous. Something had to be done. She needed to make progress.  

She needed answers. Answers only the Director had. Answers he had refused to give her unless she brought him results. She was so close. This case could possibly be big enough for him to finally give her the answers she had been trying to get for years.  

She rolled onto her side and closed her eyes, focusing on making her breathing steady. After a moment she began to relax and sleep started to overtake her. Thoughts of her plans for the next day floated through her mind as she drifted off.

I'll look into Firecracker Burst tomorrow, then get prepped for Monday at Canterlot High. I'll crack this. And then I can finally find out what happened to you, Dropsy...




Capper was sitting in his office, looking out the window at the lights of the city. He had just gotten off the phone with one of his contacts in the police department. He didn't like what he heard.

“You wanted to see me?” Caelano asked, entering the room. Capper swiveled his chair slightly.

“Sunnybun was right,” he said. “There is something out there in the woods. The Gas-N-Go out on Hadley had its dumpster wrecked. A couple of the farms on the outskirts had fences broken and livestock go missing.”

Caelano folded her arms. “So she was right. It isn't our problem.”

“I think it might be.” Capper folded his hands together, pressing the tips of his index fingers to his lips. “We have that shipment coming in.”

“That's not for a couple of days,” said Caelano. “Lix called and said the cops are watching the main roads, so she has to take the long way around the mountains.”

“Right through the woods,” the crime boss retorted. “I think it might be in our best interest to find this thing so Sunnybun and her friends can deal with it... before Lix makes it around the mountain.”

Capper swiveled around so he was facing his lieutenant. “Take Mullet and Boyle out tomorrow night. CCPD's latest report puts it on the east side of town, out by that apple farm. See what you can find.”

“Oh come on,” Caelano complained. “You're really going to waste me and the boys on this wild goose chase?”

Capper stood up and leaned over the desk, his eyes glittering. “Yes, I am. And you, Caelano, are going to put that grudge of yours away and do it because I told you to do it. I'm still running this gang, and as much as I know you'd rather be in this chair --”

“What?” Caelano's eyes widened. “That's ridiculous, Cap.”

“Save us both the lie,” Capper snapped. “You're not as subtle as you think. I know what you've been doing. I just haven't done anything because, that aside, you're still my best employee. So, here's the deal. You continue doing what I need you to do, and once we're sure this thing in the woods has been dealt with and that fed has left town, then we'll talk about increasing your influence.”

Caelano blinked. “Seriously?”

Capper nodded, his usual grin returning. “I've been thinking about stepping back from active leadership for a while. I'm gonna need someone to run the day-to-day around here. Someone I can trust.”

He gave her a serious look. “So, the question then, Caelano, is can I trust you... or not?”

Caelano and Capper stared at each other for a long moment. Finally, the lieutenant took a step back. “I'll check out the woods at sundown tomorrow. From everything that she said, it sounds like this thing is usually active only at night.”

Capper sank back into his chair and grinned again. “Sounds good. Glad to know I can depend on you.”





The girls had all gone home and Sunset was sitting on her couch, lost in thought. Well, not exactly lost in thought. Her thoughts were focused on their current predicaments formulating ideas and plans in order to... to...

… okay, she was brooding.

She flopped onto her back on the couch, letting out a sigh of frustration. It was the waiting that was killing her. Those slow periods where there wasn't anything that could be done about the situation except wait for morning to come.

Once the Dazzlings had left, Rarity revealed the rest of the message she had gotten from Vice-Principal Luna. The girls had all been invited to tea at Principal Celestia's home the next morning. Presumably so they could talk about whatever it was the two sisters had wanted to discuss before they discovered Tempest was watching the apartment.

Sunset frowned. That was the other thing. Tempest now knew where she lived. Her home was no longer safe if the agent came after her. For all Sunset knew, she may have tried to get into the building already.

Tomorrow, I need to talk to Miss Bookbinder and see if anybody was snooping around the building.

She sat up, another thought crossing her mind. If Tempest knew where she lived, then it was probably going to be a good idea to hide anything not from this world somewhere other than the apartment. Fortunately, her last few bits and gems had stayed with Capper as payment and she had returned a few books she borrowed from Princess Twilight a few days before all the mess with Firecracker Burst had happened. That only left one particular item that needed to be hidden.

As if in response to her thinking about it, the journal began glowing and vibrating on the kitchen table where she had left it. Sunset stared at it in surprise for a moment before realizing what it meant.

“Starlight!” she said aloud. She dashed across the room and snatched up the journal and a pen before returing to the couch and opening the book.

Sunset? Are you there?

I'm here, Starlight. Is everything okay?

There was a pause before the reply came. Oh, sure. My mentor and her friends are missing. Giant brutes are stalking through Ponyville as we speak, using the ponies they encounter as slaves or just caging them outright if they cause too much trouble. Trixie and I are stuck sleeping in the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters with all the horrors of the Everfree Forest lurking in the shadows. The sky is constantly filled with smoke and gunk because something happened up in Cloudsdale and nopony knows what. So yeah, everything's just peachy keen over here!

Sunset rolled her eyes. Okay, it was a badly phrased question. I'm sorry. But you know what I'm asking.

Yeah, I do. Sorry. Trixie and I are okay. Like I said, we managed to make camp at the Castle of the Two Sisters. So far, it looks like the invaders are staying out of the forest, but if what we saw in Canterlot and Ponyville are any indication of what's going on, things are probably going to get worse as they move outward.

Any news from Twilight?

Nothing. She might be trying to keep a low profile, since they probably don't know exactly who they can contact. For all she knows, all her other friends, including me, have been captured by the invaders.

Do you know who they are? Where they come from?

No idea. There was one that made some kind of announcement when their airships arrived at the festival plaza in Canterlot. He said they served someone calling themselves “The Storm King.” The unicorn leading the forces didn't say much before she managed to take down the princesses.

Sunset leaned back and considered. “A unicorn?” she said out loud. She flipped back to Starlight's first message to her, noting that she had mentioned the unicorn leading the invaders before. She supposed it was possible. While most ponies got along, there were always a few who drifted to crime or other unsavory activities. And Equestria was a fairly big land. But a unicorn taking down three of the princesses by themselves?

How did they do that?

You got me. I was at the back of the crowd before all Tartarus broke loose. Then Trixie and I bolted like everypony else before I could calm down enough to teleport us out of the city. I wish I had more to tell you. I just realized we hadn't talked since the invasion and I wanted you to know I was all right.

Thanks, Starlight. I'm sorry I haven't written either. Things are... hectic over here as well.

What's been going on?

Sunset sighed and provided a brief summary of everything that had been going on, culminating in the meeting that had just ended.

So now the only thing I can do is wait until morning and hope that we can figure out what to do next when we meet with the Principal and Vice-Principal tomorrow.

Starlight's reply took a long time to come. That's really strange.

What is? I mean, yeah, the fact that the government is involved and the magic seems to have affected an animal this time is kind of odd, but it's not that different from when you came over and we dealt with Juniper Montage.

No, not that. You said this agent's name is Tempest?

Yeah.

… That's the name of the unicorn that was leading the invasion.

Sunset stared at the page in disbelief  as a nasty thought crossed her mind.“No... it couldn't be.”

This unicorn... she isn't a dark purple with a bright red mane and a scar over one eye?

And a broken horn! How did you... oh... OH NO.

Yeah. 

How is this possible? I mean, we know there's duplicates of some ponies over there, but the fact you're dealing with that and we're dealing with this... the odds of it happening at the same time must be astronomical!

I don't know. I don't know if it's significant or if this is just the multiverse playing a truly sick cosmic joke on us. 

Either way, be careful, Sunset. If she's anything like her pony counterpart, she's probably a lot more dangerous than she's let on so far. 

We're trying, but I get the feeling that, sooner or later, we're going to have some kind of confrontation. I just hope we can avoid getting arrested in the process. Or worse.

I wish I could help. Right now, all Trixie and I can do is sneak into Ponyville every so often, free a couple of ponies or find ones who haven't been captured yet and bring them back into the Everfree to hide. 

And that's a lot. Even if you only get a small group together, you're resisting. Who knows? You might raise an army. 

It's a nice thought, but right now there's only six of us. Not much of an army.

Sunset smiled as a thought occurred to her. And six ponies took down Nightmare Moon, Discord and Tirek. Oh yeah, and one of them came through the mirror and helped five ordinary girls take down a raging she-demon. Don't underestimate what you can do with six ponies, Starlight. Six ponies  can change the world.

Thanks, Sunset. I'll try not to lose hope. And don't you lose hope either. You might get lucky and this agent will leave town soon.

We'll see. 

Sunset let out a yawn and stretched. It's late. I need to get to bed. I wish I could be more help to you, Starlight.

It's okay. I think we're both doing exactly what Twilight would want us to do. 

Stay safe. If you need to talk, I'm always here. Although, I might have to hide the journal if the worst happens. So if you don't hear from me...

If I don't hear from you, I'll find a way to get the portal open and come rescue you myself. And if Twilight's back if that happens, she'll probably beat me there. Hope, remember?

Right. Hope. 

Good night, Sunset.

Good night, Starlight.
> Interviews, Suspicions, and Tea
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tempest pulled her newly repaired sedan alongside the curb in front of a modest two-story home. She got out and looked around. A typical housing development neighborhood. Most of the houses on the street were of the same basic design and color scheme. The only real difference was a few of the houses had opted for xeriscaping; decorative rocks and a couple of low maintenance potted plants filling in for the more usual lawns and flower beds.  

She took off her sunglasses and made her way up the walk to the front door. She took a moment to make herself presentable, then rang the bell. The door was answered by a handsome woman with glasses.

“Yes? Can I help you?”

“Shiny Stars?” Tempest asked. She produced her ID. “My name is Tempest Shadow. I'm with the Specialized Taskforce Overseeing Remarkable Matters.”

The woman frowned. “What's this all about?”

“I'd like to talk to you about your daughter's disappearance.”

“I'm sorry,” said Shiny Stars. “This isn't a good time.”

“I'd be happy to come back when it's more convenient for you,” Tempest began.

“No. I'm sorry but – “

“Who's at the door?” came a male voice.

Tempest didn't give Shiny the chance to respond. “Agent Tempest Shadow with the Specialized Taskforce Overseeing Remarkable Matters, sir! I'd like to talk to you and your wife about your daughter, Firecracker Burst.”

Shiny's expression hardened. “I've told her this isn't a good time.”

“It's fine, Shiny.”

The door opened wider, revealing a tall, haggard looking man. He held out his hand. “Blazing Spark.”

Tempest shook it. “My pleasure. I understand this is a difficult time for both of you and I don't want to take up too much of it. I'm currently investigating a series of strange events which have been happening around this town for the last year or so. I believe your daughter's disappearance may be connected to them. I'd like to talk to you about it, if you have a few minutes to spare.”

Blazing nodded. “I think we can spare Agent Shadow a few minutes, don't you, honey?”

“Are you sure that's a good idea?”  Tempest noticed the slight quaver in the woman's voice.  

“If it will help find Firecracker, I think it is.” Blazing Spark's statement sounded odd. A strange emphasis on “find Firecracker.” Tempest filed the interaction away for later.

Blazing put a hand on his wife's shoulder and stepped back, guiding her out of the doorway. “Won't you come in, Agent Shadow?”





None of the girls had been to Principal Celestia's house before, and were extremely surprised to find that she and Vice-Principal Luna lived in a luxurious house in the ritzier section of town. A large curved driveway rolled through a vibrant lawn to the house itself, which was largely composed of white brick, with a rocky foundation.  

Fluttershy had borrowed her parents' minivan again, and she, Sunset Shimmer, Applejack, and Twilight Sparkle got out. Applejack helped get Rarity out of the van. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had shifts at their jobs at the mall and couldn't make it.

“You sure you don't wanna use the chair?” she asked, as Rarity pushed herself to her feet on her canes.

“Tough Love said it would be best if I use the canes as much as possible,” Rarity replied.  

“Didn't he also say not to overdo it?” Applejack replied.

“Pfft-tsk-tch! I'm perfectly fine, Applejack, darling. If I get too tired, I'll let everyone know and someone can get my chair from the back.”

“As long as you're sure,” Applejack said, concern evident in her voice. Rarity smiled at her.

“I am, but thank you, darling. It's so nice I can rely on you to keep an eye on me.”

Rarity gently brushed a hand against Applejack's cheek before making her way toward the front of the house, causing the farm girl to blush. She put her own hand up against her face, staring after Rarity.

“AJ?” Sunset Shimmer called, causing Applejack to blink. “Are you coming?”

“Yeah!” Applejack said quickly. “Sorry. Just woolgatherin'!”

The girls gathered on the porch and Twilight rang the bell. After a moment, Luna answered the door.  

“Hello, girls,” she said, smiling. She stepped aside allowing access to the house. “Please come in. My sister is waiting for us out on the patio.”

The girls entered the house and marveled at the interior. Hardwood floors, tasteful decorations on the walls, comfortable looking furniture. Applejack caught a glimpse of a huge ultramodern kitchen as Luna led them down a hall and through the living room. Sunset blinked as she saw a variety of video game consoles stored in a decorative set of shelves. Everything from all three major current generation consoles to a really old one with a wood grain finish and clunky looking joysticks.  

“That's an impressive collection,” she said aloud. Luna looked over her shoulder to where Sunset was pointing.

“Oh, those? That's my sister's collection. She's kept every console we've ever had since we were kids. I prefer PC gaming.”

The vice principal opened the glass doors leading to the backyard patio and the girls stepped back out into the sunshine. A vast lawn spread out from the patio and a large greenhouse could be seen in one corner of the yard. Celestia, dressed in a white blouse and jeans, stood up from the patio table. She smiled as the girls approached.

“Thank you for coming, girls,” she said. “I'm sorry we had to reschedule our meeting. Please have a seat.”

Everyone sat down around the table and tea was served. Applejack looked around the backyard, approvingly.

“Y'all got a lovely home here, Principal Celestia.”

“Yes, indeed,” Rarity agreed. “It's truly luxurious.”

“I didn't know school principals could afford a ritzy place like this,” said Twilgiht. She blinked and blushed as she realized what she had just said. “I mean, from what I understand, most educators are severely underpaid so... No, I just meant that... your house is very nice! I'm going to shut up now!”

She picked up her teacup and began drinking, avoiding eye contact with anyone. Celestia and Luna looked at her for a moment, then giggled.

“It's all right, Twilight,” Celestia said. “Most teachers and administrators wouldn't be able to afford a house like this.”

“I know I certainly couldn't on my salary,” said Luna. “That's why we still live together in our childhood home.”

“Childhood home?” Sunset asked. “You grew up here?”

“It's been remodeled a few times,” Celestia admitted. “But we inherited the house from our parents after they passed away. Luna and I realized that it would be cheaper and easier on both of us if we both lived here full time rather than keeping two separate residences.”

“Plus, neither of us really liked the idea of selling it to someone else,” Luna added.  

“I can understand that,” said Applejack. “Our house has been in the family since Great-Granddad Jonathan built the place. Granny says she's got no interest in livin' anywhere else.”

Sunset put down her teacup and looked at the two administrators. “I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but you had something to tell us last night?”

Celestia sighed and put down her own cup. “Yes, we do. Luna?”

Luna nodded. “I'm afraid that, in my attempts to help you girls be ready for Agent Shadow, I made a mistake.”

“What kind of mistake?” Sunset asked.

Luna sighed. “When I was about your age, I was heavily into computers. Especially getting computers to do what I wanted them to do when other people would rather they do something else.”

“You were a hacker?” Twilight's eyes were wide behind her glasses.

Luna nodded. “I once roamed the early internet under the name of 'NightmareMoon.'”

Sunset's eyebrows raised, but she said nothing. This wasn't the time to note another strange parallel between this world and Equestria.

“The ForeverNight virus!” Twilight cried. “The one that caused the three day blackout in Manehattan! That was you?!”

“The blackout wasn't intended!” Luna insisted. “What it was supposed to do was hijack the Jumbotron screens in the center of the city and show NASA's live feed of the moon for those three days. My coding wasn't perfect and the next thing I know, I'm watching reports of the blackout on every major news channel. I decided then and there to retire before I did something worse.”

“But you came out of retirement for us, didn't you?” Fluttershy asked.

Luna nodded. “I still have some contacts in the hacker community, but one in particular is very good about keeping his identity a secret. Well, I say 'he,' but I don't even know if he's a man or a woman. That's how good he is. He taught be a few things back in the day and I knew he was still active. So I logged on as NightmareMoon and with his help, I was able to get the information on STORM and Agent Shadow we gave you girls last week. But something went wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Sunset frowned, leaning forward in her seat.

Luna sighed again. “I logged on to a dark web chatroom where some of my old cronies meet. My friend saw 'NightmareMoon' was in the chat, and got hold of me privately. Except there was both a government plant in the chat room and an invisible bot in the private chat that neither I or my friend were able to detect.”

“And NightmareMoon set off some warnings to the agent in the chat room,” said Twilight.

“Plus the bot apparently flagged the conversation my friend and I had about STORM,” Luna continued. “He contacted me Friday night to warn me that STORM knows 'NightmareMoon' was asking about them.”

“But surely, they won't be able to link you to NightmareMoon,” said Rarity. “You must have been a teenager when the ForeverNight incident happened. The records would be sealed, wouldn't they? Assuming you got caught, that is.”

“I convinced her to turn herself in after everything that happened,” said Celestia.  

“The judge showed mercy on me since I was still a minor and I hadn't actually intended to unleash the chaos the virus caused. And you're correct, Rarity, the court records are sealed. But there was a detective here in town who suspected that I might be NightmareMoon. His reports aren't part of the sealed record and presumably are on file with the Canterlot City Police Department. If STORM finds those records, it's possible Agent Shadow will try to use them as leverage.”

“So what do we need to do?” Sunset asked.  

“If any of you still have those copies of the information we found, you need to destroy them as quickly and completely as possible,” said Celestia. “Luna's friend was a little... overzealous when getting the information she asked for.”

“Some of those documents are actually classified and are not meant to be in civilian hands,” Luna elaborated. “Just having them in our possession opens all of us to the possibility of arrest.”

Fluttershy clasped a hand to her mouth and let out a distressed squeak. Rarity put a hand on her back and made slow circles.

“It's all right, Fluttershy, darling, just breathe.”

Sunset's frown deepened and she glared at the vice-principal. “You put us all in danger.”

Luna nodded sadly. “Yes, and I am so sorry about that, Sunset. I had no idea how far my friend would go. I just wanted to try to keep you girls safe from what was coming.”

Sunset closed her eyes and let out a deep breath through her nose. “I know. And we appreciate it, Vice-Principal Luna.” Her eyes opened again and she looked at her friends. “Does everybody know where their copy of that file is?”

There were sounds of assent. Sunset looked back at the administrators. “Thank you for telling us all this. We'll make sure our copies are destroyed, including Pinkie Pie's and Rainbow Dash's.”

“I'm sorry about this as well, girls,” said Celestia. “We were trying to help.”

“And you have,” said Sunset. “But I think, for your sake, you better stay on the sidelines from now on. I don't want you winding up on Agent Shadow's bad side either.”

“Then we better talk about what's going to happen at school tomorrow,” said Celestia. “Because it's not just the incident at the mall she's been investigating.”





“And you haven't seen Firecracker since?” Tempest asked from her seat on the sofa. Across from her, the distraught parents were seated in armchairs.

“No,” said Shiny Stars. “We're not sure exactly why she ran away. She and her girlfriend have had fights before, of course, but they were usually sorted out in a couple of days.”

“Her girlfriend, yes,” said Tempest. She scrolled through the notes she had taken during the interview. “This would be Gardenia Glow, right?”

“That's right,” said Blazing Spark. “She and Firecracker started dating at the end of Gardenia's senior year. They kept up their relationship while Gardenia was at college.”

“Did either of them know a girl named Rarity?”  

There was a pause before Shiny spoke again. “I don't think so. Maybe in passing at school, but I don't think Firecracker ever had a friend by that name. Right, dear?”

There was another pause before Blazing replied. “No. No, I can't recall Firecracker introducing anyone by that name to us.”

Tempest kept her expression neutral, but she had noted the awkward pauses. “What about a girl named Sunset Shimmer?”

Another awkward pause, but the STORM agent noticed something. Blazing's hands gripped the armrests of the chair tightly when he heard the name. Before she could ask, Shiny answered.

“Firecracker mentioned her on occasion. Apparently she was a bully at school, but I guess something happened because Firecracker stopped talking about her about a year ago, I think.”

“Any particular reason why?” Tempest asked.

“We have no idea,” said Shiny. She smiled. “But, you know, teenagers. You're never quite sure what's going on with them.”

“Very true,” Tempest agreed. She shot a glance at Blazing, who was still gripping the armrests firmly. “I'd like to talk with Gardenia Glow. You mentioned she was going to college in Baltimare?”

“Yes, but she came back a couple of months ago.” Blazing's hands finally left the armrests. “I think she has an apartment somewhere.”

“The Paddock Hills apartment complex on Lewis Street,” Shiny offered. “Apartment 532, I think.”

“Thank you.” Tempest stood up. “I think that's all I need for now.”

As Blazing and Shiny also stood, she reached into her inside pocket and produced a business card. She handed it to Blazing, making sure she made eye contact. “If there's anything else you remember or would like to speak to me about, you can reach me at that number. I'll be in town for the foreseeable future. I still have a few other things to look into.”

Blazing looked at the card then back at the agent. “Thank you, Agent Shadow.”

Tempest gave the parents a smile as they led her to the front door. “Always happy to help, Mr. Spark. Have a nice day.”
> Searching, Finding, and Fighting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“This is bullshit,” said Boyle. He shoved a low hanging branch aside with the twin pronged hook he had in place of his right hand. The burly goon straightened up and glanced over at Caelano. “What the hell is Capper thinking, sending us through the woods in the middle of the night? What are we even looking for?”

Caelano sighed. “I told you. Shimmer thinks there's something out here that's been causing all the damage in town. Capper owes her a favor, plus he's worried that whatever it is might attack Lix on her way back. He wants us to see if we can find it.”

“Seems like a snipe hunt to me,” said Mullet. His sole eye narrowed. “Why's the boss giving Shimmer the time of day anyway? She's the one who left the gang.”

“I don't know,” Caelano replied. “But he says we do it, so we do it.”

Boyle grumbled. “Waste of friggin' time.”

The three had been in the woods on the southeast end of town since sundown, looking for any sign of the thing in the woods. They'd been out here for almost three hours without any sign of anything. Just trees and darkness. Caelano herself was starting to agree with her underlings. This had to be a wild goose chase.

I'll give it ten more minutes, that's it, she thought. After that, the little bitch can come out here and waste her time for once.

Mullet turned left and pushed his way through another set of low branches. He cast the flashlight he carried around before pointing it at the ground. His eyebrow raised.

“Hey, guys? You might want to see this.”

The other two gang members made their way over to where Mullet stood. All three looked down.

“What the hell is that?” said Caelano.

“Whatever made that, it's big,” Boyle replied.

The beam of Mullet's flashlight illuminated a trail of large animal tracks, easily a foot and a half in diameter leading deeper into the woods. Each print consisted of a large pad and four slightly smaller claw marks. The distance between each print seemed to indicate whatever it was traveled on four legs. 

Caelano pulled out her phone and took several pictures of the tracks. “I don't believe it. She was right.”

“Yeah, great,” said Boyle. He cast his own flashlight around the trees surrounding them. “Can we get outta here now?”

“What's the matter? Scared?” Mullet smirked. Boyle frowned and punched Mullet in the shoulder. 

“Okay, okay, jeez,” Mullet moaned.

“Come on,” Caelano said, following the tracks. 

“Wait, what?” said Mullet. “You wanna follow those things?”

“Only for a short distance,” Caelano replied. “I wanna see which way it went. Then we can tell Shimmer and let her deal with it.”

“If this thing is as big as it seems,” said Boyle, “She's gonna get herself killed.”

“And wouldn't that just be a shame,” Caelano snorted. “Come on.”

The other two gang members reluctantly followed Caelano deeper into the forest. The tracks stayed mostly in a straight line, but veered off when they heard the sound of rushing water. They found a small creek nearby where the tracks overlapped around each other, and what looked like a large body imprint in the dirt. 

There were also quite a few branches that had been snapped off the trees above lying near the creek bank. Caelano looked around and found what appeared to be fresher tracks leading away from the creek.

“This way,” she said. The three continued exploring the woods, keeping at least one flashlight on the tracks at all times. After a moment, Mullet noticed something.

“Is it me or are those tracks getting bigger?”

Caelano stopped and cast her light back on the prints they had followed. Sure enough, while the increase had been gradual, the prints that led away from the creek were visibly larger than the ones that had led to it. She frowned, and cast her flashlight up. In the distance, beyond the beam, there was a slightly darker patch of blackness that rose into the sky, slightly silhouetted against the starry night. 

Could be a cave over there, Caelano thought. Good place for this thing to hide.

She got out her phone and brought up a GPS app. She copied the coordinates and saved them on her notepad app. She put the phone away, then turned to face the other two. “Let's get the hell out of here.”

Boyle and Mullet nodded and the three began following the tracks back they way they had come. They reached the creek when they heard something crack in the distance.

“You hear that?” Boyle said, shining his light behind them.

“Yeah. Keep moving.” Caelano led the way, increasing their pace. Soon, they were back where they had found the tracks. She stopped.

“What's the problem?” Mullet asked.

“Do you remember which way we came from?”

Mullet frowned and looked around. They had entered the woods while the sun was still up, but now the darkness had come, and he wasn't sure which way the car was.

“Um...” he said. “I think--”

Another crash resounded through the woods, causing all three to look behind them. A loud groaning sound came form the shadows, followed by a series of crashes as branches fell from the trees. Caelano cast her laght into the darkness and sucked in her breath when she saw the distinctive glitter of eyes reflecting the light. The glittering was a full nine feet off the ground and she was sure she caught a glimpse of white fangs just underneath them.

“Run,” she hissed. “Run now.”

The three gang members turned and began running. A loud roar echoed through the night behind them, nearly overwhelming them with its volume. More crashes and thumps could be heard from behind them. Caelano pushed herself harder, trying to ignore the burning in her lungs, forcing herself not to look behind her, afraid she might see the thing gaining on them.

“Shit!” Boyle yelped. Caelano looked to the side and saw Boyle drop from sight. She stopped and turned back, only to catch a glimps of the massive shape rising to it's hind limbs. A paw came up, tapped with large yellowed claws, ready to smash down on Boyle. 

Without thinking, Caelano's hand dropped to the knife at her hip, withdrew the blade, and hurled it at the thing in one smooth motion. It connected and the thing roared again, forcing all three of them to put their hands over their ears in pain. Caelano recovered first, and grabbed Boyle's arm, trying to pull him upright. 

What felt like a freight train collided with her midsection and the rest was a blur as she felt herself sailing through the air, before impacting with something hard and unyealding. She tried to gasp in pain, but the wind had been knocked out of her and she could only lay on the ground, trying to force her lungs to work.

A shadow, darker than the night, passed over her. Caelano looked up and blinked.  

Stars?

A muzzle – long and wet – came down and sniffed. Long fangs protruded from the mouth, almost dragging on the ground. Caelano swallowed. The action caused her lungs to start working again and she hacked and coughed directly in the thing's face. It recoiled and roared again. Caelano gagged as warm fetid breath rolled over her, smelling like hot garbage and dead fish. 

“YAAAAAAAH!” Boyle crashed into the side of the thing like a linebacker. He blinked when he came to a dead stop and looked up in time to see a giant paw coming straight at him, knocking him aside. The monster snorted and begam moving its head back toward Caelano, who was trying to get to her feet.

Several loud cracks echoed through the trees. Mullet had withdrawn a pistol and was taking shots at the beast. The shots were wild and untargeted, but one managed to graze the thing's nose. It let out a huge bellow of pain and reared back, swiping blindly around it. Caelano was backhanded just as she got up and rolled to a stop next to Mullet, who threw himself to the ground beside her.

“I made it mad,” he said.

Caelano glared at him. “You THINK?!”

They both got up as the monster turned away from them. Boyle appeared, nursing his bruised shoulder..

“You think we scared it off?” he asked. 

The answer came when the thing grabbed a large boulder in its paws and wrenched it out of the ground. It turned back to them, holding the huge rock over its head. All three gang members' eyes widened.

“Nope,” Mullet squeaked.

The monster hurled the boulder at them. Caelano shoved Mullet and Boyle aside and danced backward. The boulder hit the ground with a jarring thud. Another roar came from the beast, coupled with the sound of crashing tree limbs and huge chunks of dirt and rock falling back to earth.

Mullet and Boyle got up and stared after the monster, which lumbered off into the trees and was soon swallowed by the darkness. They looked at each other for a moment before they heard the moans. They dashed around the side of the rock and stopped short at what they found.

“Oh, fuck,” said Boyle. He quickly got to his knees and began digging under the edge of the boulder. “Call the boss! And an ambulance!”

Mullet nodded and got out his phone. “Capper? We have a really big problem. Yeah, we found it all right and it nearly killed us! We need an ambulance out here now! It's bad, Cap.”

He swallowed as he looked over to where Boyle was still trying to free Caelano's crumpled form. 

“Real bad.”
> Stubbornness, Threats, and Connections
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tempest rolled over in bed, awoken by the sound of her phone ringing. She fumbled around on the nightstand until she found it and pulled it underneath the cocoon she had made for herself from the sheets and comforter. She answered the call and put the phone up to her ear.

“Temp'st Shd'w,” she mumbled.  

“Um, Agent Shadow? This is Detective Spyglass with the Canterlot City Police Department. I got your number from Lieutenant Helm.”

The name pushed Tempest closer to full alertness. Lieutenant Padded Helm was in charge of the precinct handling Firecracker Burst's disappearance. “Yes, Lieutenant Helm... what can I do for you, Detective?”

“Ma'am, I'm out here in the woods to the southeast of the city and frankly, we've got something going on here we can't really understand. The lieutenant said your agency specializes in weird cases and that you asked to be notified if something strange came up. I was hoping you could come out here and take a look.”

Tempest pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the clock. 12:35 AM. She'd only been asleep for an hour.

“Send me the location, Detective. I'm on my way.”

–

It took Tempest thirty minutes to get to the site. Admittedly, ten of those minutes had been spent trying to find an open gas station so she could get some coffee and approach some semblance of alertness. A further ten were spent hiking through the woods from where she had parked her car.  

The long trip proved to be worth it when she got there. A small clearing had apparently been formed when a few trees had been knocked down. Broken limbs and branches were scattered across the ground, as well as one large boulder sunk into what looked like a small crater on one side. Small piles of earth were scattered around the rock.  

As Tempest crossed the yellow police tape, a pudgy man in a suit came up to her. “Agent Shadow?”

When she nodded in affirmation, the man stuck out a hand. “Detective Spyglass. Sorry about the rude awakening.”

Tempest shook his hand, then looked out at the site. “What exactly happened here?”

“We think it was some sort of animal attack. We've had a few of those over the last few days. Reports of loud noises in the wood. A couple of businesses on the outskirts of town reported their dumpsters getting damaged.”

Tempest looked around the site and took a few steps forward. For the first time since she came to the city, she felt back on comfortable ground. STORM handled all sorts of cryptid investigations. Those were what the agency usually spent most of its time on. “Seems like this is a lot bigger than any animal you'd normally see around here.”

Spyglass nodded. “We get the occasional bear attack, but usually that's some idiot tourist or local kid who gets too close. But they don't usually cause damage on this scale.”

Tempest looked at the ground. Several worklights had been set up around the site, providing ample illumination. Large paw prints were visible in several places. Tempest looked up and saw another hole in the ground several feet on the far side.

“What happened over there?”

Spyglass rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, that's the damnedest thing. Near as we can figure, something ripped that rock over there out of the ground and chucked it to where it is now. Or at least, that's what the witnesses said.”

Tempest looked at him. “What witnesses?”

“Three local hoods. One of them was on the receiving end of that rock. Smashed her leg up something fierce. EMTs are taking her to the hospital now. They had to knock her out, she was screaming so loud.”

“What's her name?”

“Caelano. Lieutenant with a gang out of Klugetown,” Spyglass answered. “Leader's name is Capper. Slick operator. We've never been able to get anything to stick on him.”

“What about the other two witnesses?”

“Boyle and Mullet. A couple of goons that work for Capper as well. We questioned them, but outside of the basics, they wouldn't tell us what they were doing out here. They're over there.”

Spyglass gestured with his chin to where the goons in question were sitting on a log. They were handcuffed and a couple of uniformed officers were standing nearby. Tempest frowned.

“Let me talk to them.”

Spyglass nodded. “Knock yourself out.”

The two walked over to the log. Both Boyle and Mullet looked up as they approached.

“All right, gents,” Spyglass said. “This is Agent Shadow. She specializes in stuff like this. She'd like to ask you a few questions.”

“Not without a lawyer,” snapped Mullet. “I don't talk to cops, and I definitely don't talk to feds without one.”

“Same here,” said Boyle.

Tempest turned to Spyglass. “Detective, could you and your men give me a minute with these two?”

Spyglass blinked. “You sure about that?”

“Just stay within sight. I think I can convince these two to be a little more forthcoming.”

Spyglass considers then nodded at the two officers. All three retreated to the far side of the clearing. Tempest looked down at them and smiled. The smile didn't reach her eyes.

“All right, let me make this clear,” she began, walking behind the two of them. “I don't care what your records look like, who you work for, or what you've done. I'm here investigating the events that seem to have been plaguing this town for the last year. Whatever happened here is clearly connected to all that. I just want to know one thing: why were you out here tonight?”

“Go piss up a tree, lady,” said Boyle.  

“You don't frighten us,” snapped Mullet. “You're just another hard ass with a gun and a badge.”

“And a nicer suit,” Boyle added. He and Mullet snickered at each other.

“A gun?” Tempest asked. She slowly lowered herself so her head was even with the goons'. “I don't need a gun to deal with you two. I just need... say... a finger.”

Tempest's hand darted out, and she gripped Mullet's right pinkie finger. Mullet's eyes bulged as Tempest began applying pressure. She leaned forward and whispered in his ear.

“I can break it sooooo easily,” she said. “One little twist and... snap! And I can do it again...”

Mullet grit his teeth.

“... and again...”

His eyes began to water.

“... and again. Until I get what I want.” Tempest suddenly let go and stood up, causing Mullet to gasp in relief. He glared up at the agent, flexing his finger to make sure it still worked properly.

“You can't do that. It's illegal.”

“Maybe,” said Tempest. “But who do you think Detective Spyglass is going to believe? A high ranking federal agent, or a couple of street hoods he knows are dirty as hell?”

Mullet growled in the back of his throat. Tempest ignored him and turned her attention to Boyle.

“And what about your friend? The one who got her leg crushed. If it were me, I'd be pretty pissed at whoever sent me out here to run into that thing. Your boss must really dislike you.”

“You don't know shit about the boss,” snapped Boyle. “It was the girl who – OOF!”

Mullet glared at him and pulled his foot back from Boyle's ankle. Tempest's eyebrow raised.

“Girl?” Tempest asked. “What girl?”

Neither crook replied. Neither one met her eyes. Tempest exhaled through her nose.

“Fine,” she said. “I'll just go have a little chat with your friend at the hospital. I'm sure she'll be more... helpful.”

Mullet and Boyle exchanged a glance. They had caught the hidden threat in the agent's voice. After a long moment, Boyle subtly shook his head. Mullet nodded back and looked up at Tempest.

“Good luck with that. She's tougher than we are.”

Tempest's eyes flashed and her expression turned ugly. She stormed over to Detective Spyglass. “They know something all right, but for some reason they're not interested in saving their own skins.”

Spyglass nodded. “Capper's crew are like that. Dunno how he does it, but they're loyal as hell.”

“And here they say integrity's dead,” Tempest said snidely. She pulled out one of her business cards. “I want to talk to the one who went to the hospital.”

“EMTs said she'll probably be under sedation for most of the day.”

Tempest handed the card to the detective. “Call me the second she's lucid. I think I can get her to talk.”

“If you say so, Agent Shadow.”

Tempest left the scene and hiked back to her car, her mind whirling. A girl. A girl contacted this Capper person, who in turn sent his goons out to the woods to look for this thing. A girl who has an interest in what this thing is and what it's been doing.

It was all connected. Tempest was sure of it. The thing in the woods, the girl who had gotten Capper to send out his troops, the mall rampage, and Firecracker Burst. She just needed one crack. Something she could latch onto to tie it all together.  

She opened the calendar app on her phone and smiled at the note she had put down for Monday morning.

10:00 AM Interviews with Canterlot High Students.
> Phone Calls, Assistance, and Headphones
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

But first, she had a call to make.

After returning to her hotel to get some sleep, then doing her morning workout and shower, she made the call.

“Canterlot Education Association, how can I help you?”

“This is Agent Tempest Shadow with the Specialized Taskforce Overseeing Remarkable Matters. I'm looking into recent events which seem to pertain to two high schools in the area. I was hoping to make an appointment with President Neighsay to discuss this with him.”

“One moment please.”

Tempest listened to the muzak that came from the phone for a few seconds before the receptionist's voice returned.

“Agent Shadow? The earliest opening I have is on Thursday morning. Will that work?”

“I'm afraid not. I'm on a tight schedule myself,” Tempest answered. “Does he have five minutes to speak with me on the phone? That would be helpful.”

“Let me ask. Can you hold for another minute?”

“That's fine.”

More Muzak, then a nasal male voice came on the line.

“Agent Shadow? President Neighsay here. You wanted to speak with me?”

“Yes, President Neighsay, I'm conducting an investigation into some strange events that have been occurring in the city lately and several of them seem to focus on two local high schools.”

“I see. And which school are these?”

“Crystal Prep Academy and…” Time to play the trump card. “... Canterlot High School.”

There was a pause, then: “Why am I not surprised?”

“I'm sorry?”

“Canterlot High is one of our… problem schools.”

Tempest frowned. “Gangs and drugs?”

“No no, not in that way. In terms of performance, CHS is actually very good. I just don't care for the administration style. But that's neither here nor there. How can I help you?”

“There was apparently some sort of incident last spring at something called the Friendship Games,” Tempest began. “I'll be speaking to Principals Celestia and Cadance later today about it, but I understand there was another administrator at the time?”

“Ah yes,” said the president. “Abacus Cinch. One of the finest administrators in the county, if not the state, in my opinion. It was a pity to lose her.”

“I'd like to speak with her, but I haven't been able to find any contact information for her.”

“That would be because she's traveling. As I understand it, Abacus decided to take early retirement and see the world.”

“I see.” Mentally, Tempest cursed. “And I assume she's overseas at the moment?”

“Actually, I believe she's back in the country,” Neighsay said. “Now that I think about it… could you give me your number, Agent Shadow? I'll make some calls and have Abacus get in touch with you if I can find her.”

Tempest suppressed a sigh of frustration. It was better than nothing. She gave Neighsay her number and said goodbye.

Things better go right at the school.





"Nice to see you again, Agent Shadow," said Celestia as Tempest entered her office.

"Principal Celestia," Tempest replied. "Is everything arranged?"

"Yes. I'll be calling each student you requested out of class so you can talk to them."

"The band and the DJ that planned the laser show?"

"Yes."

"And the team from the Friendship Games?"

Celestia nodded. "And Twilight Sparkle. She was on the Crystal Prep team before transferring here."

"Really? Interesting."

"I've set aside the conference room for you to use." Celestia got up from her desk and led the way out. "Do you know how long you'll need?"

"As long as it takes."

"Really?" Celestia smiled. "I was talking to Principal Cadance a little while ago and she mentioned you had a meeting with her this afternoon."

Tempest looked at Celestia's guileless face. "Yes, but that's after school lets out for the day."

"Ah, I see." Celestia smiled and opened the door to the conference room. "And here we are!"

Tempest entered the room and stopped short when she saw Luna sitting at the table. The vice principal stood up and extended a hand.

"Agent Shadow. So nice to see you again."

Tempest reluctantly returned the handshake, then looked at Celestia. "What's this about?"

"We felt it would make the parents of our students feel more comfortable if Vice Principal Luna was here to observe your interviews. Make sure everything is above the board."

Tempest frowned. "I was under the impression my investigation wouldn't be interfered with."

"And it won't be," Luna replied. "I will simply be here to observe and provide assistance should you need it. Besides, I certain you don't want to accidentally intimidate them by accident, do you?"

A tight smile crossed the STORM agent's features. "No, of course not. It'd be… well, a nightmare if that happened."

Tempest allowed herself a small sense of satisfaction at the look the two sisters exchanged.

"Well then," said Celestia, somewhat awkwardly. "I'll page your first interview then."

Celestia left the conference room. As she did, she let a smile of her own appear.

Let's see how diplomatic you really are, Agent Shadow.





"Could you take your headphones off please?" Tempest said to the blue haired girl sitting across from her. The girl gave her a thumbs up and a smile, but didn't take her headphones off.

Tempest's frown returned. "Did you hear me? Take the headphones off now!"

Luna cleared her throat. "Vinyl has chronic tinnitus. The music helps cancel out the ringing in her ears. She can hear you just fine, I assure you."

Tempest gave Luna a skeptical look, then turned her attention back go the girl. "Is that true? Can you hear me?"

The girl smiled again and nodded. Tempest's frown didn't go away. Something was off here.

"All right," she began. "I understand you assisted the --" She consulted her notes. "-- Rainbooms with some special effects for their performance at the Battle of the Bands last fall. Is that correct?"

Another nod.

"Can you tell me what sort of effects you created for them?"

The girl's grin widened and she began gesticulating wildly with her arms. Tempest stared at her for a solid minute before looking at Luna, perplexed.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Agent Shadow," Luna said, an equally broad smile on her face. "We're so used to this, it must have slipped mine and my sister's minds. Vinyl is also mute."

"Mute," Tempest said flatly.

"I'll be happy to help translate if you like. Or she can type out her responses on her phone."

Tempest glared at Luna, then looked back at Vinyl, who looked at her expectantly.

"Do you mind starting over? The agent sighed. 

It's going to be a long day.
> Shouting, Migranes, and the Internet
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Applejack asked Sunset. The two of them had arrived early at school and were on one of the computers in the library.

“Principal Celestia said Agent Shadow was going to be interviewing students today. If I were in her position, I'd talk to the other students here before talking to us. See how well everybody's story holds together. This is the fastest way to contact as many people in school as possible and make sure it's relatively untraceable.”

“Not everybody might see it that way. There might be other people who ain't willin' to help. People like Firecracker.”

“Maybe. But we're just going to have to have hope.” Sunset smiled at her friend. “I got reminded of that the other day. I don't think anyone at this school really wants to see us hauled off by the government, even if some of them still hate me.”

“All right,” said Applejack. She reached into a pocket of her skirt and pulled out a slip of paper. “As long as you're sure. Here ya go.”

Sunset took the paper and entered the word written on it into the website's password box. “Let's see if this thing can actually do some good this time around.”





“All right, Mr... Biceps, is it?”

“YEAH!”

Tempest winced before she could stop herself. She blinked and looked at the burly student sitting across from her. Bulk Biceps sat there with an amiable grin on his face.

“And what exactly can you tell me about what happened at the Battle of the Bands last year?”

“THE RAINBOOMS DID SOME REALLY COOL LASER EFFECTS! GIANT SEA MONSTERS IN THE AIR! IT WAS AWESOME!”

“The yelling isn't necessary, Mr. Biceps,” said Tempest, resisting the urge to rub her temples.

“SORRY!”

Tempest's hands clenched briefly then she took a breath. “So you didn't see anything unusual outside of the special effects?”

“NOPE!”

“And what about the Friendship Games?”

“WE WERE GONNA WIN UNTIL THE STATUE BLEW UP!”

“How can you be so sure?” Tempest asked.

“WE HAD THE BEST TEAM! GO WONDERCOLTS! YEAAAAAAH!”

Tempest closed her eyes and rubbed her left temple. God save me from school spirit.

She regrouped and continued. “What happened when the statue exploded?”

“FIREWORKS WENT OFF EVERYWHERE! THOSE CRYSTAL PREP KIDS REALLY MESSED UP!”

Tempest wasn't sure, but she thought her ear might have started bleeding. “So the Crystal Prep students blew up the statue?”

“PRINCIPAL CELESTIA SAID IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!”

“Uh-huh. And what else did Principal Celestia say?”

“SHE AND THE OTHER PRINCIPALS SAID THE GAMES WERE A TIE AND WE WERE ALL WINNERS!”

Tempest refrained from rolling her eyes. Of course she did. God forbid anyone actually deal with the consequences of their actions.

“One last thing, Mr. Biceps. Have you ever seen anything strange or unusual happen at this school? Something you can't explain?”

“Hmmm.” Bulk put his hand on his chin and assumed and expression of great concentration. Tempest leaned forward.  

“Mr. Biceps?”

“NOPE!” The sudden exclamation made Tempest leap back in her chair, which rolled away from the table and crash into the wall behind her. Bulk leaped to his feet and dashed over to her.

“ARE YOU OKAY?!”

“YES!” Tempest snapped. “THAT WILL – ahem – that will be all, Mr. Biceps. Thank you for your help.”

“NO PROBLEM!”

After Bulk left the conference room, Tempest glared at Luna, who had been sitting without comment through the interview.  

“That went well, I thought,” said the vice principal.  

“Could you please page the next student,” Tempest said, politeness oozing out of every word. “And, if you don't mind, some ibuprofen?”





The students of Canterlot High were surprised to get the notification on their phones. It had been months since any sort of activity had come from that particular account, but there it was, clear as day. And when they opened the app it came from, they got a second surprise. A message composed by Sunset Shimmer.

The message outlined the situation with Agent Shadow. Not the full scope of the problem, but enough to make it clear that the STORM agent was looking into the events of the last couple of years at CHS. It also included Principal Celestia's cover stories for the Fall Formal, the Battle of the Bands, and the Friendship Games. For good measure, it also included a synopsis of what Gloriosa Daisy and Timber Spruce had told Tempest about the events at Camp Everfree.  

The final paragraph contained Sunset's plea for the student body's help in keeping the existence of the magic a secret from the agent, as she was certain confirmation could lead to dire results for herself, her friends, and possibly all of the other students as well. 

For the most part, the students of Canterlot High were willing to help. The cover stories were dutifully memorized and several groups of students contacted each other to aid in the process. By the time the first bell had rung to begin the school day, the student body of Canterlot High was ready to be questioned by Agent Shadow, and the post on the long defunct Anon-A-Miss MyStable page had been deleted. Everyone knew what they had to do, and they were ready and willing to help protect Sunset Shimmer and her friends.

Well, almost everyone.
> Octavia, Muffins, and ???
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What can you tell me about the Battle of the Bands, Miss Melody?” Tempest asked the girl sitting opposite her.

Octavia, sitting up straight and proper, with her hands folded on the table, replied “Only that classical music is still frowned upon by most of my peers. And the administration, it seems.”

“So you didn't see anything at the Canterlot Bowl that night?”

“I didn't say that. I was there as a show of support.”

“You had friends participating in the show?”

“No. Vinyl Scratch is a very good friend of mine. She was trying out some new laser effects for the Rainbooms and I wanted to be there to see them. I may not care all that much for electronic music, but her effects are amazing.”

“And what did you think of the efffects?”

Octavia straightened her bow tie. “Impressive as always, but I don't know about mixing sea monsters with unicorns.”

Tempest nodded. “I understand there were some problems during the preliminary rounds of the contest?”

“We all got a little carried away,” Octavia admitted. “Myself included. A lot of harsh words were said that day.”

“Oh?” Tempest looked at Octavia expectantly. “What sort of harsh words?”

Octavia swallowed, her tie suddenly feeling constrictive. “Well, there was some interference with the one of the Rainbooms' performances, and well, Sunset Shimmer tried to help. I'm afraid we all assumed she was the one causing the problems. I...”

The cellist trailed off. Tempest leaned forward.

“You what, Miss Melody?”

Octavia swallowed again. “I... cried out that I knew she was still trouble.”

“Still?”

Octavia bit her lip, but remained silent. She glanced over at Luna, who was looking at her with concern. Luna quickly interjected herself into the conversation.

“Sunset Shimmer used to be something of a problem student,” she explained. “She was attempting to turn herself around at the time of the Battle of the Bands.”

“I see,” Tempest leaned back. “Let's talk about the Friendship Games.”

Octavia visibly relaxed. “I don't really have much to tell. I was just a spectator.”

“Can you tell me what you saw when the Wondercolt statue was destroyed?”

“Not much, I'm afraid.” Octavia was more relaxed now, speaking easily. “I was sitting with the other students, ready for the final event, when there was a whistlign sound and a series of explosions. I got down on the ground and when it was all over, the statue was destroyed. I heard it was a prank by the Crystal Prep students that went wrong.”

Tempest said nothing. She only looked at the girl for a long while. “Let's go back a bit. Were you attending the Fall Formal last year?”

“Yes, I was. Is this about the gas leak?”

Tempest blinked, caught off guard. “Gas leak?”

“The one which caused the damage to the front of the school and tore up the front lawn,” said Octavia. “We all heard it in the gym. We're lucky no one got hurt.”

“Yeeeesssss,” Tempest drawled. She cleared her throat. “I understand someone fell into the hole made by the explosion?”

“I believe so.”

“Do you know who it was?”

Once again, Octavia stiffened, glancing at Luna again. Tempest pretended not to notice, interested in who would speak next.

“I think it was... Sunset Shimmer,” Octavia finally answered.

“I see.” Tempest closed the file that was in front of her. “I think that will be all for now, Miss Melody. Thank you for your time.”

“You can head back to class now, Octavia,” said Luna, giving the girl a reassuring smile.

“Thank you, Vice-Principal Luna.”

Octavia got up and left the conference room. As soon as she left the office, she got out her phone and sent a text.





“Oh boy,” Pinkie sighed. She was in art class. The students were sketching, sitting in groups at half a dozen tables around the room. Pinkie showed her phone to Sunset, who was sitting next to her. “Octavia just talked to Agent Shadow. She had to talk about you”

Sunset quickly glanced at the message and sighed. “It can't be helped. I'll just have to deal with it when it's my turn.”

Pinkie leaned over and hugged her friend. “It's so unfair. You don't deserve this.”

“Maybe not,” Sunset agreed. “But it's still my responsibility.”

“OUR responsibility,” Pinkie corrected, smiling and pulling Sunset closer.

Sunset smiled in return. “Right. Our responsibility.”





Tempest Shadow had many flaws, but prejudice against the disabled wasn't one of them. However, she still felt her eyes trying to cross in sympathy with the gray girl who sat across from her. Muffins smiled brightly, her gold eyes turning inward and off center.

“So, there was this big explosion, and the next thing I knew, the Wondercolt was just gone! Some CPA kids apparently were trying to prank us, but it went wrong somehow. I don't know how.”

“Did the Crystal Prep students confess?” Tempest asked.  

“I guess so?” Muffins' voice had an uncertain edge to it. “I mean, we didn't really find out what happened until a few days later, when Principal Celestia told us all.”

“How did that happen?” Tempest asked.  

Muffins blinked. “What?”

“I mean, was there an assembly? Was it over the intercom? How did Principal Celestia let the students know what had happened to the statue?”

“Oh, I see! It was over the intercom during morning announcements.”

Tempest made an affirmative noise and jotted down a note. “You participated in the Battle of the Bands correct?”

“Yeah, but I didn't make it very far. Saw music is kind of an acquired taste.”

Now it was Tempest's turn to blink. “Saw music?”

“I play the saw!” Muffins said, brightly. “My grandpa taught me. It's fun.”

“Uh... huh. So you were there during the preliminary rounds?”

“Yep!”

“What can you tell me about the Rainbooms performance Sunset Shimmer interrupted. Do you know why she did it?”

“Well, we all thought she was jealous since she was friends with them but she wasn't in the band and wanted to mess things up for them. She was kind of... well... a meanie up until last year. But it turned out it was a bunch of other bands trying to mess them up. Sunset was trying to stop it, but she wound up accidentally trashing the Rainbooms performance.”

“Wait. She was friends with the Rainbooms, but they didn't ask her to be in the band?”

“Yeah,” Muffins confirmed. “I don't know why. I guess they worked it out though, because Sunset sang with them in the finals.”

“Did she?” Tempest asked, an interested note in her voice. “Anything else unusual happen during the finals?”

“Just the light show they did. It was awesome!”

“Let me ask you this. Who were the Rainbooms competing against in the finals?”

Muffins blinked.“Um...” She paused for a moment. “I think it was Trixie's band.”

“Trixie?”

“Trixie Lulamoon,” Luna supplied. “She was the runner up in the competition.”

Tempest jotted down another note. “Did you attend the Fall Formal last year?”

Muffins shook her head. “I had to work that night.”

Tempest put down her pen. “All right. I think that's everything I need, Miss Muffins. Thank you for your time.”

“No problem!” Muffins got up and left the conference room.





“The net appears to be closing,” said Rarity to Applejack while looking at her phone. The two of them were in the library. They had study hall this period. “Muffins just talked to Agent Shadow. She told her we were up against Trixie in the Battle of the Bands finals. She also showed an interest in Sunset.”

“Damn, that ain't good,” said Applejack. She looked around the library. “Wasn't Trixie in here somewheres?”

“Good idea.” Rarity placed her arms in her canes. “We'd better make sure we're all on the same page about what supposedly happened at the finals.”

She began to stand up, but one of her canes wasn't firmly planted on the ground and slipped out from under her. Rarity let out a yelp as she started to fall. Applejack's arm shot out and she managed to catch the fashionista before she fell.  

“You okay?” she asked, her eyes wide with concern.

Rarity blushed. “Yes, thank you, darling. It's good to know I can always depend on you.”

Applejack blushed in response and helped Rarity upright. “'Tweren't nothin'.”

“Your modesty is just one of the things I adore about you, darling.”

The two of them looked at each other for a moment, before Applejack blinked and straightened her hat.

“I think I saw Trixie head upstairs when we came in.”

“Yes, of course,” Rarity said. The two headed for the elevator in the corner of the library, their cheeks red.





Tempest blinked as the conference room door closed. She looked at the empty chair across from her, then at Luna. “Who just left?”

“I...” Luna looked around in confusion. “I'm not entirely sure. I know you talked to one of the students, but I can't seem to remember who. How strange.”

Tempest frowned and looked down at her notepad. There were several notes written down in her own handwriting, so clearly she had been talking to someone. She just couldn't remember any details about the student who had just left.  

She scanned the notes and an eyebrow raised at the one at the bottom of the list.

Battle of the Bands finals: Rainbooms vs. Trixie... or Rainbooms vs. DAZZLINGS?

“Agent Shadow?”

“Hm?” Tempest jerked her head up, Luna's voice interrupting her train of thought. She quickly flipped the notepad closed. “Yes, what is it?”

“I just noticed it's almost time for lunch,” Luna replied. “Would you like to take a break and resume your questioning afterwards?”

“Yes,” Tempest said after some thought. “Yes, I would. And after lunch, I think I'm ready to talk to Trixie and the Rainbooms.”
> Breaks, Concerns, and Calls
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Vice Principal Luna texted me,” said Rarity as the girls convened at their usual lunch table. “We're up after lunch.”

Fluttershy let out a distressed squeak. Rainbow, sitting next to her, gave her a shoulder hug.  

“It'll be okay, Fluttershy. Just stick to our story.”

“And Vice Principal Luna will be there as well, darling,” Rarity reassured. “If Agent Shadow gets nasty, I'm sure she'll step in. And if not, well, that's just more fuel for the fire, isn't it?”

Applejack raised an eyebrow at the sinister smile crossing Rarity's face. “You're still goin' through with that?”

Rarity frowned. “The woman took advantage of my disability and tried to kidnap me. I won't stand for it – Not a peep out of you, Rainbow Dash!”

“What?” The athlete mumbled around a mouthful of food. She swallowed. “I wasn't gonna say... OOOOOOOH! I get it!”

“Good, now leave it there,” said Rarity. She looked back at Applejack. “I won't stand for it, my parents won't stand for it and I would certainly hope my best friends won't stand for it either.”

“No way, flambe!” Pinkie chirped. “You don't do that kind of thing to anybody, even if you have the authority.”

“Which I'm pretty sure she doesn't,” Twilight added. “STORM may have a lot of power, but I seriously doubt they can just abduct people in public in broad daylight with impunity.”

“Thank you, darlings,” Rarity said. She looked back at Applejack. “So, yes, Applejack, I am going to go through with it. Because someone needs to show her that she can't just bully everyone into submission.”

Applejack put up her hands. “All right, calm down. I didn't mean nothin' by it. I just, y'know, think you should be careful. She looks like she's got a hair-trigger and who knows what's gonna set her off.”

Rarity's expression softened. “Your concern is noted and appreciated, darling.” She glanced over to the other side of the table, where Sunset was sitting silently. “Sunset? Are you all right, darling?”

“Huh?” Sunset blinked and straightened up. “Sorry. I was thinking.”

“Big shocker there,” Rainbow smirked.

“No, I'm just... trying to figure everything out. What to do about Agent Shadow, the thing in the woods,  what's happening in Equestria.”

“Is everything all right over there?” Twilight asked.

Sunset shrugged. “Well, Starlight's okay. She's hiding out in the Everfree Forest outside Ponyville. Princess Twilight and her friends are still missing. The invaders seem to be moving into the outlying towns and settlements around Canterlot. So... no. I guess.”

Fluttershy, sitting next to Sunset, leaned over and hugged her. “I'm so sorry.”

Sunset smiled and returned the hug. “Thanks, Fluttershy.”

“Is there anything we can do about the thing in the woods?” Twilight asked.  

Sunset shook her head. “I'm still waiting to hear back from Capper. He was supposed to contact me with anything he found. If I don't hear from him by the time school ends, I'll call him.”

“I still don't trust him,” snorted Applejack. “Or that amazon of his.”

“Amazon?” Rarity asked.

“Caelano,” Sunset replied. “Capper's second-in-command. She hates me, but she does what she's told.”

“What happened between you two?” asked Applejack. “That kinda hate has to have a story behind it.”

Sunset shook her head. “I don't really want to talk about it. Maybe someday, after all this is over.”

The girls made supportive noises. Twilight straightened her glasses.

“Once you hear back from him, what do we do?” she asked.

“We go look for it,” Sunset answered. “All of us. With our magic. We need to stop this thing fast, before Agent Shadow gets wind of it. Something like this is just going to cause her to stay in town longer.”

“Assuming she hasn't heard about it already,” said Twilight.

Sunset sighed. “If she's heard about it already, then it's better if we deal with it before she calls in reinforcements.”

“Speaking of,” said Rarity. “We've all destroyed our copies of the file we were given, yes?”

More noises of assent.

“All right,” said Sunset. “I'll call you all tonight and –“

She was interrupted by the sound of the bell signaling the end of lunch. The girls got to their feet, and collected their trays. Applejack grabbed Rarity's tray while the fashionista got her canes situated and herself upright.

“Remember,” Sunset said. “The secret to a good lie is to couch it in the truth. Tell her as much of it as you can without talking about the magic.”

“Are you sure it will work?” asked Twilight. Sunset looked at her. Her expression was tired and worn out.

“It'll have to,” she said. “Or things are going to go downhill in a hurry.”





Tempest declined Luna's invitation to lunch and instead spent the period out in her car, making calls.

“Well?” she demanded. “Do you have anything?”

“Mith Bookbinder'th legit. Inherited the building from her parenth, been renting the apartmenth for the lasth few yearth. She'th a librarian at the Thouth Branch of the Canterlot Public Library,” Grubber reported.

Tempest sighed. She'd expected nothing less. “So nothing unusual, then?”

“Well,” Grubber began. “You thaid there were eight mailboxeth in the lobby of the building?”

“That's right.”

“According to posth officth recordth, until about three yearth ago, there were only theven apartmenth in that building. Her own and six unith for rent. All of them are two and three bedroom floor planth.”

“Tell me you did some checking into city records after you found that out.”

“Yup. She filed for a re-inthpection. Apparently there wath an old studio apartment that hadn't been used in yearth. Guess she dethided to rent it out again. Had to get the water turned back on and everything.”

“Interesting,” said Tempest.

“Wath more interethting is Sunset Shimmer.”

Tempest leaned forward in her seat. “Yes?”

Grubber's grin could be heard through the phone. “Until about three yearth ago, there'th no recordth of her living in Canterlot Thity. Thuddenly, she's enrolled in eighth grade at Canterlot High. Shortly after that, she's living in the Bookbinder building.”

“What about her parents?”

“Dead,” Grubber reported. “Or at leatht that'th what the recordth say.”

“What do you mean?”

“According to her fileth with the school district, her parenth died when she wath twelve.”

“Any other relatives?”

“Not according to the recordth.”

“Then how is she living on her own? Did you check with Child Protective Services in this town?”

“I did. Apparently, she's an emanthipated minor. The documentation ith on file. Her parenth left her thome money to live on. Dunno how much, but enough to thatisfy the thate.”

“I see.” Tempest sat in silence for a moment. “But there's no records of her being enrolled at any other school in the city before eighth grade?”

“Nothing.”

“In that case, we – “ Tempest looked up as the bell signifying the end of the lunch period sounded, echoing across the school grounds. “I'll get back to you, Grubber. In the meantime, check with Canterlot City PD about the victim of that attack last night. I'm going to want to talk to her if she's awake.”

“Can do. Good luck, boss.”

“I don't need luck,” Tempest ended the call and got out of the car. As she looked the school over, she felt anticipation crawling up her spine. She was getting close now. The case was almost broken. All she needed was a little more time.

Time, and some answers.
> Cover, Unravelling, and Blindsiding
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luna's suspicions were roused when Tempest came back to the conference room. The agent had stalked out of the room when they decided to break for lunch, clearly irritated with how the interviews had gone so far. Now, she looked like she was back in control. There was a glint in her eyes that the vice principal did not like.

“Welcome back,” Luna said as the agents resumed her seat. “Who would you like to speak to next?”

“You,” Tempest answered.

Luna blinked. “Me?”

“And your sister, but since you're here, let's talk,” said Tempest. “I'd like you to tell me about Sunset Shimmer. You mentioned she was a problem student in the past. As the head of discipline, you'd know what that entailed.”

“I don't see what relevance – “

Tempest leaned forward. “It's relevant because her name keeps popping up all over this investigation. It's relevant because until approximately three years ago there's no record of her in the Canterlot school system. It's relevant, Vice Principal, because I say it's relevant.”

Now it was Luna's turn to frown. “You seem to have a very high opinion of yourself, Agent Shadow.”

The corners of Tempest's mouth turned up. She leaned back. “You're right, I do. But if you don't want to discuss Miss Shimmer, we could always talk about you.”

Again, Luna blinked, and again she asked. “Me?”

“You'd know all about how to spot a problem student. After all, don't you have a juvenile record?”

Luna's eyes widened. “How did you know about that?”

“STORM has plenty of contacts throughout law enforcement,” Tempest said. “As well as access to their case files. Naturally, that record is sealed but the police reports aren't. One detective in CCPD seemed to think you might have been responsible for some early internet... shenanigans, shall we say? Particularly as pertains to the Manehattan blackout about fifteen years ago. He couldn't prove it, of course, but he suspected you were operating under the alias of NightmareMoon.”

Tempest watched the administrator. Luna's poker face was good, but she saw several muscle cues that indicated she had hit pay dirt. Tension in the shoulders and jaw, a slight deepening of the frown. The vice principal took a breath and let it out through her nose.

“I don't see what this has to do with your investigation,” said Luna.

Gotcha. Tempest thought. “Just something interesting that happened about a week ago. NightmareMoon emerged online and seemed to be asking about STORM and what we do. Naturally, we take and interest in anyone who has an interest in us.”

“I can't possibly imagine why.” The sarcasm coming from Luna was so thick you could spread it on toast. 

Tempest was silent for a moment then made a show of arranging the files and notes neatly in front of her. “So, about Sunset Shimmer?”

“Sunset Shimmer was home schooled up until the death of her parents. After that, she was enrolled here in the eighth grade. She did not take to the change very well and soon became very aggressive toward the other students.”

“If that's the case, why hasn't she been expelled?” Tempest asked.

Luna paused for a moment, then sighed. “To be brutally honest with you, it was a matter of evidence. Sunset was very meticulous in her bullying. While some students did complain, any investigation of the matter failed to turn up anything that merited stronger punishment than an official reprimand.”

Tempest's frown returned. “How exactly did she do that?”

“I think you may be misunderstanding what I mean by bullying. Sunset never got physical with anyone. She tended to work in much subtler ways. Usually with a network of lies, social isolation, peer pressure, and blackmail.”

“Blackmail?”

“The usual things you'd expect,” Luna explained. “She'd find out about some infraction of the rules other students had committed and hold that over them to get them to do what she wanted. Again, she was extremely subtle about all of this. We only know as much as we do because she made a full confession when she decided to turn over a new leaf.”

“You mentioned that,” Tempest said. “How did that happen? It sounds like she essentially ruled the school.”

“In a way, she did. But then came last year's Fall Formal. A group of students got to talking among themselves and discovered Sunset's web of deceit and stood up to her. They managed to unite the student body and have them vote someone else Princess of the Fall Formal. Sunset did not take her loss well.”

“I fail to see how this caused her to decide to change her ways.”

“It didn't. The gas leak did.” Luna leaned forward, resting her forearms on the table. “Sunset left the gym that night extremely angry. However, as soon as she got out of the building, something happened that ignited the leak. She was caught in the blast. None of us are sure how she survived. All I know is that when everyone at the dance that night emerged through the hole where the front of the building used to be, she was at the bottom of the crater the explosion made.”

“So it took a near-death experience to make her change?” Tempest's voice was skeptical.

Luna shrugged. “Apparently. Ever since then, Sunset made amends to the people she wronged and has been a model student.”

“Who were they?” Tempest asked.

“I beg your pardon?”

“The students who stood up to Miss Shimmer. I'd like to talk to them as well.”

“You already will be. They're Sunset's best friends these days.”

Tempest pursed her lips. “The Rainbooms?”

Luna nodded. “The Rainbooms. They reached out to her afterward and now they're fairly close.”

Tempest stared at Luna. “You expect me to believe that?”

“It makes no difference to me whether you believe me or not, Agent Shadow,” said Luna. “It's the truth.”

“I see. Well, thank you for your candor, Vice-Principal.” Tempest stood up. “And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to have a word with your sister.”

“I'll join you,” Luna stood as well. 

“That won't be necessary. It won't take long.”

The agent left the conference room, leaving Luna to stare after her. Tempest made her way down the hall and knocked on the principal's open door. Celestia looked up from her laptop and smiled.

“Agent Shadow, please come in.”

Tempest entered the office and took a seat. Celestia finished typing something, then set the computer aside. “How are the interviews going?”

“They've been... informative,” Tempest replied. She pulled out her phone and brought up her notes. “While we broke for lunch, however, something came up that I think you might be able to help me with. I'd like to ask about one of your students.”

Celestia smiled. She had expected the STORM agent would have questions about Sunset Shimmer eventually. “I'm happy to assist you in any way that I can.”

“Good,” said Tempest. She crossed her legs and returned Celestia's smile. “What can you tell me about the disappearance of Firecracker Burst?”
> Photographs, Celestia, and Trixie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tempest had to hand it to Celestia, she had a much better poker face than her sister. No facial reactions, no unusual muscle tension. Not even a tightening of the jaw. But there was a definite change she was detecting. The question had taken the principal off guard.

“Yes,” Celestia began. “Firecracker Burst. I'm not entirely certain how I can help you there, Agent Shadow. We received a call from her parents a few days ago informing us she ran away from home and to be on the look out for her.”

“Were there any indications she was preparing to run away?” Tempest asked. “Slipping grades, excessive absenteeism, that kind of thing.”

“Not to the best of my knowledge,” Celestia answered. “May I ask why the interest in her?”

“I make it a point to be thorough,” Tempest answered. “During my investigation, I discovered she had disappeared around the same time as the incident at the mall which originally brought me here.”

“I see.” Celestia leaned back in her chair. “Well, I'm afraid there's not much that I can tell you. I've had very little interaction with her. She's never been a problem student. No real issues with her grades or behavior. I believe she's a member of the Drama Club. Naturally, I feel terrible for her parents, but otherwise, I don't really know why she chose to run away.”

Tempest was silent for a moment, then got to her feet. “Well, thank you, Principal Celestia. You've been helpful.”

Celestia got to her feet. “Always happy to be of assistance, Agent Shadow. Have you finished your interviews?”

“Not quite yet. In fact, could you please page...” Tempest glanced at her phone. “Trixie Lulamoon, please? I'd like to talk to her next.”

“I'll have her paged right away.”

“Thank you.” Tempest stood up and left the office. As she headed back down the hall to the conference room, a series of pictures on the wall caught her attention. She paused and looked at them. There were half a dozen framed pictures of teenage girls in formal wear on display. Tempest noted with interest that three of the pictures were of Sunset Shimmer, with each picture featuring an increasingly arrogant expression. The last one, however, was different. An attractive purple girl with a  modest smile and an air of innocence.  

Tempest looked at the plate at the bottom of the frame.  

Twilight Sparkle? 

Tempest looked back at her notes. According to her other interviews, Twilight Sparkle had transferred to CHS back in April following the Friendship Games. And yet, the date on the picture was almost six months prior to that.

Tempest jotted down another note, Perhaps Miss Sparkle could shed some light on the matter later.





As she waited in the conference room, Tempest mulled over her conversation with Celestia. She hadn't really expected much out of her inquiry about Firecracker Burst, but there was something off about the story. She wasn't sure what, however. It was an echo of the way Blazing Spark had reacted when she asked Firecracker's parents about their runaway daughter.

If she had, in fact, run away.

She was certain of it now. Something was going on at this school. The stories she'd heard from everyone she had interviewed were cohesive, but slightly off. Like looking at the reflections in a cracked mirror. Everything seemed to make sense, but as she talked to more people, the agent was getting the sense not of a whole picture, but more the outline of one created by the negative space within the pattern of stories she was being told.

Something was being hidden from her. Something big and it seemed like nearly everyone in town was doing all they could to keep it a secret. The questions, as always, were what secret and why did it need to be kept in the first place?

Tempest was so lost in thought that when the door to the conference room burst open, accompanied by a thick cloud of purplish-blue smoke, she yelped in surprise and pushed backin her chair so hard it tilted over, crashing to the ground and spilling the agent out.  

Her hands instinctively went for the pistol in her shoulder holster, but the realization that pulling a gun in a high school might not be the best idea the world stayed her hand. She got to her knees and peered over the top of the table.

“Behold! The Great and Powerful Trrrrrrixie has arrived!” cried the girl in the blue hoodie that stood in the doorway. Tempest blinked and stared as Luna appeared behind the student, looking cross.

“Trixie,” the vice-principal began, “Didn't we have a discussion about smoke bombs on school property last week?”

Trixie plastered a smile on her face. “Sorry, Vice-Principal Luna. The Gorgeous and Impressive Trixie wanted to make a good first impression on your guest.”

Luna looked back at Tempest, who was getting to her feet and righting the chair. Amusement flickered in her eyes. “Oh, I'm sure you've done that. Sit down, Trixie. Agent Shadow has some questions for you.”

All three women took their seats, Tempest taking a moment to cast a suspicious look at Luna before straightening the papers in front of her.  

“Miss Lulamoon,” she began. “I won't take up too much of your time. I'm sure you have class to be in.”

“Take as much time as you want,” Trixie replied. “The Athletic but Hygenic Trixie has PE this period. I hate being sweaty.”

Tempest shot another look at Luna that asked Is this girl for real?

Luna's answering look said I'm afraid so.

Tempest visibly stifled a sigh and turned back to Trixie. “You participated in the Battle of the Bands last November, correct?”

“The Talented and Musical Trixie--”

Tempest loudly slapped her hand on the table, causing the teenager to jump in her seat. Luna quirked an eyebrow. Tempest got herself under control and assumed a neutral expression. “If you don't mind, Miss Lulamoon, can we do without the extraneous titles?”

“Tone it down, please, Trixie,” said Luna.  

Trixie nodded and continued in a small voice. “Um... yes. Yes, I did.”

“From what I understand, you got fairly far.”

“The Superlative – er – excuse me. Yes, my band and I made it to the finals against the Rainbooms.”

“And you took second?”

Trixie nodded. Tempest leaned forward.

“That must have made you angry.”

“No,” Trixie said, confused. “Why would it? They had the better song and visual effects.”

Tempest's lip curled up. “Sea monsters and unicorns, right?”

Trixie nodded. “It was quite the spectacle. I even asked DJ PON-3 for advice on how to incorporate something similar into my act.”

“DJ PON-3?”

“Vinyl Scratch's stage name,” Luna explained. “She's our resident DJ.”

“I see,” Tempest replied. She returned her attention to Trixie. “And you weren't irritated or angry about losing to the Rainbooms at all?”

“Trixie is nothing if not a good sport. They won fair and square.”

Tempest's eyes narrowed. “And what about the Dazzlings?”

Unlike Celestia, Trixie's poker face was terrible. There was a split second of surprise on her face before the teen magician spoke. “Well, um, they were there, of course, but they didn't make it to the finals.”

“Why not?”

“Trixie... that is... I don't really know. They took third overall, didn't they, Vice-Principal Luna?”

“Yes, they made it far, but not to the finals,” Luna confirmed.

“What about Sunset Shimmer?” Tempest asked.

“What about her?” Trixie asked in return.

“One of the other students mentioned she interfered with the Rainbooms performance. You would think the disruption would mean they couldn't have performed well enough to move on to the finals.”

Trixie was flustered. “Well, yes, she did. We all thought it was because she was jealous because they didn't let her be in the band.”

“They didn't? Why not? They're all friends, aren't they?”

“Y-yes,” Trixie stammered. “But for some reason Rainbow Dash didn't ask her to be in the band when she formed it. And, well, she was kind of a bully before the Fall Formal so we all thought maybe her trying to be nice was all an act.”

“So,” Tempest began, “Sunset Shimmer, who was not in the band, interfered with the Rainbooms' performance, but despite this, they still made it to the finals and now she is part of the band. Am I understanding this correctly?”

“That... sounds about right,” Trixie said, her voice uncertain. “She sang with them in the finals.”

“Did she?” Tempest looked at Luna. “Was that allowed under the rules? It hardly seems fair to allow a band to add members right before the climax of a competition?”

“Things got very competitive and heated during the event,” Luna explained. “It was our first competition of this kind and Principal Celestia and myself were making judgment calls as each situation came up. We discovered several other students were interfering with the Rainbooms' performance at the time and Sunset Shimmer was attempting to stop them. We allowed the Rainbooms to move onto the finals because they were doing well enough before the trouble started. We also allowed them to add Sunset Shimmer to the group as an extra backup vocalist when the girls told us they had been having some internal issues as a band and wanted all of their friends included. We didn't see the harm in it.”

Tempest was silent for a long moment. “I see.”

She looked back at Trixie. “One last thing, Miss Lulamoon, was Twilight Sparkle also singing with the Rainbooms during the competition?”

“Oh yes,” Trixie said. “She showed up to help them. I didn't really mind. At that point they needed all the help they could get. The Great and Powerful Trixie is just that good.”

Trixie was so enamored with herself, she failed to see the warning look Luna shot her. Tempest was busy jotting down another note and also failed to see it. The agent looked up from her notes and smiled.

“Thank you, Miss Lulamoon. You've been extremely helpful.”
> Fluttershy: Kindness and Steel
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tempest sized up Fluttershy and immediately wrote her off as a pushover. The girl refused to meet the agent's eyes, and was trying to hide behind her long pink hair. Already scared and Tempest hadn't even asked a question yet.  

Luna leaned forward and took Fluttershy's hand. “It's all right, Fluttershy. Just answer Agent Shadow's questions and it will be okay.”

Fluttershy squeaked and nodded. Luna looked back at Tempest and gave her a nod of her own.

“All right,” Tempest began. “You are a member of the Rainbooms, correct?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“And what is your role in the band?”

“I... I do backup vocals and some songwriting.”

“And you were playing with the band during the Battle of the Bands?”

Fluttershy nodded.

“What can you tell me about the light show your band projected during the finals?”

“We were surprised we made it into the finals, and Rainbow Dash felt we needed something to stand out. We talked to DJ-PON3 and she agreed to help us out.”

“Why were you surprised you made it into the finals?”

“Our semi-final song didn't exactly... um... go well.”

The corner of Tempest's mouth rose slightly. “Would this be because Sunset Shimmer interfered with your performance?”

Fluttershy's head shot up. “That wasn't her fault! She was trying to help us!”

“Ruining your performance was helping?”

Fluttershy's eyebrows came together. “Other students were already trying to sabotage us. Sunset Shimmer was trying to get them to stop. It's not her fault she wound up on stage and interrupted us.”

“Good thing you were allowed to move onto the finals then, wasn't it?” Tempest asked.

“Maybe,” Fluttershy replied.  

Tempest jotted down a note. “And you won the Canterlot Mall Chance to Prance contest.”

“Yes, we did. We split the prize money with some girls from Crystal Prep. We donated our share to Camp Everfree.”

Tempest's smile returned. “Let's talk about Camp Everfree. I talked to Filthy Rich... do you know him?”

“Um... I saw him while we were at Camp Everfree. He's a land developer, isn't he?”  

“Yes. Mr. Rich mentioned your original fundraiser you held out there. He also said he spotted some unusual vines sprouting on the grounds of the camp. You wouldn't happen to know anything about those, would you?”

“I'm more into animals,” Fluttershy answered. “But Gloriosa Daisy did say they were having some issues with kudzu that week at the camp. That might have been it. I don't know for sure.”

“Do you know anything about the cave at the nearby quarry?”

“That's where we held our first fundraiser. We set up a party and a stage so we could perform for the Camp Everfree alumni.”

“By 'we,' you mean the Rainbooms?” Tempest asked.

Fluttershy nodded. The agent nodded in response.

“Do you like being in the band?”

Fluttershy blinked, the question taking her off guard. “Yes, I do. We have fun.”

Tempest smiled again. “I hope you'll excuse my impertinence, but that surprises me. You don't really seem like the type who'd enjoy being on stage.”

“I'm... trying new things. The other girls help with that.”

“Even Sunset Shimmer?” Tempest leaned forward slightly.  

“Yes, even Sunset. Why would you ask that?”

“From what I understand, until the night of the gas leak, she was something of a terror around here. Did she ever bully you?”

Fluttershy swallowed and hid behind her hair again. Tempest kept a triumphant grin off her face. There it is.

“So, she did,” the agent began. “And now you're friends with her. Seems a little odd. I would think that once she changed, you'd want to stay away from her.”

“She was just lonely and misguided. After the... gas leak explosion, she was lost and trying to find a new path in life. We decided to help her.”

“You and the other Rainbooms,” Tempest stated.

“Yes,” said Fluttershy.

“Even Twilight Sparkle?”

Fluttershy frowned. “We hadn't met her yet. She was still at Crystal Prep.”

“I see.” Tempest leaned back in her chair. “You must be a very forgiving person. If I was in your position with someone who used to bully me, I'd either give them a wide berth or maybe have it out with them.”

Fluttershy's frown deepened, but she didn't reply.

“How could you even be sure she actually had changed?” Tempest pressed. “People like that usually fake changing just to get closer to --”

Fluttershy bolted to her feet, startling the agent. Her eyes were wide and angry. Tempest found herself swallowing under the penetrating gaze.

“You don't know anything!” Fluttershy snapped. “Sunset is a good person and a good friend! She didn't start off that way, but she's become much better and I am sick and tired of people like you, who don't know what she's done or what she's been through, coming here and making snide remarks about how it's all an act! Well, let me tell you something, Agent Shadow, you could search the entire world and you wouldn't find a truer friend than Sunset Shimmer! And it sickens me to think that you're so jaded about humanity that the idea of basic human kindness can't possibly exist without some ulterior motive! It's cynical, it's callous, and frankly, it tells me more about you than it does about her!”

The angry girl turned to Luna. “May I go back to class, Vice Principal Luna? I don't want to answer any more questions right now.”

Luna glanced at Tempest, who was still staring dumbfounded at Fluttershy. “Yessss... I think that would be for the best, Fluttershy. I'm sure if Agent Shadow has any further questions, we can talk about them when we've all had a chance to calm down.”

Fluttershy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, the anger was gone, replaced by her usual meekness. “Thank you, Vice Principal Luna.”

Fluttershy walked to the conference room door. Tempest shook herself out of her stupor and leaned forward. “We're not done here, Miss Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy's head whirled around and Tempest felt the stare boring back into her.  

“I think we are, Agent Shadow.”

She disappeared through the door, letting it close firmly behind her. Tempest blinked and glared at Luna, who simply smiled back.

“Who would you like to talk to next, Agent Shadow?”
> Rainbow Dash: Loyalty and Confusion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash decided to try to assert command of the conversation by striding into the conference room, crashing down in a chair and propping her feet up on the table.  

“'Sup!” she chirped as her heels banged onto the table.  

Tempest frowned and looked over at Luna, who fixed Rainbow with a similar frown.

“Kindly remove your feet from the table, Rainbow Dash,” said the administrator. Rainbow smiled sheepishly and complied.

“Sorry, Vice-Principal Luna.”

Tempest straightened the papers in front of her again. “Miss Dash, you are the founder of the band known as the Rainbooms, correct?”

“That's right. Most awesome band in the history of Canterlot High.”

One of Tempest's eyebrows raised. “Yes. I understand you won the Battle of the Bands last November.”

“Of course we did. We rock!”

“Hmm. Who did you face in the finals?”

“Huh?” Rainbow looked confused. “Why would you care about that?”

“Just answer the question, please, Miss Dash.”

“We faced off against Trixie's band. Why?”

“Because I'm hearing contradictory information.” The corner of Tempest's mouth curled upward. “According to one of my other interviewees, you faced off against a group called the Dazzlings.”

Rainbow leaned forward. “Who said that?”

“That's not important. What is important is the truth. Who did you face off against in the finals?”

“I already told you, it was Trixie,” Rainbow snapped.  

“And were all your friends in the band in the finals?”

“Yeah.”

“What about Twilight Sparkle?”

Rainbow tensed up and was silent for a moment. “We... hadn't met her yet. She was still going to Crystal Prep at the time.”

Tempest let out another thoughtful hum. “Why didn't you originally ask Sunset Shimmer to be in your band?”

“Our band,” Rainbow corrected automatically. “Honestly, that was kind of me being a jerk. I didn't even think to ask if she could play an instrument, much less be in the band. Back then, she kind of kept quiet and didn't really speak up when something was bothering her. If I could do it all again, I definitely would have asked her to be in the band sooner.”

“Why the sudden change before the finals, especially after she interrupted your semi-final performance?”

“Well, the band honestly wasn't doing so great. I was being a jerk and making it all about me. Applejack and Rarity were fighting over our stage outfits. Fluttershy was getting ignored. There was a lot of things that went unsaid. Sunset noticed all of it and finally spoke up. We worked it out and we asked Sunset to sing in the finals. Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna said it was okay and we won.”

Tempest scribbled on the pad in front of her. “And she's been in the band ever since?”

“Yep.”

“And you won the Chance to Prance music video contest at the mall last Spring?”

Rainbow grinned. “Well, us and some girls from Crystal Prep. They had the choreography, we had the song. We decided our chances of winning would be better if we teamed up.”

“Sounds like the Friendship Games did their job then,” Tempest said amiably.

Rainbow smiled. “Yeah, I guess so! Never thought of that before.”

“I've seen the video you all did. I'd like to ask about the costumes.”

“I dunno much about clothes. You should talk to Rarity about stuff like that.”

Tempest's smile widened. “Oh, I will. But what I'm wondering about are the wings you were wearing in that video.”

“Aren't those awesome? Rarity outdid herself putting those together. Too bad we didn't have enough money to make them for everybody.”

“Yes,” said Tempest slowly. “Very awesome. Have you worn them since making the video?”

Rainbow looked around and leaned forward. “Don't tell Rarity this. She'll never let me live it down, but I keep them in my closet and sometimes I put them on when I wanna feel extra awesome.”

“Have you ever worn them in public?” asked Tempest. “At the mall, for example?”

“Nah. They're fun, but I don't wanna look like a total kook and wind up all over MyStable or SnapGab.”

Tempest reached underneath the papers in front of her and pulled out the photograph of the fight at the mall. “So, this wouldn't be you in this picture would it?”

Rainbow looked at the photo then back up. “Nope.”

“Are you sure? Think carefully, Miss Dash.”

“Sorry, not me.” Rainbow leaned back in her chair and folded her arms, looking very pleased with herself.

“Were you at the mall the day of the damage?” Tempest asked.

Rainbow shrugged. “Yeah, I was craving one of those deep fried cheese things from the corn dog place. Went there, grabbed one, and left. I heard about what happened on the news.”

“What about the Fall Formal last year?”

Rainbow frowned. “What about it?”

“Were you there?”

“Yeah,”

“So what can you tell me about Sunset Shimmer winding up in the crater in front of the school?”

“Not much to tell. She didn't get crowned Fall Formal princess like she always did, got mad, and left the gym. Me and my friends went on to have a good time, then the gas leak happened. We heard a big explosion, ran out there, and found the hole with Sunset at the bottom of it. The girls and I pulled her out. She was really shook up and I guess the near death experience made her decide to change. We talked it over and decided to help her out.”

“Hm,” said Tempest. “That's very gracious of you. I don't know if I'd be willing to forgive someone who broke up the connection I had with a group of my friends.”

“If you actually have any,” Rainbow muttered.

“What was that, Miss Dash?”

“I said that was a week where we all decided to put the past behind us,” said Rainbow quickly. “Sunset didn't have any real friends. We figured if we tried to show her what real friendship was, it might help her stick to the straight and narrow.”

“You and your friends.”

“Yep,”

“Even Twilight Sparkle?”

Rainbow frowned. “I already told you we hadn't met her yet.”

“Oh yes, that's right,” said Tempest. “It's just a little odd.”

“What is?”

“Well, if Miss Sparkle wasn't a CHS student at the time of the dance... why is there a picture of her on the wall out there stating she won the title of Princess of the Fall Formal?”

Rainbow and Luna stared at the agent, wide-eyed. Tempest kept her expression neutral, keeping her gaze on Dash.

“Well, Miss Dash? Seems like a strange coincidence. Especially if you were all there when she was crowned.”

“I... don't know what to tell you,” Rainbow floundered. “I guess we just weren't paying much attention to that after the gas leak.”

“I see,” Tempest flipped to another page of notes. “Do you know Firecracker Burst?”

Rainbow visibly relaxed. “Not really. I heard she ran away and we decided to help out by putting up flyers and stuff over the neighborhood.”

“You and your friends,” Tempest repeated.

Rainbow let out an exasperated sigh. “Yes, me and my friends. Yes, including Twilight.”

Tempest gave the athlete a cold look. “Am I boring you, Miss Dash?”

Rainbow frowned. “You want me to be honest with you?”

“It would be nice,” Tempest replied.

“Fine, yeah, you are. I don't know why you're here, lady, but you're asking a bunch of questions about random stuff and repeating yourself trying to get me to slip up somehow. I don't know why, and I don't care. I got better things to do, like studying, and Vice-Principal Luna here will tell you why me saying that is a big deal.”

“I just want answers concerning some of the things that have happened at this school, Miss Dash.”

“What's so concerning?” Rainbow shot back. “There was a gas leak at the Fall Formal, our band won the Battle of the Bands against Trixie, some Crystal Prep kids accidentally blew up the Wondercolt statue at the Friendship Games. We helped save Camp Everfree from closing, and decided to help let everyone know Firecracker Burst is missing! There's no big evil conspiracy going on here!”

Tempest was silent for a long moment, before smiling at the teen again. “Well then, I guess that's all the questions I have for you, Miss Dash.”

Rainbow blinked. “Wait. Seriously?”

Tempest nodded. “You've been very helpful, and I certainly don't want to detain you unnecessarily from your... studying. Thank you for your time.”

Luna looked form the agent to Rainbow. “You... can go back to class now, Rainbow. Thank you.”

“Um... yeah. Okay. You're welcome... I guess.”

Rainbow got up from her seat and walked to the conference room door. She glanced back briefly a perplexed look on her face. “You sure there's nothing else?”

“No, thank you, Miss Dash.” Tempest didn't look up from her notes. Luna gestured with her head that Rainbow should leave.  

“Well, okay. Bye.”

On her way back to class, Rainbow pulled out her phone and sent a message to her friends.



She's spotted the Twilight paradox.


> Pinkie Pie: Laughter and Loquaciousness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, there I was, on top of the Canterlot Chemical Corn Exchange, nothing on me but a pack of balloons, you know, those really long ones you make balloon animals out of, I like making giraffes myself, but that's not what you wanted to know, anyway, I had the balloons, a half a dozen party poppers, and a six pack of streamers. He came toward me, cream pie at the ready. But before he knew it, I had thrown out the streamers and managed to wrap his legs and trip him up. Then I fired off the poppers in his face, startling him and causing him to fall backwards! The pie flew into the air and nearly kersplatted on the roof, but I managed to inflate the balloons and turn them into a butterfly net and I managed to catch the pie before it met its splattery doom! I turned back to the wanton pie threatener but he was gone! But! He left a clue! A train ticket to Baltimare! I tracked him to Baltimare but I missed him by three days, but a little more digging and I followed him to Vanhoover! Then Whinnyapolis, Stalliongrad, Salt Lick City, Baltimare! Finally, FINALLY, I caught up with him... in Neighagra Falls. NEIGHAGRA FALLS! Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch! I smacked him, I punched him, I tore his shirt and I knocked him down! He crawled away leaving rivers of blood! BLOOD I TELL YOU! Well, actually, it wasn't blood, it was a broken bottle of raspberry syrup from the coffee cart where I had cornered him... “

“Miss Pie...”

“ … so I followed the raspberry trail all the way to the local gym. I asked the attendant, a handsome guy who looked like a young Beard Rentals, if he had seen anyone come crawling in, dripping raspberry syrup and he just looked at me strangely and pointed in the direction of the locker rooms. I guess I did look kind of strange, since I was only wearing a polka dot bikini bottom and a rubber duck floatie around my chest, which is a really funny story all its own, but not important for THIS story! So I kicked in the door of the locker room, causing all the guys in there to screech and scramble for stuff to cover themselves, except for this one old guy who was sitting there, buck naked, reading the newspaper! The newspaper! Who reads the newspaper in the nude?! Aren't you worried about paper cuts in places paper cuts shouldn't be?! But I'm going off on a tangent again! I could make some kind of tasteless pun here about wanting to get off on a tan gent, but I'm not that kind of girl! So, after I tried to not gag at seeing the old naked guy with the newspaper, I found the syrup trail leading toward the whirlpool, but when I got there and scared off the six guys using it, I saw the water had this kind of reddish tint to it, so he must have fallen in, washed off the syrup and gotten out again. I tried asking the six guys but they were all too busy throwing hygiene products at me and screaming that it was the men's locker room, so I went out the other door and there he was trying to hide in a hot yoga class...”

“If we could just get back to...”

“... but imagine my surprise when I discovered it wasn't a hot yoga class, but a hot YOGURT class! Everybody just lying on tables covered in hot, steamy yogurt with relaxing music playing. I started checking everybody's faces, but the instructor said I had to either participate or get out, so I tossed off my floatie and let them cover me in steaming fermented milk product... and it was strawberry flavored. It was sooooo relaxing and tasty! I lost track of time and the next thing I knew, I was in the ladies locker room getting hosed off. I walked back out of the gym, and that was when I met the police officer. Silly me! I'd forgotten to grab my floatie and there I was with my cupcakes hanging out for everyone to see! So I got a ride in a police cruiser and I had to explain why I was walking around in nothing but a polka dot bikini bottom, but like I said before, that story would take way too long, so they got me a t-shirt and I called my big sister, who was totally understanding and wired me some money to get back home. So I went to the airport and bought a ticket...”

“Miss Pie, this is very interesting but not quite... “

“... have you ever had a strip search? I mean, I'd guess you've GIVEN one, but have you ever had one? Because those security people at the airport really don't like it when you make jokes in line! I almost missed my flight because of how long they were taking! I was in such a rush I almost forgot my shirt and bikini bottom! But I made my flight, and was just about to settle down and watch the movie, when all of a sudden, the plane got hijacked by some guys calling themselves the Lost Luggage Liberation Front and demanded we fly back to the airport and collect all the lost luggage they had! Well, you can guess what happened then. The undercover air marshal was outnumbered four to one, so I leaped to my feet, whipped off my shirt and showed the hijackers my cupcakes which surprised them long enough for the air marshal to take down two of them while I jumped into the air and crashed down on the other other two. One knocked himself out on the refreshment cart, but the other, who had gotten his face buried in my chest made some sort of comment about dying happy. I clonked him on the head with a champagne bottle and put my shirt back on. Everyone gave me a round of applause and the pilot gave me a set of junior pilot wings which I wore all the way back home...

“This all has nothing to do with...”

“... and once I got to the airport, Maud – Oh, Maud's my big sister. You'd probably get along really well – Maud picked me up and told me that I had caused her a lot of stress and anxiety chasing after that guy. I tried explaining about the pie and the hijackers, but she told me she wasn't in the mood for listening to one of those really fun and wacky adventures I get up to when my friends and family aren't around and that, since our parents live outside the city, it was up to her to discipline me and she gave me a good solid spanking for five whole minutes when we got home, with the hairbrush! And that's totally unfgair! Who uses spanking for discipline these days... unless, y'know, they're into that kind of thing, which I'm not, at least, I don't think I am. Like I said, I'm not that kind of girl, but I guess I'd be up for trying something like that when I'm a little older... but I'm getting off track again. So the next morning, I woke up, put lotion on my rumpus magoo, and went to school, only it was Saturday, and there was no school, so I went to hang out with the girls at the mall! Does that help?”

Tempest stared at Pinkie's guileless grin, then at her notepad, which was blank and back up again.

“I...” Tempest closed her mouth and looked over at Luna, who simply shrugged with a bored expression. The agent looked back at Pinkie and realized she had completely forgotten what she had originally asked the girl. More to the point, she was afraid to ask another question, lest it lead off another 20 minute rambling anecdote.

“Um... yes,” she began. “I think that's.... more than enough information, Miss Pie. You can go back to class now. Thank you for your time.”

“Oki-dokie-lokey!” Pinkie stood up, rummaged in her hair, and produced a cupcake on a plate. It was a dark purple with frosting the same color as Tempest's hair. “Here! A little snack for you! Moonberry cake with cranberry-vanilla frosting!”

Tempest looked at the cupcake suspiciously. “Um... thank you, Miss Pie. That will be all.”

Pinkie grinned and nodded again. She looked back over her shoulder as she exited and suppressed a giggle as Tempest prodded the cupcake with a finger. As she walked down the hall she smiled again to herself.

It's just like Granny Pie always said. “If you can't blind them with your brilliance, baffle them with your bullshit.”
> Applejack: Honesty and Obscurity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Applejack was called out of class to the office, she waited for Mr. Cranky Doodle to give her his usual exasperated nod, gathered up her things, took them to her locker, and made her way to the office. On the way, she thought about the conversation she'd had with Sunset during lunch.





“I don't think I can do it,” Applejack said as she and Sunset took their trays to the designated area.

“Do what?” Sunset asked.

“Lie about everything that's been happenin'.”

Sunset turned to see a rare expression on Applejack's face: worry. Normally, Applejack was confident and happy. Seeing her upset or worried was something to be concerned about. Sunset smiled and put a hand on her friend's shoulder.

“I'm not asking you to lie, Applejack.”

Applejack's eyes widened. “But... if'n I don't, Agent Shadow will find out everything that's been goin' on and who knows what'll happen then! Have you ever seen me try to lie? It's plain as the red on my apples! She'll know somethin's up! You even coached us on how to do it convincingly!”

“I know,” Sunset answered. “But I have faith in you. I know you're... not good at lying. I'm not going to ask you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. If you find you can't hide the truth from her, don't.”

“But that'll mean – “

“I know,” Sunset interrupted. “If the rest of us can't cover for you, and the worst happens, we'll deal with it then.”

Applejack swallowed and looked at her feet, the brim of her hat obscuring her eyes. “I don't wanna let y'all down. You're too important to me.”

Sunset enveloped the farmer in a hug. “You could never let me down, Applejack. You're the rock I can always depend on being at my back. Whenever I'm not sure of what to do, I always ask myself what you would do. You have the most integrity of all of us, and I love you for it.”

Applejack looked up and held Sunset tighter. Her voice came out as a whisper. “I won't let ya down.”

“I know you won't,” Sunset whispered back.  

The two separated and began heading for their lockers. It was while she was on her way to her science class that Applejack realized how to deal with the upcoming interrogation.  





And now here she was, staring across the table at the black-clad form of Agent Shadow. The agent brushed her flop of scarlet hair out of her eye, revealing the scar that ran across it, straightened the papers in front of her and spoke.

“Miss Applejack, I presume?”

“Eeeyup.”

Agent Shadow quirked an eyebrow at the response. “I'd like to ask you a few questions about some events that have happened here at the school over the past couple of years.”

“Eeeyup.”

Another strange look from the agent. “You're a member of the Rainbooms, correct?”

“Eeeyup.”

Agent Shadow looked from Applejack to Vice-Principal Luna, who simply shrugged. The agent frowned and turned her attention back to the farm girl.  

“Now, if I understand things correctly, you won Battle of the Bands against... let me see... 'Trixie and the Illusions.' Is that correct?”

“...”

“Miss Applejack?”

“... Eeeyup.”

“Were the band known as the Dazzlings also competing?”

“Eeeyup.”

“Did you face off against them at any point in the competition?”

“... Nope.” They were officially out of the competition at that point. Disqualified for not appearing when scheduled.

“Was Sunset Shimmer a part of your band?”

“Eeeyup.”

Frustration was starting to form on Agent Shadow's face. “Since you first founded it?”

“Nope.”

A smirk passed across Agent Shadow's face. “Then why did you bring her into the band during the finals?”

“We were all bein' pigheaded and wrapped up in our own problems with each other in the band to notice we were leavin' her out. When she pointed out what was goin' on, we realized not only were we fightin' with each other, we neglected her in the process.”

“I see. Was Twilight Sparkle a member of your band as well?”

“Nope.” Not a lie. They hadn't even met their Twilight yet.

The frown returned. “Let me guess, she wasn't a CHS student at that time?”

“Nope.”

Tempest's fist clenched. “But she was crowned Princess of last year's Fall Formal, is that correct?”

“Eeeyup.” Again, not a lie. Having two Twilights might be a problem, but if spun right, could also help muddy the waters.

“But she wasn't a CHS student?”

“Nope.”

“Then how was she eligible to run in the first place, Miss Applejack?”

Applejack shrugged. Agent Shadow's left hand briefly clenched into a fist before relaxing.  

“All right. Are you aware of the destruction at the Canterlot Mall two weeks ago?”

“Eeeyup.”

“Were you there that day?”

“Nope.”

“Where were you?”

“At home,” Applejack answered.  “Fixin' the barn with my brother.”

Agent Shadow consulted her notes again. “A barn? So your family has a farm, is that correct?”

“Eeeyup.”

The agent paused. Applejack was secretly pleased to hear a snort of exasperation come from the agent's nostrils.  

“Then you'd consider yourself knowledgeable about various types of plants in this area, yes?”

“Eeeyup.”

“You were on the class trip to Camp Everfree last spring?”

“Eeeyup.”

“Did you see any strange plants sprout up while you were there?”

Applejack paused as if she were trying to remember. Then: “Eeeyup.”

Agent Shadow's eye twitched and her jaw tightened. When she spoke again, the strain was evident in the question. “And what, in your opinion, were those plants?”

“Kudzu.”

“Kudzu.” The agent almost spat the word.

“Looked like kudzu to me,” Applejack confirmed. The vines Gloriosa Daisy had created to imprison them all bore a striking resemblance to the creeper vines.

Agent Shadow took a deep breath, held it, then exhaled. “Last summer, there was another incident at the mall. Reports of a ten foot tall woman terrorizing people. Were you there for that?”

“Nope.” Also true. By that point, Applejack and the other girls had been trapped in Juniper Montage's mirror. Juniper's transformation happened once all seven of them were together.

Agent Shadow's fist slammed down on the table, causing Applejack to jump and Luna to lean forward sharply.

“Is there a reason you seem to be deliberately avoiding giving me any sort of details in your answers, Miss Applejack?”

“... Eeeyup.”

The agent leaned forward, her expression dark. “And why exactly is that?”

Applejack straightened her hand and leaned forward herself so she was eye to eye with Agent Shadow. “'Cause I don't like you. Ya come in here, all dark and edgy, usin' cheap intimidation tricks to try to frighten everybody into either given you answers, or just tellin' ya what ya wanna hear. I don't know what you want from a bunch of teenagers, Agent Shadow, or what you think it all has to do with what happened at the mall, but I've seen plenty of yer kind before. Angry and insecure bullies who think that fear equals respect. Well, I got neither for you. Maybe underneath all that fire and brimstone there's somebody worth knowin' and respectin', but if'n there is, y'all seem to have buried it under fifty miles of mean, and I ain't got time for mean. So you can ask yer questions, and I'll answer 'em honestly, but I ain't volunteerin' nothin'.”

The hand had lashed out and grabbed the cowgirl's shirt before she could do anything. Applejack yelped as she was pulled almost fully onto the table. Agent Shadow's eyes sparkled with rage.

“You will tell me everything that pertains to my questions, or you will find yourself in a lot more trouble than you're already in,” the agent hissed. “You don't get to pick and choose what to tell me. I've broken tougher than you, missy. Sometimes literally.”

“AGENT SHADOW!” Luna's voice echoed around the conference room. “RELEASE MY STUDENT THIS INSTANT!”

The authoritative tone caused Agent Shadow to release Applejack, who fell back into her chair with a sharp squeak. The agent looked at Luna, who was on her feet. The vice-principal looked at Applejack.

“Are you all right, Applejack.”

Applejack straightened her shirt. The collar was slightly torn. Dammit, that was Mom's favorite rodeo shirt. Maybe Rarity can fix it.

“I'm fine, ma'am,” Applejack answered. “Shirt's a little worse for wear, but no real harm done.”

“Good,” said Luna. “You can go back to class now.”

“Yes'm.” Applejack got up to leave.

“We are not done here!” Agent Shadow snarled. Luna fixed her with a piercing glare.

“Yes, we are,” she replied coldly. “Or shall I get on the phone to the police and the media about how a government agent physically assaulted a teenage girl in full view of a member of school administration?”

“I still have other students to question,” Agent Shadow muttered darkly.

“And if you allow Applejack to leave, I will still allow you to do so,” Luna replied. “Try to detain her, or touch any of my students again, however, and I will not only end these interviews, I will have you arrested and removed from school property, as well as file an official complaint with your superiors.”

Luna's eyes narrowed and her expression became dark. “You're not the only one who can bury the good in her under fifty miles of mean, Agent Shadow. Do not test me.”

There was a tense moment. Applejack's gaze went from the vice-principal to the agent and back again. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Agent Shadow straightened up and glanced over at the cowgirl, her expression once again professional.

“Thank you for your time, Miss Applejack. That will be all.”

Applejack tipped her hat to Luna, gave Agent Shadow another cold look and walked out of the conference room.

Out in the hallway, she barely made it to the bathroom before she threw up.
> Rarity: Generosity and Limits
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“No.”

Tempest's eyebrows came together and she looked up. “I beg your pardon?”

Across from her, Rarity folded her arms and looked the agent square in the eye. “I said no.”

Perplexity joined the frown on Tempest's face. “And what exactly are you saying 'no' to, Miss Rarity? I haven't asked you any questions yet.”

A smirk crossed Rarity's lips. “And I'm saving us both a lot of time by telling you no.”

She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table and touching her fingertips together. “I have no intention of answering your questions or cooperating with your investigation in any way, Agent Shadow.”

Tempest put down her pen and leaned back in her own chair. “Really.”

Rarity's smirk turned into a grin. She reached down, produced her purse, and withdrew an envelope from it. She pulled out the piece of paper inside and slid it across to the agent. “This is an official statement from my parents that I am not to answer any of your questions without at least one of them and our family attorney present. They feel that, after our encounter at the mall, you may not be at your most reasonable if I give you answers you don't like.”

Rarity's expression darkened. “And from what Applejack told me just before I came here, you really do get unreasonable when people give you answers you don't like, don't you, Agent Shadow?”

Tempest's own frown darkened. “You are obstructing a federal investigation, Miss Rarity.”

“I'm sorry,” Rarity said. “I was under the impression that I was being questioned as a potential witness. Which, I am given to understand, means I am not required to comply with your wishes. I will, of course, be happy to answer your questions... once the quite reasonable stipulations of my parents are met.”

Tempest gestured to Luna. “Vice-Principal Luna is here to look after your interests.”

“And no offense meant to her,” Rarity replied. “But my parents feel that her authority may not be enough to keep you in check.”  

“I'm afraid that's correct, Agent Shadow,” said Luna. “When Rarity's parents replied to my sister's email concerning these interviews, they declined to give permission for you to talk to her about anything pertaining to your investigation.”

Tempest felt her fists clench again. “Then why did you even bother coming down here, Miss Rarity?”

“I felt you should see the letter for yourself. You can keep that for your records, by the way. It's a copy.”

Tempest's nostrils flared. “You think you're so clever, don't you?”

Rarity shook her head. “Not at all. I would have been more than happy to help you... once. But after your frankly beastly behavior toward me and my friends, I'm finding the limits of my generosity severely tested.”

“And I'm finding my patience severely tested by you and your friends!” Tempest snapped. “I don't know what's going on in this city, but I do know you and your friends are in it up to your necks! So you can either tell me what is going on and what you have to do with it, or we can sit here for the remainder of the day until you do!”

Rarity looked at her coolly, then brought her hand up. “Oh, dear, I seem to have chipped a nail. Isn't that always the way?”

“What happened at the Fall Formal? It wasn't a gas leak. There is no gas pipe anywhere near the front of the school.”

Rarity pulled out a nail file and went to work on the offending fingernail.

“Who did you face off against in the Battle of the Bands. Some say it was Trixie and the Illusions, others say it was the Dazzlings. Which is it?”

Rarity blew the dust off the nail.  

“What actually happened to the statue out front? I find it hard to believe a fireworks prank gone wrong could destroy a statue that large!”

Rarity rummaged in her purse again.

“How exactly did you sustain your injuries, Miss Rarity? You didn't answer that at our first encounter either. Why?”

Rarity extracted a bottle of nail polish and began coating the nail.  

Tempest slammed her fists on the table, causing the bottle to overturn, spilling the polish over the table.

“Answer the question!” Tempest demanded.

Rarity calmly righted the bottle, returned the brush to it and put it back in her purse. She produced a handkerchief and began wiping up the spilled polish before looking up at the agent.

“I'm sorry. I do not see either my parents or my family's attorney here, Agent Shadow.”

“You are going to answer my questions eventually.”

“I'm sorry. Am I under arrest?”

Tempest's lips pursed. “... No.”

“Have I committed any crime which you are aware of?”

“No,” Tempest growled.  

“Have I made it clear, in writing, the circumstances under which my parents will give permission for me to answer your questions?”

Tempest looked at the letter in front of her, then back up, her expression ugly. “Yes,” she admitted.

“Then I think we are done here.” Rarity wrapped the dirty handkerchief in some tissue paper, put it back in her purse and  looked over at Luna. “I would like to go back to class now, Vice-Principal Luna.”

Luna looked at Tempest. When she spoke there was a faint hint of amusement. “Will there be anything else, Agent Shadow?”

Tempest glared at both of them. “For now,” she hissed.

Rarity smiled brightly and got herself situated in her canes. Luna helped her to her feet and held the conference room door open.  

“Thank you very much,” Rarity said as she made her way out the door. She paused and looked over her shoulder at Tempest. “I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help to you, Agent Shadow. You'll find my family attorney's number on the letterhead. Give him a call and I'll be happy to help once everything is in order.”

Tempest said nothing. She looked down at her notes and began writing. Luna cleared her throat.

“I'm going to escort Rarity back to class,” she said. “Who would you like to speak to next?”

Tempest looked at her notes. “Twilight Sparkle,” she answered without looking up.

“I'll fetch her on my way back.” Luna gestured with her head at Rarity that they should go. She closed the door behind them.

Once they were a safe distance down the hall, Rarity let out a sigh and collapsed against the wall. Luna rushed over.

“Are you all right?” Worry was written across the administrator's face.

“That was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life,” Rarity said. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears, which it had been doing ever since Tempest slammed the table.  

“I don't know how long you girls will be able to keep this up,” Luna said. “She knows something's wrong with the stories we've told. I don't know if it was wise to antagonize her like that.”

“Probably not,” Rarity agreed. “But my parents were extremely unhappy about the incident at the mall and they've made their wishes very clear. I'm not about to buck their authority when it comes to this. Whether Agent Shadow likes it or not, there are still rules and laws about this kind of thing. And after what she did to Applejack, I wasn't about to let her sit there and think she could get away with it!”

“I understand, Rarity,” Luna said, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. “Are you sure you're all right?”

Rarity nodded. “I'll be fine. The day's almost over and hopefully, that will be the end of our interactions with Agent Tempest Shadow.”

As Luna began to escort Rarity back to class, she glanced back at the conference room door.  

I don't think you're done with Agent Shadow, yet, she thought. Not in the slightest.
> Twilight Sparkle: Magic and Misdirection
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle sat down and Tempest sized her up. The girl looked nervous, possibly even more so than Fluttershy had. She kept playing with the end of her ponytail, fiddling with the bow tie around her neck, or plucking pills off her sweater vest. Tempest kept her expression neutral, but inside, she was grinning

She's a rules nerd, she thought. Probably worries about what rules she's breaking even when she isn't in trouble. 

The agent folded her hands in front of her and fixed Twilight with a serious expression. “You transferred here from Crystal Prep last April. Is that correct, Miss Sparkle?”

“Yes, that's correct,” Twilight replied. Her fingers continued to fidget with her vest. “Just after the Friendship Games.”

“May I ask why you transferred? From what I understand, Crystal Prep is one of the city's most prestigious schools.”

“I was already planning to leave.” Twilight's fingers left the vest. “I had applied to the Everton Independent Study program. I was outpacing the curriculum at Crystal Prep. When the Games happened, I realized that while my academics were excellent, I was severely lacking in social development. I talked it over with my parents, and we agreed that it would be better if I finished out my schooling at a public school.”

Tempest looked puzzled. “I'm sorry, I don't understand. Why would you give up your place with Everton to go to a public school with...” Tempest shot a cruel glance at Luna. “... less prestige?”

“Crystal Prep is – or was – very competitive,” Twilight explained. “The atmosphere there was focused on victory at all costs. When the prank with the fireworks that destroyed the statue out front happened, I realized that it was no way to be a productive member of society. Also, I had always felt out of place at CPA, and my grades were just making me even more of an outcast.”

“One incident was all it took?” Disbelief was clear in the agent's voice.

“No, that was the straw that broke the camel's back, as it were,” Twilight explained. “The atmosphere of Crystal Prep pretty much meant that no one was really friends there. Every other student was either an asset to be used or an obstacle to overcome. Even during the games, anything a member of the CPA team achieved was met with disinterest from the rest of the students.

“But here? Even when they lost, the Canterlot High kids cheered and supported them. People were happy. They got excited when other students achieved something. There wasn't this constant pressure to succeed, or the feeling that anything less than total domination was unacceptable.”

“I see.” Tempest looked down at the papers in front of her. “So, until the Friendship Games, you had never set foot on the Canterlot High campus before. Is that correct?”

“Y...yes,” Twilight answered. “I mean, I'd passed by the school several times on my way somewhere, but never really paid much attention to it until then.”

Tempest looked at Twilight. Her gaze was piercing and Twilight, despite her best efforts, found herself squirming in her seat.

She knows I'm lying about the statue! She knows I'm lying about not being on the campus before the games! Calm down! Get a grip! DO NOT START HYPERVENTILATING!

“If that's the case, Miss Sparkle, why is there a picture of you out there stating that you were crowned princess of last year's Fall Formal?”

Twilight blinked, and the words were out of her mouth before she knew what she was saying.

“I have no idea, Agent Shadow.”

Tempest blinked, surprise clearly evident on her face. “I'm sorry?”

“I commented on that too on my first day here,” Twilight was surprised by how convincing she sounded. “While the Games were going on, there were several students who knew who I was, despite me never being here before. When I transferred, I saw the picture, and asked about it. I was told she was a foreign exchange student who was visiting for a few days and she apparently managed to resolve some long standing tensions between the student body during her brief time here. The students apparently elected her princess in thanks. She left shortly afterward.”

“That doesn't explain why she has your name and looks like you,” Tempest stated.

Twilight smiled brightly. “Actually, it's more common than you think. For example, recent census data indicates that there's an extraordinarily high percentage of people with the last name 'Dazzle' in the country. And of course, a quick Oodle search for any given name – One second.”

Twilight pulled out her phone before the agent could object, filled out the search bar field on her home screen and held up the phone with the results. “See, I put in your name and there's over 2500 hits for the name 'Tempest Shadow.' Some of these may be you, and there may be some duplicate results, but here, for example, is an 81-year-old grandmother with your name who is the lead singer of the thrash metal band Bleeding Gums!”

“Yes, I see. Miss Sparkle – “

“And putting in my name yields over 5000 hits,” Twilight continued, lost in research mode. “As for why that girl looks like me, they do say everyone has a twin somewhere. It could just be she found her way here first. Now, I realize the odds of someone who looks like me having the same name coming to the same school would seem to be astronomical, but if you really crunch the numbers --”

“Yes, thank you, Miss Sparkle!” Tempest snapped. Twilight let out a squeak and shut up immediately. Tempest took a breath and regained her composure.  

“I apologize for my outburst, Miss Sparkle,” she said. “Since you're relatively new here, let me ask you about some of your fellow students. Do you know a girl named Firecracker Burst?”

“Not really. I mean, I heard about her disappearing and I helped put up flyers around town, but I don't think I've ever really interacted with her.”

“I see. You're currently a member of the band known as the Rainbooms, is that correct?”

“Yes. The girls asked me to join shortly after I transferred. I sing backup vocals.”

“Like you did at the Battle of the Bands?”

Twilight blinked. “I'm sorry?”

“The finals of the Battle of the Bands,” Tempest elaborated. “The Rainbooms were competing. From what your opponent, Miss Lulamoon, told me, you were with the band at the time.”

Twilight felt her throat close up. She fought the urge to glance at Luna for help. What do I do? What do I do? What do I DO?!

“Miss Sparkle?”

“I... already told you. I wasn't a student at that time. I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about.”

A small smile appeared on Tempest's face. “So you were not part of the Rainbooms at the time of the Battle of the Bands.”

Twilight shook her head, not trusting her voice to squeak in panic if she spoke. Her heart began thudding against her ribs. She forced her hands to keep from fidgeting with her hair or her clothes.

“Are you suggesting your lookalike exchange student came back to the school a month later?”

“I... I'm not suggesting anything, Agent Shadow,” Twilight answered. “I don't know what happened at the Battle of the Bands because I wasn't there.”

Tempest looked at her for a long moment before leaning back. She produced the photo of the incident at the mall she had shown to Rainbow Dash. “All right, let's talk about where you might have been. Is this you?”

Twilight obligingly looked at the picture. She swallowed as she recognized the winged girl as Rainbow Dash. She looked back up. “No, that's not me.”

“Are you certain?” Tempest asked. “You were wearing wings in your band's winning music video.”

“Costume pieces,” Twilight answered. “Completely non-functional. In fact, whatever this picture is, it's completely inaccurate. To provide sufficient lift for a human being, they would have to have a wingspan of 6.7 meters and taking into account the weight to strength ratio, those wings themselves would be too heavy to function. Even if they could function, they'd be too big to actually fit within the mall corridors in such a way that flight would even be possible.”

“And yet,” Tempest replied, tapping the photo.

“I have no answer for you on that, Agent Shadow.” Twilight let out a breath and sat back in her chair. Tempest watched as one of the girl's hands idly toyed with the pendant around her neck. The agent blinked as she realized all of the members of the Rainbooms she had talked to so far had similar pendants.

“That's a very pretty necklace,” she said, casually.

Twilight blinked, looked down at her hand, released the pendant and blushed. “Um... thank you.”

“I noticed your friends had similar ones. Where did you get them?”

“We... made them at Camp Everfree. Friendship pendants.”

Tempest smiled. “I see. What are they made out of?”

Twilight's mind raced and she remembered Sunset's advice. “The secret to a good lie is to couch it in the truth. Tell her as much of it as you can without talking about the magic.”

“We found some geodes in the nearby rock quarry,” Twilight answered. “A quick spin in a rock tumbler, some carving, shaping and polishing, and voila!”

Tempest's smile remained. “Well, you did a very good job. I think that's all I need for now, Miss Sparkle. Thank you very much for your time.”

Twilight blinked again and stood up. “Um, happy to help?”

She looked over at Luna who looked just as perplexed. “You... may go back to class now, Twilight,” said Luna.

Twilight nodded and left the conference room. On her way back to class, she couldn't shake the feeling that she had somehow said too much.
> Sunset, Tempest, and Secrets
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset paused outside the conference room door and took a deep breath. You've got this. You've been telling the same story for years. You've got it down cold.

She straightened her shoulders and opened the door. Luna and Tempest looked up as she entered. Sunset smiled and sat down.

“Hello, Agent Shadow,” she said pleasantly. “It's nice to see you again.”

Tempest nodded. “And you, Miss Shimmer. It's been an... interesting day.”

Sunset didn't reply. She waited for the agent to continue.

“I've been talking with your classmates and with your friends,” Tempest continued. “As I'm sure your friends have told you, I've been curious about some of the things that have happened around this school over the past year or so.”

“I'm happy to help in any way I can,” Sunset replied.

Tempest's eyes narrowed. “Really? Then let me come right to the point.”

She folded her hands in front of her and fixed Sunset with an unblinking stare. “Who exactly are you, Sunset Shimmer?”

Sunset blinked and tried to keep her breathing regular. “I'm... not sure that I follow you, Agent Shadow.”

“In my various interviews around town and with some additional background investigation I've been conducting, I've been getting some completely contradictory descriptions of you. For the most part, everyone says you're friendly, helpful, and generally a fun person to be around.”

“That's nice of them to say,” Sunset said. A smile she wasn't sure she liked spread across Tempest's face.

“However, I've also gotten reports that you used to be a terror and a bully around here. You basically ruled this school while somehow managing to avoid getting any sort of punishment for your actions. So which is it? Who's the real Sunset Shimmer?”

Sunset looked at the agent, then at Luna, who had a concerned look on her face. Sunset closed her eyes and let out another deep breath before opening them again.

“Both are,” she began. “When I first came here, I had some severe anger issues. I still do, although my temper isn't as bad as it used to be. But yes, I divided the student body with a network of lies, blackmail, and force. I wanted everyone to know I was top dog around here and not to get in my way.”

“And it sounds like you succeeded,” said Tempest. “What changed?”

“The Fall Formal,” Sunset replied. “I'm sure you've noticed there's a picture of Twilight Sparkle in the hall out there with the other princesses of the dances the school throws?”

“I did.”

“Then you've probably also noticed that 'our' Twilight, for want of a better word, isn't the same girl as the one in the picture.”

Tempest leaned forward, interested. “I have.”

Sunset nodded. “I wish I had an answer for you where that coincidence is concerned, but I don't. The Twilight in the picture showed up about three days before the Formal. We all thought she was an exchange student or something. When she came here, she did something no one had tried to do in a long time. She stood up to me. And she mobilized the rest of the girls around her against me.”

“When you say 'the girls,' you mean your friends in the Rainbooms?”

“Yes.” Sunset's glance went down to the table. “They all banded together to ensure that I wouldn't get elected Princess of the Fall Formal. They managed to fix everything I had done. When the announcement came that she won, I lost it completely. I had a couple of guys I could order around kidnap her dog. She confronted me outside the school.”

Sunset looked back up. “Then the world blew up, and, while I know it's a cliché, I actually did see my life flash before my eyes and I saw how mean and evil I was. I saw what I had had done to all these kids for no other reason than to prove I was strong. That I was powerful. I saw how much they all truly hated me, so much that all it took was someone willing to stand up to me and not back down, no matter what I did, to undo in three days what had taken me years to build. I saw how hollow my so-called victories really were.”

Sunset sniffled and Luna handed her a tissue. Sunset blew her nose and looked up. “I had thought the only way to get what you wanted in the world was to overpower and conquer it. To force people to do what you wanted. I was wrong. And I thought that was it. It was all over for me.

“But it wasn't. The other Twilight asked the girls to help me. To show me what real friendship was. They agreed. It was hard at first. I had to unlearn a lot of bad habits, and deal with a dump truck full of self-hate and guilt. We had fights, we had problems, but we became closer. And after the Battle of the Bands, I finally felt like I deserved to be their friend.”

“And the other Twilight Sparkle?” Tempest asked. “What happened to her?”

Sunset shrugged. “She disappeared right after the dance.”

“And you never saw her again?” Tempest's gaze was piercing, immediately setting off warning bells inside Sunset.

I'll have to gamble, Sunset thought.

“She... did come back during the Battle of the Bands,” Sunset admitted. “She helped us get our act together, both figuratively and literally.”

“And she vanished again once it was over?” Tempest asked.

Sunset nodded. Tempest sat back in her seat. 

“Who did you face off against in the finals?”

Sunset blinked. “I'm sorry?”

“Who did you face off with in the finals of the Battle of the Bands?”

“Trixie and the Illusions,” Sunset said slowly. 

“I see,” Tempest replied. “That's interesting.”

“What is?”

“According to one of my other interviews, you faced off against a group called the Dazzlings.”

“Who said that?”

“Never mind who said it,” Tempest said, hoping to cover up the fact she had no idea which student had put her on this particular thread. “But, let's leave that aside for now. I have some other questions for you.”

For the next few minutes, Sunset answered questions about the Friendship Games and the trip to Camp Everfree. She responded with the cover stories she, the girls, Celestia, and Luna had come up with, which had been shared with the student body that morning. For the most part, Tempest let her talk, not interrupting except to press her on specifics. When Sunset finished, the agent leaned forward again.

“There's just one last thing I'd like to talk about Miss Shimmer. Your recent hospital stay. According to the records, you were in a coma for three days after being assaulted after your shift at the mall. What happened to you?”

Sunset sighed. “I don't really have a lot of memories of that night, Agent Shadow. But apparently I was attacked by a girl named Firecracker Burst.”

Tempest's eyes widened. “The girl who ran away?”

Sunset nodded. “During my reign of terror, one of the things I did was out her girlfriend as a lesbian before she was ready. The girlfriend's parents threw her out of the house. Firecracker apparently harbored a grudge for all that time, and I guess, after I changed, she didn't really believe it. And for some reason, that grudge exploded and she attacked me.”

“If that's the case, Miss Shimmer, why did your friends say they didn't know her?”

“Because they didn't,” Sunset explained. “And I asked them not to say anything about her being involved with my assault unless I got a chance to explain my relationship to her to you.”

Tempest frowned. “You have very loyal friends.”

Sunset nodded and gave Tempest a serious look. “They are my best friends in the whole world and there's nothing we wouldn't do for each other. I don't know if Firecracker ran away out of guilt for what she did to me, or if it was something else, but when I found out she was responsible and why she did it, I didn't really blame her and I wanted to help bring her home.”

Sunset felt a lump in her throat and she swallowed heavily. “I just wanted her to be able to come home and be safe.”

Tempest looked at the teenager for a long time, then finally opened her mouth. “I don't believe you.”

Sunset blinked and stared. “What?”

“I don't believe you, Miss Shimmer. You or your friends. Oh, I'm fairly certain most of what I've been told today is the truth, but it's not the whole truth. The stories fit together too well. Too few contradictions. Too few hazy memories. I don't know what it is that's being hidden, but I know you and your friends are involved in it.

“So, you have two choices, Miss Shimmer. You can tell me what's actually been happening in this city for the last two years, or you can continue this futile effort to conceal it from me. Because one way or the other, I will find out what's been going on. And if I have to do all that work, I'm going to be very upset. I'm not a very nice person to be around when I'm upset.”

“Agent Shadow,” Luna began. “We've discussed this.”

“It's all right, Vice Principal Luna,” said Sunset. She returned Tempest's cold stare. “It's not my problem if you don't believe me, Agent Shadow. What I've told you is the truth. It's strange and unlikely, but it's what happened. But, I have the feeling that you wouldn't believe me no matter what I said here.”

“Do you?” Tempest sneered. 

“You're just like me,” Sunset said. “Angry and bitter. Something happened to you. Something which made you this way. Made you the kind of person who uses intimidation and threats to get what they want. The kind of person who thinks kindness and mercy are weaknesses. The kind of person who doesn't think she needs anyone or anything.”

Sunset's expression softened. “But you do. Even if you won't admit it, even to yourself. You do need that compassion, that so-called softness. It's what makes you a better person. It's what makes you... you.”

Tempest's eyes flashed. “Yes, well, thank you for that armchair diagnosis, Miss Shimmer, but it has nothing to do with this investigation. I strongly urge you to--”

She was cut off as the bell rang. From outside the conference room came a quiet roar as the students were released into the halls. Tempest glanced up at the clock on the wall. 

“I'm afraid that was the final bell for the day,” Luna said quietly. 

Tempest looked back at Sunset and gave her a cold grin. “Saved by the bell, Miss Shimmer.”

She stood up from her chair. Luna and Sunset did likewise. The agent and the teenager never broke eye contact. 

“You have my card,” Tempest said. “Think about what I've said, Miss Shimmer. But don't take too long. Time is not on either of our sides. Thank you for you time.”

Tempest extended a hand, and Sunset took it. Then, before she knew what had happened, the geode around her neck flashed and Sunset saw.
> Mysteries, Deals, and the Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tempest pushed the accelerator closer to the floor, swerving in and out of traffic. Her brain running at a thousand miles an hour. She glanced down at her phone.

“Dropsy, you still there?”

A faint voice, wheezing came out of the tiny speaker. “T-Tempest... hurry. … after...” A violent cough cut the voice off. Tempest felt her teeth grit at the audible liquid sound that came with it.

“Just hang on, Dropsy,” she said. “I'm almost back to base.”

“No!” Glitter Drops' voice took on a sharp edge. “I'm not there. The river. South. Three miles or so.”

“Three miles south. Got it. Just hang on.”

“Hurry,” Glitter's voice had weakened again. “Not sure where – NO!”

Tempest nearly lost control of the car as the familiar cracking sound of a gun firing repeatedly came through the speaker, followed by the hollow beep that indicated the call had been dropped. She swerved back onto the road, blared the horn and made her way to the river.

She skidded into the gravel offshoot that served as parking for people planning to fish or raft down the river. This time of night it should have been empty, but there were several STORM vehicles parked in the lot, along with a couple of police cars and an ambulance.

Tempest bolted out of the car, flashed her ID to the two cops standing at the path entrance, and made her way to the river's edge. She could see lights up ahead and she began moving faster. Soon, she found herself at the scene and screamed.

Glitter Drops was lying on her back in a twisted position. Blood soaked her shirt and jacket. Two EMTs were attending her. Tempest pushed her way through the other STORM agents on the scene.

“Dropsy!” she cried. “Dropsy! Can you hear me?!”

“Ma'am,” began one of the EMTs. “We need you to --”

“Shut the fuck up!” Tempest snarled. She looked back down at her partner. “Come on, Dropsy, wake up!”

There was a groan and Glitter's eyes opened slightly. “Tempest?”

Tempest let out a sigh of relief. “Dropsy! What happened?”

“Mistake,” Glitter gasped. “Such a bad... bad mistake...”

“No,” Tempest said soothingly. “You never make mistakes.”

Glitter shook her head. “No. Not me.”

Tempest frowned in confusion. “I don't understand. What happened?”

She head the sound of someone walking up behind her. Glitter's eyes widened. Her hand came up and she grabbed Tempest's lapel, pulling her closer. 

“Listen...” she hissed. “Don't let this... harden you. Not everything is a threat.”

“What?” Tempest asked. “What do you mean?”

“Step back, agent,” came a stern voice. Tempest turned and looked up to see the Director standing over them. “Let the EMTs do their job.”

Tempest hesitated for a minute, then training took over. “Yes, sir.”

She stood up and walked a few feet away as the EMTs got back to work. The Director consulted with them for a moment, then walked back to her.

“Sir, what happened? She called me at home and said there was a security breach?”


“Not your concern, Agent Shadow,” said the Director, glaring down at her. 

“Sir, with all due respect, she's my partner and I--”

“Not anymore, she's not,” the Director said coldly. “There was a security breach. A POI you brought in managed to escape and Agent Drops stupidly allowed herself to be taken hostage.”

“A POI we brought in?” Tempest blinked. “Which one?”

“That nurse from Whinnyapolis. You know, the one I told you should have been neutralized on the scene?”

“We followed procedure, sir,” Tempest kept her voice level, even though she could feel the heat coloring her face. “She may have know where the other three were --”

“Which also couldhave been avoided if you did your jobs, agent!” Stormking huffed through his nostrils. He took a deep breath, and his face calmed. “Well, either way, there's not much we can do now. Go home, Agent Shadow. There'll be questions aplenty tomorrow for everyone involved, I'm sure.”

“Sir, with your permission, I'd like to go with Drops – er – Agent Drops to the hospital. She doesn't have any family here and –“

“I said go home, agent!” Stormking snapped. “If there's any change, I'll leave word that you should be contacted. Satisfied?”

“Yes, sir, thank  you.” Tempest turned away when a thought struck her. “Sir?”

“What is it, agent?”

“What happened to the POI who escaped?”

The Director waved his hand absently. “Out there somewhere. We have search teams looking for her now. Don't worry about it, Tempest. We'll find her.”

Tempest nodded. She opened her mouth to speak again, but the Director cut her off.

“For the last time, go home. We have plenty of people out there looking for her. She'll turn up. She's a civilian who got lucky, not some of the usual crap we deal with on a regular basis. You're dismissed, Agent Shadow.”

Tempest nodded and began making her way back to the car, frustrated and angry.





It was four in the morning when her phone rang. Tempest bolted out of the light doze she was in and fumbled for it. 

“Hello?”

“Tempetht? It'h Grubber.”

Tempest stifled a groan. “What do you want, Grubber?”

“The Director told me to call. He thought it would be better coming from me.”

Tempest's eyes widened and her heart started thumping in her chest. “What would be better coming from you? What happened?”

“We jutht heard from the hothpital. Glitter didn't make it.”

A lump formed in Tempest's throat. She tried to talk but could only emit a hoarse squeak. She swallowed heavily and managed to get the words out. “She's dead?”

“Yeah. Died from her woundth. They tried everything but after a while she jutht... gave up. I'm tho thorry, Tempetht.”

Tempest sniffled and tried to get herself under control. “Have they figured out what happened to her? Did the POI shoot her?”

“Thorry. Above my pay grade. The Director thaid he'th handling the cathe himthelf. Maybe he can tell you.”

Tempest nodded. “Okay. Right. Thanks, Grubber.”

“Are you okay, Tempetht? Do you need anything?”

“What I need only one person can give me.”

“Well, if there'th anything – “

“Good night, Grubber.”





The next morning, Tempest barged into the Director's office, much to the dismay of his assistant. The bearded man glanced at her then at the flummoxed secretary.

“It's all right, Posey. I'll deal with this.”

“Yes, Director Stormking.” Posey left the office, leaving Tempest standing rigid in front of the Director's desk. He looked up at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Something I can help you with, agent?”

Tempest kept her gaze staring straight ahead. “I was told you're handling Agent Drops' death personally, sir. I would like to offer my assistance in any way that I can.”

“Would you, now?” The Director's expression became more genial. “I suppose you'd like all the details that I have?”

“If I'm going to be of use to you, sir, it would be beneficial for me to have all the information.”

The Director stood up and walked aroudn the desk. Tempest kept still, eyes forward, as she'd been trained in the Air Force. The Director's voice came from behind her.

“No.”

Tempest's jaw tightened and she fought to keep her disbelief from turning into a shout. “Sir, I'm one of the most qualified agents you have. I was Agent Drops' partner. I'm more than capable of keeping my emotions under control.”

“I'm sure you are,” the Director's voice oozed. “But I'm not entirely convinced you weren't involved somehow, Agent Shadow. You see, I've already found a few things. Interesting things. Frightening things. Things which indicate that, maybe, some of my loyal agents aren't so loyal after all. I mean, it seems highly unlikely and untrained civilian could managed to escape incarceration and take an experienced field agent hostage, much less get out of the detainment facility. Don't you agree?”

“I suppose so, sir.”

“Which means she had help. And I'm not entirely sure who I should trust here, agent. Not with this case. Not when one of our own went down in such suspicious circumstances.”

“Yes, sir.” The lump was back in Tempest's throat. She forced it down again.

“So, if you really want to know what happened, Agent Shadow, I'm going to need some proof of your dedication. Of your devotion to STORM. Of your... loyalty, if you follow me.”

Tempest took a deep breath. “I am fully committed to STORM and its ideals, sir. And I will do anything you request until I've gained your trust and convinced you of my commitment.”

She tensed as she felt the Director's hand on one of her shoulder and his weight pressing down on it. 

“We have a deal then,” the smooth voice whispered in her ear. “Get me what I need, and I'll give you what you want.”





“Miss Shimmer?”

Sunset blinked as Tempest's voice broke through the visions. She looked up sharply to see the STORM agent and Luna looking at her oddly.

“Are you all right, Miss Shimmer?” Tempest asked. Suspicion was clearly etched on her face.

“Yes, sorry,” Sunset said quickly. “I just skipped out there for a second.”

“Are you sure?” The agent's skeptical glare was piercing.

“Yes, I'm fine. Thank you.” Sunset leaned around Tempest so she was in sight of Luna. “I'll see you tomorrow for that committee meeting, Vice-Principal Luna.”

Luna didn't miss a beat. “8:30. Don't be late, Sunset.”

Sunset nodded to both women, then left the conference room. Tempest stared at the door for a few seconds before Luna cleared her throat.

“Is that everything, Agent Shadow?” she asked.

Tempest looked back at the administrator, then began gathering her notes. “Yes, I think so. Thank you for your cooperation, Vice-Principal.”

Luna gave her a genuine smile. “Always happy to help.”

As Tempest placed the files and papers back in the shoulder bag she had brought, her mind went back to Sunset Shimmer. Something had happened when she shook hads with the girl. It was only a couple of seconds, but she seemed to freeze in place.

And that flash of light, she thought. What was that all about?





Sunset exited the school and made her way toward the plinth. Most of the students had left, and she knew her friends had their own plans for the afternoon. Sunset reached into her pocket to see if there had been any messages from Capper, when the sound of a car horn caught her attention.

A red sports car with gold racing stripes was parked at the curb. The windows were tinted, so she couldn't see inside. The horn honked again and the passenger side window rolled down. Sunset walked over and cautiously dipped her head to look.

“Capper?” she said, eyes widening. “What the hell are you doing here?!”

“Get in the car, Sunset.” Capper's voice was flat. His expression unreadable. He was wearing a pair of designer sunglasses that hid his eyes.

“Not a chance. Not until you tell me --”

“It's about that little death trap you sent my people into last night. Caelano wants to see you. Get in the damn car.”

Sunset's mouth snapped shut and she opened the door. No sooner had she gotten in and closed it, than Capper floored the accelerator and the car sped off, the force throwing Sunset into the back of the passenger seat.
> Hospitals, Accusations, and Revelations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What about the guard?” Sunset asked Capper as they stepped out of the elevator onto the floor Celaeno's room was on. “If she's under arrest, they're going to have a cop on the door.”

“Don't worry about it,” Capper said. Sunset followed the crime boss as he strode boldly up to the police officer standing outside the hospital room door. The cop looked up as they approached, glanced around, then nodded and stepped aside, allowing the two of them access to the room. Capper pulled an envelope out of his coat pocket and surreptitiously passed it to the cop as they went by. Sunset avoided looking at the officer as they entered.

“Officer Code has six kids, with twins in college,” Capper said quietly once they were in the room. “He does little favors for me, I help a little with his financial burdens.”

“The last true philanthropist, that's you,” Sunset said sardonically. That got a brief smile out of Capper, which vanished when the door to the room closed.  

Sunset swallowed as she looked at the hospital bed. It reminded her too much of the time she'd recently spent in a similar situation. It didn't help that Celaeno was awake and glaring at her. Her right arm was in a cast that went up and covered her shoulder. It was being held in traction, forcing her to remain more or less upright. A large gauze pad was taped to her cheek and she had a black eye.

“This is your fault,” she snapped at Sunset. “I wanted you to hear it from me. All of this is your goddamn fault.”

“Yes, it is,” Sunset agreed. She stepped closed, but still kept herself out of arms reach. “How are you feeling?”

Celaeno snorted. “Oh, I'm peachy fucking keen. I got a cracked collarbone, three bruised ribs, a huge migraine and... oh, yeah.”

Celaeno grabbed the covers and yanked them aside, screeching “I'M MISSING A FUCKING LEG!”  

The door opened and Officer Code looked inside. Capper waved him off. Code shrugged and closed the door.

Sunset sucked in a breath. Celaeno's right leg had been amputated at the knee. The stubby end of the leg was wrapped in gauze. Sunset looked up and opened her mouth.

“Spare me!” Celaeno said, cutting her off before she could speak. “I don't want your bullshit sympathy, Shimmer! I just wanted you to see what you've done! Too bad for you that fucking thing couldn't finish the job, huh?”

“What? No!” Sunset protested. “Celaeno, I never intended for you to get hurt!”

“Sure, you didn't. You knew Cap would send me out to look for that monster of yours and it would be more than we could handle! Probably hoped it'd kill me in the process. Well, tough shit, sister. I'm still here!”

Sunset felt her anger rising, but she closed her mouth and forced herself to not take the bait. “I know you won't believe me, but I truly didn't think this would happen. I just needed some information about what that thing is. I've only got sketchy descriptions from my friends.”

“You sent your friends after that thing?!” Celaeno's eyes widened. “Holy shit, you are a cold blooded bitch, aren't you?”

“NO!” Sunset shouted, the anger finally exploding. “Nobody was supposed to get hurt! I expected Capper to use his contacts with the police to get into the files, not send somebody to go monster hunting!”

She whirled on Capper. “What the hell were you thinking?!”

Capper returned the glare. “You said you wanted to know what it was and where it was. You didn't say anything about it being dangerous.”

“I thought I didn't have to! I would think the reports on the news would have made it pretty damn clear!”

“Then that's on you, ain't it, Sunnybun?” Capper's eyes flashed and he folded his arms.

Sunset felt her fists and jaw clench and she turned back to Celaeno. Her face fell and she forced herself to relax. “I'm so sorry, Celaeno. Truly, I am. This wasn't supposed to happen.”

Celaeno stared at Sunset's mournful expression for a long while. She frowned and spoke. “You really think you can stop this damn thing?”

“If I can figure out what the hell it is, maybe,” Sunset answered. Another long moment passed. Sunset tried not to squirm as Capper's lieutenant looked her over, her brown eyes piercing and alert. Finally Celaeno leaned back in her bed.

“It's huge. Like maybe fifteen or twenty feet high. It looked weird. Like it was a hole cut out in space in the shape of a bear.”

“A bear?” Sunset repeated. She felt her stomach sink as she remembered some of her thaumazoology lessons back in Equestria.  

Celaeno closed her eyes, trying to remember. “It looked like a bear, but like I said, much, much bigger. The weird thing was, it looked like there were stars in its fur.”

“Oh no,” Sunset whispered to herself. “It can't be. Not here.”

“What else, Celaeno?” Capper prompted.

“Fangs,” Caelano continued, opening her eyes. “Big damn fangs the size of trees. Kinda like a saber-toothed tiger.”

Sunset's eyes widened and she swallowed hard. “Celaeno... this is important. What color was it? Blue... or purple?”

Celaeno didn't even pause for thought. “Purple. A weird deep glowing purple.”

Sunset sucked in her breath sharply. “Thank you. And again, I'm so sorry.”

Sunset turned and dashed out of the room, leaving Capper and Celaeno staring after her, stunned.  

“What the hell?” Celaeno asked. Capper frowned.

“Not sure. I'll find out, though. Be right back.”

Capper left the room and managed to get into the elevator before the doors closed. Neither of them said anything, but Capper noticed Sunset breathing heavily. Her eyes were staring at nothing, but her expression told him her brain was working overtime.

“Sunset?” he asked. “What's going on?”

Sunset looked at him and her eyes were haunted. “Tell Celaeno I'll pay her medical bills again.”

“You don't have that kind of money,” Capper said.  

“I'll find it somewhere,” Sunset replied. “She's right. This was my fault. I shouldn't have involved either of you in this.”

Capper's expression changed from perplexment to concern. “What the hell is going on, Sunset? What's got you so damn spooked.”

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Sunset stepped out. As she did so, she slapped the button for the top floor and the “Door Close” button. Capper bolted but the closing doors were too fast for him.

“I'm sorry, Capper,” Sunset called as they shut. “But this is my problem.”

Sunset watched for a moment, then turned when the indicator display next to the elevator showed it ascending. She turned away. Her mouth was dry and she fought the urge to wet herself. She spotted a bus at the stop outside the hospital and she ran to catch it. She barely made it and put her hands on her knees, catching her breath before paying the fare.

She ignored the strange looks she got from the other passengers as she made her way to a seat at the back of the bus. She pulled her journal and a pen out of her bag and began writing.

Starlight? Are you there? It's an emergency!

After a couple of minutes, Starlight's reply appeared on the page. 

I'm here! What's going on?

Sunset took a deep breath and put her pen to the page.

The thing in the woods... I think it's an Ursa Major.
> Visits, Phone Calls, and Contact
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The moon rose over Canterlot City. Across the suburbs and downtown, lights began disappearing in windows as the inhabitants settled down for the evening. But, even with the day winding down, there were still some who were still quite active.

Fluttershy was finishing up  her Algebra II homework when she heard the tapping on her bedroom window. She looked up at the sound and went to see what was causing it. Outside the window was a large bear with a concerned look on its face. Fluttershy blinked and opened the window.

“Harry? You know you're not supposed to come this far into town. Did something happen?”

Harry let out some low grunts and growls. They were tinged with a note of melancholy. Fluttershy's geode glowed as it translated for her.  

“Frank's missing? For how long?” she asked.  

More grunts. “A week? That's not like him at all.”

Harry growled his agreement, then let out a miserable whimper. Fluttershy smiled gently, and stroked the bear's muzzle. “I know. I'd miss him too if I were in your position.”

She pulled back her hand and began biting her thumb in thought. “You checked all his usual feeding and napping grounds?”

Harry nodded. Fluttershy returned it. “Okay, is there anywhere else he might have gone? Up river, maybe? He could be trying a new fishing spot.”

Harry's large head moved ponderously back and forth and he let out more growls. Fluttershy's frown deepened.

“You thought of that already. No luck, huh? Hmmm. Maybe he went to an old den from before you two met. Are there any of those around here?”

Harry's face assumed an expression of concentration then seemed to brighten. He chuffed and grunted excitedly. Fluttershy's frown turned into a smile.

“Over on the east side of town? Near Sweet Apple Acres?”

Harry's grown was quizzical.

“The apple farm,” Fluttershy clarified. Another growl, this one in the affirmative.

“All right,” said Fluttershy. She leaned out the window and gave the bear a reassuring squeeze. “I'll look into it. Don't worry. I'm sure we'll find him.”

Harry let out a low rumble and began making his way back to the woods. After he left, Fluttershy frowned in thought. An idea had occurred to her. One she didn't like in the slightest.





Rarity removed her new paperweight from the sewing machine pedal on top of her desk, causing it to stop. She pulled the magenta fabric from it and looked her handiwork over.  

“Hmmm. Yes, this will do. But it needs something else. Something to make it pop.”

She put her current project down and slid into her wheelchair. Using the braces was nice, but it had been a long day, and the interview with Agent Shadow had be particularly draining. She wheeled around her bed and grabbed her laptop from where it rested. A few seconds on Oodle and she had what she was looking for. Her eyes danced over the images the search had come up with.

“No. No. Too flashy. Too big. Ugh... darling, really. Who put you in that thing? And more importantly, were they color blind? It does nothing for your skin tone. Hmmm... there has to be something! Without it this project is doomed!”

Rarity threw her head back and pressed the back of her hand to her forehead, letting out a dramatic wail. “DOOMED, I TE-EH-EH-ELL YOU!”

From the floor behind her, Opalescence looked up from the toy she was idly batting around and let out a disinterested chuff. Rarity looked over her shoulder and frowned at her.  

“You, young lady, are being decidedly unhelpful,” she huffed. She looked back at the images on her screen, loaded the next page, and blinked. A grin spread across her face. “Oh, yesssss. Yes! This is PERFECT! I'll have to visit the mall tomorrow to get it, but... WAIT! THRIFT STOOOOORE! They're bound to have something vintage enough for it to work! Oh, Rarity, you are a genius!”

She put the computer down and wheeled back to her desk. Her phone rang as she got there.  

“Hello? Fluttershy, darling! How good to hear from you. What? Who visited... oh. Um, yes. Of course I remember. He was... very nice. What? Darling, I need you to slow down. You're acting like Pinkie Pie when we made the mistake of letting her buy those cotton candy coated marshmallows.”

Rarity listened for a moment, and her eyes widened. “My goodness! Have you called Sunset? She should know about this. She didn't?”

Rarity glanced at the clock and winced slightly as she realized how late it was. “Even if she was working tonight, she should be home by now. I'll try calling her myself. If that doesn't work, we may have to wait until tomorrow. Yes. I know, but there's very little we can do about it now. All right. Try not to let it worry you too much and I will see you in the morning. Yes, I'll text if I get ahold of her. Good night, darling.”

Rarity ended the call and tapped Sunset's number. The phone rang several times before going to voice mail. Rarity frowned as the message played and the beep came.

“Sunset, darling, could you please call either myself or Fluttershy as soon as you get this? We think we might have an idea about where the thing in the woods came from. Please call us back.”

She paused for a moment. “I know things have been stressful for you of late, Sunset. Please remember that we're all here for you. You don't have to try to solve this all on your own. Call me as soon as you can, okay? Good night, darling.”

She ended the call and sighed. She looked at the clock again, and got ready for bed. Once she was situated and the lights were off, she picked up her phone again.

A sleepy voice answered. “Rarity? What in tarnation are you doin' up so late?”

“I'm so sorry to bother you, Applejack,” Rarity said. “But I'm feeling a bit lonely right now. Could we talk for a few minutes?”

There was silence then. “Sure thing, sugarcube.”

Rarity snuggled into the bedclothes and began to speak.





Tempest Shadow was having a late dinner at a small cafe near her hotel. She was feeling frustrated. The interviews at Canterlot High had confirmed her suspicions that Sunset Shimmer and her friends were at the center of everything going on in this town. She was sure of it. But being sure didn't translate into proof. And proof was what the Director wanted more than anything.

The interview with Dean Cadance had proven to be just as frustrating as dealing with Principal Celestia. The same story, the same excuses, the same everything. Sure, it proved that Cadance was most likely colluding with everyone else in keeping the truth from her, but that only made Tempest angrier.

What were they hiding? That was the maddening thing. Something was being hidden, but Tempest had no clue what it could be. What could possibly be so weird that it would require a conspiracy of silence between the student bodies of two school, their chief administrators and possibly even a local summer camp?

And then there was Sunset Shimmer. The girl was the biggest question mark of all. No records, no parents, and her friends seemed inordinately protective of her. Why? If she truly had been the kind of terror that would cause someone to assault her years later, why on earth were her friends so loyal?  

Even Dropsy wasn't that trusting, Tempest thought as she sipped her coffee. She paused. She had been thinking a lot about Glitter Drops today. Most of the afternoon, in fact. Memories had been surfacing throughout her interview with Dean Cadance and afterward. 

Tempest looked straight ahead, not really seeing what was in front of her. In fact, it started right as I – 

The thought was cut off as she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. She put the cup down and pulled it out. It wasn't a number she recognized. She rolled her eyes and answered it, expecting it to be a robocall or something equally inane.

“Hello?”

“Yes, hello.” The voice was feminine, low, and extremely formal. “Is this Agent Shadow?”

“It is,” Tempest responded. “Who am I speaking with?”

“My name is Abacus Cinch,” the voice answered. “I understand you are interested in speaking with me.”
> Meetings, Research, and Rides
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Magic,” Tempest said, skepticism clearly evident in her voice.

Across the table, Abacus Cinch sipped her tea and put the cup down. “I assure you that it's true. Canterlot High School, for some reason, has become a nexus for real magic.”

The two had met at the same all night diner on the edge of town that Tempest had originally discovered the sirens at. Tempest had to admit that Cinch was fairly imposing. Prim, proper, and exuding an aura of complete self control. She didn't seem angry or bitter, but Tempest knew all about keeping one's true feelings hidden from whoever you happened to be talking to.

“What sort of magic are we talking about, exactly, Ms. Cinch?” she asked, trying not to smile. “Blood sacrifices on the school roof? Secret tantric sex dungeons in the basement?”

Cinch gave her a look. “Please don't insult my intelligence, Agent Shadow. I'm well aware of how ludicrous it sounds. If I hadn't witnessed it for myself, I'd be just as skeptical. The only reason I agreed to meet with you is because I did some research on your organization and I felt its mandate would mean you'd be more open to the possibility than other federal or state agencies.”

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you,” Tempest said. She wasn't sorry, but she could tell Cinch put a lot of stock in manners and decorum. Better to play along for now. “Please continue.”

“In the course of your investigation, have you come across reports of teenage girls with wings?”

Tempest blinked and leaned forward slightly. “What do you know about that?”

The corners of Cinch's lips turned up. “They're all students at Canterlot High. They are brash, rude, completely undisciplined and use the magic at their disposal to cheat in competition. They corrupted the mind of my most promising student, humiliated me in front of nearly my entire student body, and the power they possess nearly caused reality itself to collapse.”

Tempest blinked and she pulled out her notepad. “Please go on, Ms. Cinch. You have my attention.”

The smile on the former principal's face widened. “What exactly did Celestia tell you happened at the Friendship Games?”

–

With everything that had been going on, Sunset had completely forgotten she was scheduled to work that night. She was reminded when Koi Pond had texted her, wanting to know where she was. Sunset had sent back an hurried apology then transferred to the next bus to the mall. She had a spare uniform in her locker and, after a hurried and sincere apology to Koi, got to work immediately.

The shift had not gone well. She was preoccupied with her worries about Tempest Shadow, the invasion of Equestria, and most of all, the terrifying prospect of an Ursa Major roaming in the woods. As a result, she had screwed up several orders, costing her time and tips. Worst of all were the looks Koi kept giving her as Sunset struggled to keep her customers happy.

Mercifully, closing time came and Sunset was able to focus on getting her closing chores done and cash out for the night. As she was computing her tips, Koi came up to her at the register.

“Sunset, is everything okay?” she asked.  

Sunset gave her an embarrassed grin. “Yeah, sorry about that, Koi. I've been having some stuff going on and it kinda threw me off. Sorry.”

Koi put a hand on Sunset's shoulder. “Listen, if you're still not up to working on a regular basis, you can take some extra time off. I won't mind.

Sunset shook her head. “No, I'm fine. Plus I can't really afford to take anymore time off than you've already given me for a while. It's just been a really bad day for me. I'll be more focused on my next shift.”

Koi gave her a skeptical look, then sighed. “All right, if you're sure. But try not to overdo it, okay?”

“I won't.” Sunset's tired but geniune smile caused the restaurant owner to smile in return. “Thanks, Koi.”

“You're welcome. Now go home and get some rest.”

Sunset nodded, finished cashing out her tips, and grabbed her things from her locker. She decided to wear the uniform home. It could use a wash anyway.

After texting her friends, and getting a message that Fluttershy would come give her a ride home, she left the mall and stood on the sidewalk outside the food court. She shivered a little and pulled her jacket tightly around her. It was getting colder. Fall was coming in with a vengance.  

She winced a little at her word choice. Vengance was what had started all this. Had it only been two weeks ago that Firecracker had attacked her? So much had happened in that time, and things only seemed to be getting worse.

Sunset sighed and pulled the journal out of her bag. She turned back to where she had been talking to Starlight. She had asked her fellow unicorn to write down everything she knew about Ursa Majors. Sadly, access to the library at Princess Twilight's castle was blocked since the invaders had apparently started putting patrols in Ponyville, although they apparently had been unable to breach the doors of said castle.  

Probably because it was created from the Tree of Harmony rather than being pony-built, Starlight had written.

The Everfree Forest had also been proving difficult for the invaders to deal with, causing them to leave it alone for now. That was some small relief to Sunset. At least Starlight was safe, and some of Equestria's more magical secrets were protected. 

Sunset paged through the book. Starlight hadn't known much about Ursa Majors outside of some basic information. Surprisingly, Trixie had written several notes about Ursa Minors here and there, relating how a couple of her overly zealous fans had accidentally unleashed a Minor into Ponyville. That incident had been what had started her rivalry with Princess Twilight, although Trixie had insisted that was all over now.

What concerned Sunset the most about the information she had received were the observations about the relative sizes of the Major and the Minor. The Ursa Minor Trixie had mentioned had easily dwarfed most of the two story structures in Ponyville. Even allowing for the height difference between ponies and humans, the Major Celaeno had described seemed about the same size, even though Ursa Majors were at least three times larger than Ursa Minors. If that was the case, it raised questions about whether the thing in the woods was an actual Ursa Major at all. 

Aside from the size, it certainly sounded like one. Maybe it shrank when it came through?

No, that was ridiculous. If an Ursa of either kind had come through the portal, somebody would have noticed long before now. There would have been more reports of attacks and damage. At the very least it was likely the plinth would have been damaged if not destroyed outright if something that big came through.

But if that's the case, where did it come from? They don't exist on this side of the portal. Unless maybe, the rogue magic infected it somehow? Is that possible? So far it's only infected objects which were channels for other people to use. Why would it settle on an animal? It makes no sense.

A car horn beeped and Sunset looked up to see Fluttershy's smart car pulling up to the curb. Sunset put the journal away and climbed into the passenger seat. 

“Thanks for the ride, Fluttershy,” she said, buckling her seat belt.

“It's no problem, Sunset.” Fluttershy put the car into gear and they made their way out of the parking lot.

“I really need to figure out a way to get my license,” Sunset said. “I can't keep calling all of you for rides all the time.”

“Why don't you just register for Driver's Ed next semester?” Fluttershy asked. “I'm a little surprised you haven't yet, honestly.”

Sunset sighed. “My paperwork is good enough to keep people from asking questions, and Miss Bookbinder overlooked a few things when it comes to my lease,” she explained. “But as far as getting a legit form of documentation, they won't really stand up to that kind of scrutiny. Makes getting a license a little difficult.”

“Oh, I see,” Fluttershy replied. They drove in silence for a moment, then: “I think have a lead on the thing in the woods.”

Sunset looked up. “Really?”

“You know Harry?”

Sunset blinked. “The bear you hang out with?”

Fluttershy nodded. “He visited me just before you called. His mate Frank has been missing for the last couple of weeks. He searched the woods for him, but no luck. He came to me asking me to help.”

“Okay,” Sunset said, her tone urging Fluttershy to continue.

“Well, he said Frank has an old den in the woods on the east side of town. Those ones just past Sweet Apple Acres. I said I would go check it out and see if Frank was there.”

Sunset stared at Fluttershy. “You're sure he said near the woods by Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Yes,” Fluttershy confirmed. She glanced over at Sunset. “What's wrong?”

Sunset told her about her meeting with Celaeno and what the gang lieutenant had told her. 

“So you think Frank might be this... Ursa Major?” Fluttershy asked.

“Maybe,” Sunset said. “I'm not sure. Frank wasn't twenty feet tall was he?”

“Oh no. He was about Harry's size. Maybe a little bigger, but not by much.”

Sunset frowned and folded her arms, lost in thought. It made too much sense, and seemed to confirm her theory that something over here had become infected with magic. But what didn't make sense was the idea of Frank, an ordinary bear, being transformed into an Ursa Major.

You turned into a seven foot tall rampaging she-demon, her brain taunted. So did Twilight, Juniper, and let's not forget Firecracker Burst.

Sunset huffed through her nose. Okay, maybe it made some sort of sense. But if that was the case...

Maybe the transformation isn't complete yet. Maybe the magic is taking Frank through the Ursa life cycle. Maybe he started off as a Minor but he's becoming a Major?

Sunset swallowed as her train of though chugged along. If Frank was infected with magic and it was sending him through the physical changes that an Ursa went through from Minor to Major, then he might not be finished. 

He might get even bigger.

Sunset's head snapped toward Fluttershy. “Are you working tomorrow?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, I have tomorrow off.”

“Okay, good.” Sunset pulled out her phone and began composing a text in the girls group chat. “If what's happening is what I think is happening, we need to deal with this sooner rather than later.”

“What do you mean?” Sunset could hear the worry in Fluttershy's voice. She looked up and smiled at her friend.

“Don't worry, if it is Frank, we'll try not to hurt him. But we need to deal with him. Tomorrow.”

Sunset glanced down at the text she had sent.

Emergency! I think I know what's going on with the thing in the woods and where we can find it. But we'll need everybody to deal with it. If you have plans or work tomorrow after school, cancel them or call in sick. My place. 4 o'clock. Bring your geodes.

Sunset sighed and finished the text.

And be ready for a fight.

She tapped “Send.”
> Preparations, Notes, and Goodbyes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset Shimmer methodically went through her apartment. Everything had been cleaned, everything was put away where it belonged. There were no other Equestrian items in it other than her journal, and she was planning on taking it with her. Her entertainment system had been turned off and all the electronics unplugged. She had cleaned out her mini fridge and microwave. Her personal files on Equestria had been saved to a USB stick (which would also be going with her) and deleted from her computer.  

She put the journal and the USB stick in her shoulder bag and laid it on the couch before sitting down at her computer. She typed up a pair of notes and reread them, checking for errors.



Dear Miss Bookbinder,

If you're reading this, then something terrible has happened to me and I haven't been able to come back to destroy this note. If this has happened, then in all likelihood, I'm either dead or I've disappeared. 

My friends and I are heading out tonight to deal with the thing that has been rampaging all over the city over the last few days. We think we know how to stop it. I'm not going to insult your intelligence by pretending that you don't know about the magic we carry. You know everything that goes on in this building, especially when it comes to me. 

If I'm dead, then hopefully, someone has or will bring you my personal effects. In my shoulder bag, you will find a journal. Please take this journal to Principal Celestia at Canterlot High School and tell her to message Twilight Sparkle. I know, why should she do that if I hang around Twilight all the time? It's very complicated and confusing and it'll just be easier if you don't question it. Principal Celestia will understand what I mean. 

If I've disappeared, then something worse may have happened. My friends and I are the targets of an investigation by a government agent named Tempest Shadow. She works for an agency called STORM (Specialized Taskforce Overseeing Remarkable Matters). She has been investigating all the strange things that have happened in the city over the last couple of years. Things which my friends and I have been involved in. 

If I've disappeared, odds are my friends have too. If that's the case, and I don't return within two weeks of the date at the bottom of this note, deliver the note you'll find next to this one to Principal Celestia. 

If you see Tempest Shadow or any of her cronies sniffing around my apartment, or if they demand access to it, let them in. There's nothing here which can hurt me, aside from these notes and I'm reasonably certain you'll get to them before they will.

Thank you, Miss Bookbinder. For everything you've done for me. You gave me a home, when almost anyone else would have looked the other way, or, given how I acted back then, chased me off. You've protected and helped me in ways you don't even know about. You were there when I needed a friend, even if I thought I didn't need anybody and I wanted you to know how much I've cherished our relationship.

Thank you for doing this last favor for me.

Sincerely yours,                                            

Sunset Shimmer                                           

October 10                                                



Satisfied with her work, Sunset turned her attention to the other note.



Dear Principal Celestia,

If you're reading this then Miss Bookbinder has followed my instructions in the event that I and my friends have disappeared. In accordance with my instructions, this also means that we've been missing for two weeks.

In all likelihood, we've been arrested by STORM and are currently being detained against our wills. I have no idea what other measures they may have taken to ensure our arrests remain a secret, but if you know anything about me, you know that, reformed or not, I am not going to take any sort of assault against my friends lying down. I don't care what happens to me. I still have a lot to make up for, but I will not let my mistakes become the start of an interdimensional war.

First off, protect the portal. That is the main priority. Right now, it's been closed on the other side due to events that have happened in Equestria. But I fully expect once that's resolved, Princess Twilight will be making an appearance. If that happens, you need to intercept her, let her know what's happened, and get her to return to Equestria immediately and have her shut down the portal. For good, if necessary. 

She'll try to fight you on this. She cares as much for me and my friends over here as she does for her friends over there. But, since you are essentially this world's equivalent of her mentor (I don't have time to explain the coincidence, just roll with it please), she will most likely listen to you. 

Once that's done, I would like to ask you and Vice-Principal Luna to make everything you've learned about STORM and how they operate public. I'm sure Vice Principal Luna's contacts on the dark web will be able to help get the word out while giving both of you plausible deniability. Contact the media, politicians, anyone you can think of to make the world know exactly who they are and what they're doing.

I realize this is risky, but even if there are good reasons for STORM's secrecy, this kind of thing can't continue. No one agency should have as much autonomy as they have where seven teenage girls can just vanish without a trace. I'd like to tell you that I have some lofty ideals about freedom and liberty and all that, but that would be a lie.

I'm asking you to do this because I want to hurt them. Badly. They did the one thing I can't forgive: they hurt my friends. The people I care about more than anyone else in two worlds. I've come a long way from who I was, but deep down, there's always a part of me that is just fine with revenge. 

And I think, given our conversations while all this had been going on, you would agree with me on this course of action.

Finally, I want to tell you how sorry I am that all this has happened. I never expected things would get this out of control. I'm sorry for how I was when I first came to Canterlot High, and I'm sorry for all the trouble I seem to have brought there after the Fall Formal. You have dealt with all the craziness with far more grace and fairness than the situation may have called for.

I thank you for that. And for not giving up on me, even when I was at my worst. I know I covered my tracks well, but I also know you knew I was responsible for ripping the student body apart, even if you couldn't do anything about it. Thank you for making me still feel welcome at CHS after the Fall Formal, and allowing me to continue my studies there. I've learned so much on this side of the portal thanks to your kindness and understanding and I'll never be able to repay you for everything you've done.

Thank you. For everything.

Your faithful student,                

Sunset Shimmer                   



Sunset leaned back in her chair and sighed. She reached up to rub her eyes and was surprised to find they were wet. She grabbed a tissue from the box next to her monitors and wiped them. She sniffled, then printed out both notes, put them in envelopes, sealed and addressed them to the proper recipients, and left them tucked under the keyboard.

As she pushed back from her desk, there was a knock at the door, followed by the sound of Rainbow Dash and Applejack bickering. Sunset smirked and looked at the door, feeling the love she had for her friends.  

Whatever happens, we face it together.

She got up to answer the door.
> Laundry, Gardenia, and Deadlines
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tempest Shadow was doing something pretty rare for her: she was taking the day off.  

Not necessarily by choice, mind you. But since she was reasonably certain Sunset Shimmer and her friends were at the center of everything going on in this burg, it did limit her investigative avenues while they were all in school. She had staked herself out near Canterlot High and watched the comings and goings until she had seen all seven of them meet up at the plinth outside the main entrance, then drove off, confident they'd all be there until that afternoon.

In the meantime, she took care of a few things that years of field work had taught her. Laundry, for example, was key. She spent about 200 days out in the field a year, which meant that a lot of everyday things had to be taken care of whenever possible. So, it was off to the laundromat this morning. She wore a pair of old black jeans, running shoes, and a tank top she had gotten at a concert a few years earlier.

While she waited for her clothes, she went back over her notes for the investigation. She still didn't completely understand what was going on, but she didn't really need to. Once she had enough evidence to convince the Director, she could detain the girls, and answers would be forthcoming.  

As she went through her notes, her eyes caught one in particular and she sat up a little straighter in her chair. Gardenia Glow. I never talked to her.

The girlfriend of the missing Firecracker Burst. Tempest had been given Ms. Glow's number by Firecracker's parents. With everything that had happened over the last few days, talking to the girlfriend had fallen through the cracks. Tempest stepped outside and dialed the number.  

As expected, she got voice mail. She left a message, explaining who she was and what she wanted, then went back in to move her clothes to the dryer. As she was idly perusing her email, she got a text.

Agent Shadow,

I'm free for lunch. Would you be able to meet me at the mall at 12:30?

Gardenia Glow

Tempest glanced at the timer on the dryer. That would be just enough time to finish up here, get back to the hotel and change before heading to the mall. She sent back a reply accepting the invitation and smiled to herself.

Things were finally going her way.





“What can I do for you, Agent Shadow?”

Gardenia Glow was an attractive dark green girl in her late teens or very early 20s. She had long pink hair that had been tied up into a ponytail and wore a smart blouse and jeans combination with a denim jacket. Tempest herself had changed back into her preferred black suit and turtleneck.

“Thank you for meeting with me, Ms. Glow,” Tempest said, as they sat at a table in the food court. “I'm investigating some strange events that happened here at the mall, and elsewhere around town. Your name came up in connection with one of them. The disappearance of Firecracker Burst.”

Gardenia's expression fell. “She didn't disappear. She ran away.”

“Why do you think she did that?” Tempest kept her voice even.

“We had a fight,” Gardenia sighed. “She was becoming obsessed with someone who hurt me in the past. I told her to let it go, but she refused to. I said some things I shouldn't have. I told her I didn't want to be with someone who was going to be more obsessed with my past, rather than trying to built a future with me. She stormed out of my apartment and that was the last time I saw her.”

“Did this event in the past happen while you were a student at Canterlot High?”

“Yes,” Gardenia said frowning. “Although I don't see what it has to do with--”

Tempest cut her off. “The person who hurt you wouldn't happen to be Sunset Shimmer, would it? From what I understand, she used to be quite the terror of that school.”

The frown deepened. “Yes, she was. But I forgave her for it a long time ago once I saw how she was trying to be better.”

“Really? Seems to me your girlfriend might have had the right idea about her.”

“Holding a grudge does more harm than good in the long run,” Gardenia replied evenly. “We're not friends, if that's what you're wondering.”

“I see,” said Tempest. She leaned forward in her chair. “What can you tell me about her?”

“Sunset Shimmer?” Surprise was evident in Gardenia's voice. She frowned again. “She was a bully and terror when she first came to Canterlot High, then something happened to her which I guess made her decide to change. I don't know the details. I had graduated by then.”

“Yes, her change of heart,” Tempest tried to keep the contempt out of her voice. “How did you find out about that?”

“I came home from college for Thanksgiving. I overheard a couple of kids from school talking about her and decided to see for myself.”

“You spied on her.”

“Yes,” Gardenia said. There was a note of irritation in her voice. “I followed her, saw her interacting with her friends and other students and saw she was trying to be better. I decided I was tired of being angry at her, especially since that anger was seeping into all of my other relationships. So I forgave her and got on with my life.”

“And your girlfriend didn't,” said Tempest.

Gardenia's eyes flashed. “What exactly do you want from me, Agent Shadow? Some kind of emotional rant that will convince you that Sunset Shimmer's dangerous and you should arrest her? She was a shitty person back then, yes, but nothing she did was illegal. She's turned herself around and seems to be trying to be a better person. I'm sorry if that's not what you want to hear, but I don't have any rope you can hang her with.”

Gardenia got up to leave. Tempest looked up at her. “Not even if she had something to do with your girlfriend's disappearance? Firecracker Burst's father seemed to think something was going on there.”

“His daughter ran away with no explanation,” Gardenia replied. “I imagine he's looking for someone, anyone, to blame for that. And now, if you'll excuse me, Agent Shadow, my lunch break is over and I need to get back to work.”

Tempest stood up and extended a hand. “Thank you for your time, Ms. Glow.”

Gardenia looked down at the proffered hand, ignored it, and walked away.





It didn't take much to put together what had happened to her tires when she had staked out Sunset Shimmer's apartment building. The tires had been slashed by a small knife, which Tempest was certain she knew quite well. She hadn't seen Adagio and her cronies, but it was highly plausible they had done it to distract her.  

Which meant Sunset Shimmer knew that Tempest knew where she lived. No matter. The STORM agent had other means to figure out what those girls were up to. Just before school had let out for the day, Tempest returned to the neighborhood Rarity lived in and parked a few houses down. She had traded out her issued vehicle for a rental car to ensure she wasn't recognized.  

After about half an hour, a small smart car driven by Fluttershy appeared and parked in the driveway of the house. Tempest watched as the pink haired girl set up Rarity's wheelchair, helped her into it, and pushed her into the garage after Rarity had entered the code to open the door.  

Tempest looked at her watch. I'll give them twenty minutes, then move on.

She was surprised when both girls came about out less than five minutes later. They went through the same steps they had before, only in reverse and the car backed out of the driveway and headed down the street. Tempest put the car in gear and followed them at a discreet distance. 

It wasn't long before she realized where they were going. Back to Sunset Shimmer's apartment. Pulling up to the curb, Tempest saw Fluttershy park behind an old farm truck, which in turn was parked behind a blue sedan. Tzempest watched as Fluttershy and Rartity got out again and entered the building. 

Another meeting? Tempest thought. Did my questions yesterday spook you just a little, girls?

She allowed herself a satisfied grin. It was good to know they were rattled. It meant they were definitely hiding something.

As Tempest watched the front of the building, her phone rang and she answered it without looking at the caller ID.

“Agent Shadow.”

“Less than a day left, Agent,” came the Director's voice. “Do you have something for me or not?”

“Almost, sir,” Tempest replied.  “I know who the girls with the wings and horse ears are. But they're tricky and it looks like they've been ready for something like this. I'm trying to get actual evidence before I make a move.”

There was silence on the end of the line, then: “Are you sure you can get it?”

“I'm staking them out right now. If they do anything, I'll know about it.”

“You better. If I don't hear from you by 9 AM tomorrow, I'm taking over. Do I make myself clear, Tempest?”

Tempest felt a harsh retort coming to her lips but managed to hold it in. “Understood, sir.”

“Good. Call as soon as you have something, I don't care how late it is.”

“Yes, sir.”

The call ended without the Director saying goodbye. Tempest tossed her phone on the passenger seat of the car with a snort. Jumped up tinpot dictator.

She turned her attention back to the front of the building and leaned forward when she saw all seven of them come out of the entrance. Sunset Shimmer climbed into the old farm truck with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, while Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, rarity and Fluttershy got into the sedan, after putting Rarity's wheelchair in the trunk. The two vehicles started up and drove off. 

Tempest started her own car and began to follow them. They headed east out to the far end of the suburbs until they reached a small apple farm at the end of a newly developed subdivision. Tempest drove past the driveway to the farmhouse, making a u-turn and heading back the way she came, as if she had gotten lost in the neighborhood. She spotted the girls staring at her car as she did so, but was confident she was too far away for them to recognize her. 

She rounded a corner and began making her way back to the cul-de-sac the farm was in. As she got closer, she saw the girls had moved on. She walked up the driveway of the farmhouse, keeping an eye and an ear out for anyone else. She didn't see anyone.

But she could hear them. Female voices coming from the orchard. 

Good, that would make it easier to follow them. Tempest followed the sounds until she reached a fence, dividing the formal rows of trees in the orchard from the woods which surrounded the back of the subdivision. Tempest crawled through the space between the fence rails and moved deeper into the forest. 

It was time to get to the bottom of this.
> History, Intentions, and Coffee
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you asked Cosmos Stormking, Director of the Specialized Taskforce Overseeing Remarkable Matters, the secret of his success, he would most likely respond with the phrase “pre-emptive action.”

He had started out in the motor pool during his time in the military, then gradually moved up the ranks until he was recruited by military intelligence, thanks to a timely action on Stormking's part that ousted an enemy agent that had managed to infiltrate the ranks during an operation somewhere in Marejevo.  

Of course, the little detail that said enemy agent also happened to be a fellow soldier who had evidence that Stormking was selling supplies to various black marketeers in the area went uncommented upon at the time. But what did that matter? He was commended for his quick action and soon found himself off the support lines and into intelligence gathering.  

Much to his delight, he found himself well suited to the way MI operated, especially when it came to the... messier scenarios that needed to be dealt with. He approached them all the same way: assess the situation, determine the root cause, and remove it by any means necessary. His unit quickly developed a reputation for efficiency and speed. And if there happened to be some collateral damage or unintended civilian casualties, it was all in the name of protecting the country's interests abroad, right?

By the time he had left the military, he had cultivated a network of contacts all over the Beltway and in nearly every department of government. That had led to a stint with the State Department, then Homeland Security, then, perhaps inevitably, to the DIA. It was while he was there that he discovered the existence of STORM and it's mandate. And as soon as he had, he began making plans to assume control of the taskforce. It took a few years, but eventually, he was able to network, call in favors, place a couple of bribes, and found himself first in an administrative position, then eventually the directorship when the previous director retired.

And if the previous director had opted to resign, rather than risk certain compromising photos that happened to be in Stormking's possession going public, well, he should have thought better of visiting those kind of establishments in the first place, shouldn't he?

STORM suited Stormking very well. He was a problem solver by nature. And STORM dealt with plenty of problems the way he liked: quickly, silently, and mercilessly. “Pre-emptive action” had managed to keep many of the stranger and more dangerous things that lurked out there beyond civilian notice from becoming imminent dangers to the public. And had also occasionally unearthed some things that the boys in the Defense Department and the Pentagon thought might be useful. There were many high ranking officers and politicians that enjoyed Stormking's largesse when it came to STORM's findings.

STORM agents under Stormkings stewardship soon learned his methods. Results were the quickest and most reliable way to promotion in the agency. The more cases closed, the more interesting things found and contained, the happier the Director was.   

The Director has found himself deliriously happy when Tempest Shadow was recruited to the team. She shared his taste for ruthless efficiency. She closed her cases with amazing speed. Admittedly, she never quite reached a perfect record, but Styormking had been in the game to know that sometimes, bad luck just happened. Bad intel, a craftier than usual target, unexpected mishaps. These were all part of the game. But if you did things right, you could at least minimize them. And Tempest had a knack for that.

The Director had taken a personal interest in Tempest. He felt that she might be just the right type of person to take over when it was time for him to leave STORM. Someone who could ensure things would be done the right way, his way, when he was gone.

Because Cosmos Stormking had plans. Oh yes. The country needed protection, but constantly defending its borders was a persistent drain on time, personnel, and resources. Much better to take the pre-emptive approach. But to do that, he was going to need to be in a more powerful position, and to do that, he was going to need something spectacular to impress certain people in equally powerful positions.  

If they were privy to his thoughts, some might have naturally assumed this meant he was considering a run for the Presidency. Stormking scoffed at the very idea. He'd been playing the game long enough to know who really had the power in the nation's capital. There would be time enough to assume public leadership after the dust had settled.  

And if there were those who objected to a world under Stormking's rule, well, they might find themselves a target of a little “pre-emptive action.” Even if they didn't get it, those who were left behind would.  

But, that was some time off. Stormking knew this, despite his natural impatience. So, rather than force what he knew couldn't be rushed, he focused on the smaller things he could move along. Such as this nonsense in Canterlot City.

Normally, he wouldn't have cared all that much about reports of hybrid horse girls, but the footage he had seen from the mall security cameras told him that whoever these girls were, they had some sort of power. Power that he knew several of his contacts would nbe very interested in putting to work. For the  good of national security, of course. Frankly, given what Tempest had reported back to him, he was surprised the city had stayed off his radar for so long. Even so, the last thing he needed was any of this to become more widely known. Right now, even the news media in Canterlot City seemed to be in the dark about the horse girls. No major stories, no half baked conspiracies disguised as human interest pieces, not even a blurry photograph. At least, not until the mall rampage.

Could the whole city be in on it? Not the citizens. In Stormking's experience, when presented with something inexplicable, most of humanity would prefer to pretend nothing strange had happened at all, rather than acknowledge anything that challenged their own worldview. 

But the local government and those affiliated with it? Tempest was certain the two administrators of that high school knew something, and Stormking was inclined to agree with her. There had to be some kind of network protecting those girls. Maybe not a formal conspiracy, like Stormking had both encountered and orchestrated over his career, but a loose collection of people who, for whatever reason, had an interest in making sure these girls' secret stayed a secret. That seemed far more likely.  

Stormking was startled out of his thoughts by his cell phone buzzing on his desk. He leaned forward and brought up the screen. A text from Tempest had arrived.

The current POIs are doing something in the woods out on the edge of the city. Am following. Will report back later with what I find.

Stormking smiled. A wide, confident sneer. He was so glad Tempest had finally come into her own after the demise of Agent Drops. It had proved to be the thing which had unlocked her full potential as a field agent. It was a tragedy to lose another agent in the process, of course, but that was the nature of the game. 

He buzzed for his assistant, demanding his usual afternoon coffee. The bespectacled woman responded with her usual promptness. Another efficient worker in his hive. She hadn't been able to hack it in the field, but Stormking had found her very resourceful and useful in the administrative side of things when Posey had left the position.

He glanced up at her as he took the mug. “Send an email to Commander Rampage. Tell him to have his team on standby. We may need them soon.”

She nodded. “Where will they be deploying to, sir?”

“Canterlot City,” said the Director. He sipped from the mug. “One way or another, we are going to wrap this up tomorrow.”

She nodded and turned smartly on her heel, returning to her desk. Stormking watched her go. Efficient, but soft. But she was learning to keep her mouth shut about matters that didn't concern her. Shame Agent Drops wasn't able to learn the same lesson.

He sipped his coffee and looked out his office window, watching the sun begin to set over the city. There was still a lot of work to do. There always was. But, for now, he allowed himself a smile of self-satisfaction. Things were proceeding just fine.
> Lovely, Dark, and Deep
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So what exactly is this thing we're looking for?” Rainbow Dash asked as she walked beside Sunset Shimmer.

“I think Fluttershy's bear friend has been infected by Equestrian magic and it's slowly turning him into an Ursa Major,” Sunset answered.

Rainbow nodded, then: “Yeah, still doesn't explain anything.”

Sunset sighed as she cast the beam of her flashlight around. The sun had almost set and the darkness was creeping into the woods. “Okay, there's an Equestrian creature called an Ursa. They come in two forms. Ursa Minors and Ursa Majors. The Majors are full grown, the Minors are the cubs. They're similar to bears, but they look like they have stars in their fur. Minors are blue and look like regular bears otherwise. Majors, however, are purple, have giant fangs similar to a saber-toothed tiger and large claws.”

“So why kind of freaky magic powers do they have?” Rainbow asked, excitement in her voice. “Do they like shoot the stars out of their fur like lasers? Or comets? Or--”

“Nothing like that,” Sunset interrupted. “Ursas don't really have any sort of magic powers. Believe me, they'd be a much bigger problem if they did.”

“So, we're basically fighting a bear with a 70s van paint job,” said Rainbow, disappointment in her voice.

Sunset shook her head. “No. Ursas don't need magic because they're huge. A Minor is about twenty feet tall. A Major is almost triple that. They're more than capable of destruction on a wide scale without magic. Normally, they live in the depths of the Everfree Forest and don't really bother anyone unless someone bothers them first. But this is different.”

“How so?” Applejack had come up on the other side of Sunset.  

“Because Frank isn't a natural Ursa. He's an ordinary bear being transformed by magic. My guess is he won't get quite as big as an Ursa from Equestria, but from everything I've heard from Celaeno and seen on the news, he's got the same raw strength, and I think he started out as a Minor, but he's becoming a Major. Which means he's probably going to get stronger, even if he doesn't get as big as a regular Major.”

“And if that's true,” said Fluttershy, who had also joined the group. “He's probably scared, confused, and in pain. I can't imagine how much that kind of rapid growth hurts, especially if those fangs are growing. So he's been lashing out, trying to cope with the changes.”

“Exactly,” Sunset said. “And that makes him dangerous. I'm hoping that we can find him tonight, use our magic to purge the rogue magic from him and stop what he's doing before somebody gets hurt.”

“And before Agent Shadow decides to investigate all this herself.” Twilight had emerged from between a couple of trees pushing Rarity in her chair and followed by Pinkie Pie. “I'm pretty sure this kind of thing is well within STORM's jurisdiction.”

“Which is why we need to find him and do this tonight,” said Sunset. She turned to Fluttershy. “Are we close to the cave?”

“We should be getting there soon,” Fluttershy said. She cast her flashlight around and pointed when it illuminated a small creek a few hundred yards away. “Harry said Frank's den is just up that creek.”

“Well, let's go then!” Rainbow charged forward, taking the lead. “The sooner we deal with this, the sooner we can get things back to normal!”

She disappeared into the trees, making a racket as she did so. Applejack groaned and rolled her eyes before running after her. “You ever hear of bein' stealthy, Rainbow Dash?”

“Stealth is for Concrete Cog Gaseous!” came the reply, followed by another groan from Applejack.

The other girls looked at each other.  

“I'm not certain whether to laugh or lock her up in one of my constructs,” said Rarity.

The dry comment broke the tension, causing the girls to giggle. Sunset cast her flashlight at the spot where Rainbow and Applejack had vanished. “Come on, let's catch up before they get themselves into trouble.”

This is the kind of comment that the universe takes as a cue. Within seconds of Sunset closing her mouth, Applejack and Rainbow's screams echoed through the trees. Rarity generated a crystal and levitated herself off the ground, allowing all of them to dash into the darkness, looking for their friends.





Elsewhere in the woods, Tempest Shadow had her own flashlight out and was keeping as quiet as possible. She could still hear the girls' voices echoing through the night, even if she couldn't make out what they were saying.  

She was close now. She could feel it. She would finally find out what exactly was going on in this town and what those girls had to do with it. She paused for a moment and cast her flashlight on the ground.

Ah. There you are. 

The beam had picked out several sets of footprints in the dirt, plus a pair of wheel ruts that had to have come from Rarity's chair. Tempest made little clicking noises with her tongue.

Sloppy, she thought. Very sloppy, girls. If this is how careless you are, I have to wonder how no one's figured out what you're up to yet.

As she followed the tracks, a pair of screams echoed out of the darkness. Tempest's head shot up. That couldn't possibly be good. She reached into her jacket and withdrew her pistol. She crossed her wrists, holding the pistol with one hand, while the other rested on top of it, gripping the flashlight. She made her way deeper into the forest, keeping an eye out for downed branches, stray rocks, or other obstacles.

A bellowing roar caused her to stop dead in her tracks. A moment later the sound of cracking wood and falling limbs accompanied by more roars hit her ears. Tempest felt the adrenaline begin to course through her veins and her breathing became heavier.

This was it. This was where she lived. What she was good at, what she was trained for. Something was hiding in the dark and she was going to drag it into the light, no matter what it was and no matter who or what else happened to be there.

Tempest took a deep breath and quickly moved into the shadows.
> Clearing, Magic, and Exposure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You just HAD to go chargin' off half-cocked, didn't ya?” Applejack yelled as she gripped her geode. A flash of orange light and her pony ears and tail appeared. Next to her, Rainbow Dash did likewise, ponying up as well.  

“We were looking for him, we found him!” she protested. “What more do you want?”

A shadow loomed over them, causing both girls to stare up at Frank, standing on his hind legs, foot long fangs glistening in the moonlight. The massive Ursa held a huge tree trunk over his head and with a deafening roar, hurled it at the two girls.

Applejack grabbed Rainbow and leaped backwards, her magically augmented strength propelling both teenagers away as the trunk crashed to the ground. Applejack straightened her hat and gestured at the monster.

“Not to be killed by a magically crazed bear with a severe overbite, that's what!”

“Applejack! Rainbow!”  

The girls looked up to see their friends emerging from the trees. Rarity floated over to them,

“What on EARTH were you two thinking?” she demanded.

“Somebody wasn't,” Applejack said, glaring at Dash.

“Argue later,” said Sunset, looking over to Frank, who was lurking back where he had thrown the tree. Yellow eyes glared at them, shining in the dark. “Pony up!”

A few flashes of light later and the girls stood ready to take on their foe.  

“Pinkie Pie, contain the area!” Sunset barked. “We need to keep him here.”

“Got it!” Pinkie reached into her hair and produced a bag of assorted candy. She charged up the treats and began hurling them at the trees, where they exploded, causing the trees to start crashing to the ground. Frank looked around in confusion then roared again.

Sunset turned to Rarity. “We need something to hold him.”

Rarity nodded and wheeled forward. She threw out both hands and a wave of crystals flew towards Frank. The bear reared back up and began swiping at the crystals with his forepaws. A few shattered to dust, but Rarity adjusted her gestures and the crystals surrounded Frank and locked into place, trapping him under a large dome. Rarity grit her teeth as Frank began pounding against his prison.

“Can you hold it?” Twilight asked.

“I'm not sure!” Rarity answered. “Whatever we're going to do, we better do it now!”

“Hang on!” Twlight raised her own hands and generated a telekinetic aura around the dome, much like they had done while fighting Firecracker Burst. Twilight glanced back over at Sunset and nodded.

“AJ,” Sunset said. “Gather up the trees and build a fence around this clearing. Something to keep him here if Rarity and Twilight can't hold him. Rainbow, clear the ground!”

“On it!” Rainbow zipped off in a burst of super speed, snatching rocks and roots out of the ground surrounding the small clearing the girls were creating. Applejack followed Pinkie, picking up the fallen trees and stacking them around the clearing. Sunset turned to Fluttershy.

“Do you think you can calm him down?” she asked.

“I can try,” Fluttershy said.  

“I'll go with you.”

The two girls walked to the dome. As they approached, Frank's roars turned to low growls and he went back to all fours. Fluttershy gestured to Sunset to stop. She flapped her wings and flew up so she was at Frank's eye level. She put a hand on the dome and smiled as Frank came closer.

“Is that you, Frank?” she asked. Frank growled and chuffed. Fluttershy's geode glowed as it translated.

“Oh, you poor thing,” she cooed. “Don't worry. We can help.”

She turned to her friends. “It is Frank! He's not sure what's happening to him, but he's hurt and confused!”

Sunset nodded. “If we drop the dome, will he stay still long enough for us to help him?”

Fluttershy relayed the question, then called back down. “He says he'll try, but it's hard for him to focus on anything for very long.”

Sunset nodded and called the other girls over. “Rarity, Twilight, when I tell you, drop the shield.”

“Are you sure about this?” Twilight asked. Sunset took a deep breath and let it out.

“Yes,” she said. “If we can deal with this now, things can finally get back to normal.”

Twilight and Rarity exchanged a glance, then slowly charged down their powers. After a moment, Frank stood in the clearing, staring down at the girls. Fluttershy gently stroked the fur on the side of his head.

“It'll be okay,” she soothed. “I promise.”

She looked down at Sunset. “Will it hurt?”

“I... don't know,” Sunset replied. “It didn't actually hurt physically when you all blasted me, but it wasn't fun mentally. But he's not actually evil, just infected with magic. It's a different situation. I'm sorry, Fluttershy, I can't say for sure.”

Fluttershy nodded and turned back to Frank. “We don't know if this will hurt or not, and I'm sorry about that. If it does, just hold on. I promise everything will be okay once we're done, all right?”

Frank looked at her, then at the girls on the ground, who all tried to put on reassuring smiles, but looked more like terrified grimaces. He looked back at Fluttershy and rumbled in his throat.

Fluttershy smiled and flew back to her friends. “He says he'll try.”

“I guess that's the best we can hope for,” said Sunset. She looked at the other girls. “Ready?”

There were nods in the affirmative. The girls joined hands and faced Frank. They closed their eyes and began to concentrate. The geodes around their necks began to glow then shine in the darkness of the woods. Sunset felt the warmth of her friends and the magic they carried flow through her. It suffused her being, gathering strength and power, reflected and multiplied between them.  

They felt the link between them strengthen and grow, the magic sparking of the tips of their ears and at the ends of their hair. Any moment now, it would burst forth in a rainbow of love and affection, able to solve almost any problem they--

“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!”

The commanding voice broke through their euphoria. The link shatters and all seven girls turned to look behind them, where Tempest Shadow stood atop the makeshift barrier, gun in one hand, flashlight in the other. She had a grin of triumph on her face.

“So this is it, huh?” the agent sneered. “I knew you were hiding something.”

She glared down at Rainbow Dash, who was tensing up, and leveled her gun at the athlete. “I wouldn't, Miss Dash, not unless you want somebody here to get hurt.”

Applejack put a hand on Rainbow's shoulder and shook her head. Tempest looked up form the girls and her eyes widened at the sight of Frank. “What is that?”

“None of your business!” Fluttershy yelled, stepping forward. “Leave him alone!”

“Oh, things like that are very much my business... and so are all of you.” Tempest lightly jumped from the fallen tree she was standing on to the ground and walked closer. “Now, I'm going to make a call, and we're all going to wait here quietly until some of my friends show up and then you, me, and that thing over there are going to take a little trip.”

“Over my dead body!” Fluttershy dashed forward and to everyone's surprise, took a wild swing at Tempest. The agent easily blocked the move and pivoted her foot, tripping Fluttershy and sending her to the ground.

Frank, seeing this, roared loudly. Tempest looked up to see the massive magically charged bear stampeding towards her. Fangs glistening with saliva. Angry yellow eyes boring down on her with the promise of nothing but pain in her future.

“Oh, shit,” she said in a small voice.

Sunset was much louder. “SCATTER! RAINBOW, GET HER OUT OF HERE!”

Fluttershy and Twilight took to the air, Twilight grabbing Sunset in her telekinetic field. Rarity generated a crystal big enough for her, Applejack and Pinkie, who jumped on and all three shot into the darkness. Before Tempest could react, she was blinded by a swirl of rainbow colors, and the next thing she knew, she was standing in the cul-de-sac next to the apple farm.  

Rainbow glared at the agent. “You just had to ruin the whole thing, didn't you?”

Another flash of rainbow colors and Tempest was alone on the street. She looked down at her hand, still holding the gun. It was trembling with adrenaline and fear. She swallowed hard and gingerly put the gun back in her holster, then slowly walked back down the block to her car.  

Once she was inside, she took several deep breaths until her heart began to stop pounding in her chest. When she was sufficiently calm, she pulled out her phone and dialed a number.

“Sir, I have them. Yes, sir, it's those seven girls. I'm not sure of everything they can do, but they definitely have some kind of enhanced abilities. And that's not all, sir. There's a large cryptid in the area as well. I'm not sure what the connection is, but I found the girls with it. It tried to maul me. I think we're going to need a containment team. Level four at least. And one more thing, sir.”

Tempest finally allowed herself to smile. She'd been passive for far too long, now it was time to bring the game fully into her court. “They have people who are sticklers for the rules. We're going to need some arrest warrants.”
> Waiting, Worry, and Wondering
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash was not a thinker. When it came to things like nuance, details, and general common sense, she tended to ignore all of that and go with her gut. This usually did not work out well for her, as just about every aspect of her life outside of athletics could attest. When it came to the smart stuff, she tended to let Sunset or Twilight take the lead in that regard.  

Which wasn't to say she was stupid. Far from it. She just wasn't built for prolonged introspection or deep research. Rainbow Dash was not a thinker, she was a doer. If you needed something done, she was your girl to ask what was needed and make sure it happened. She could present six different ways to get something done given a set of criteria (provided things like consequences could be ignored).  

Which was why she was finding the following day at school particularly irksome. It was stubbornly insisting to be a regular day. Despite facing down a monster and Tempest Shadow the night before, nothing had happened. She woke up the next morning with her mom insisting she had to go to school. She showered, using up all the hot water, just like always. She wolfed down her breakfast with barely two minutes to spare before she had to leave for school, just like always. She arrived at the plinth at the front of the school to meet up with the girls, just like –

No, wait. That hadn't been just like always. Sunset had failed to appear, and that was causing all of them to worry.





“She hasn't responded to any of my calls or texts since we split up last night,” Twilight said, showing the chain of messages she had sent Sunset with no reply. “Have any of you heard from her?”

“Not since last night, I'm afraid,” Rarity said. Next to her, Fluttershy nodded.

“We even stopped by her place to check on her, but she didn't answer. We even asked Miss Bookbinder and she reported she hasn't seen her since yesterday either.”

“Well, she's gotta be somewhere!” Rainbow insisted. “We know she can't go back to Equestria, because the portal's closed!” She smacked her fist against the plinth to emphasize her point. “So, where is she?”

“Somewhere she probably don't wanna be found,” said Applejack. Her eyebrows came together in a worried frown. “The last couple of weeks have been hard on her and after last night, she probably wants some time alone to regroup.”

“Or,” Pinkie piped up. “She could have run into Agent Shadow when she stopped for her morning coffee and had her hauled off somewhere! She could be interrogating Sunset as we speak!”

“If that was the case, I should think Agent Shadow would have been waiting for us when we got here,” Rarity replied. “She only knows that the seven of us have some kind of strange power. I seriously doubt she even suspects Sunset is from another world entirely.”

“That's the other thing that worries me,” Twilight said. “She has hard evidence that we're the sort of thing STORM tries to contain. Why isn't she here right now trying to arrest us?”

“'Cause she knows she'll get her butt kicked,” Rainbow grinned. “Seven superpowered us's versus one Fed with a gun? Come on, even if she's as badass as her file says, she's gotta know she's totally outclassed. You should have seen the look on her face when I dropped her by her car last night.”

“I don't know,” Twilight murmured. “I don't like not knowing where either of them are.”

The bell rang, causing the group to let out a collective groan.

“Well, there's nothing we can do right now,” said Rarity. She was in her chair today, the night before proving to be too taxing for her to use her canes this morning. She turned toward the school. “We'll just have to hope that, wherever Sunset is, she'll get in touch when she's ready.”





Which was easy to say, but for Rainbow Dash, as the day wore on, the normal slog through the school day was ten times more unbearable than usual. Every five minutes she was looking at the clock, or sneaking glances at her phone, hoping that Sunset or somebody would text her to let her know what was going on. She hated waiting. She wanted to be doing something. Something to help. Something that could put a stop to all this.  

When the final bell rang, she zoomed out of class and to her locker before racing outside to the plinth. She bounced on the balls of her feet, impatiently looking at the clock on her phone every few seconds. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Twilight and Applejack appeared.

“Finally!” Rainbow huffed. “So what's the plan? Do we split up? Cover the mall, her apartment, and all that? Or do we want to see if that bear thing is still at that den by the creek? Or both?”

“Slow down there, sugarcube,” said Applejack, her frown returning. “We haven't made any kind of plans yet. Me and Twilight have been talkin;' and we're not even sure if we should do anything right now.”

“Of course we should do something right now!” Rainbow yelped. “Sunset's out there somewhere, maybe in trouble. We've got that bear thing still roaming aroudn the woods, and we don't have a clue what that Fed is doing! There's plenty for us to do!”

“Oh, really?” Applejack folded her arms. “So what's your plan then? Wrangle the Ursa? Kick down every door in town until we find Sunset? Or do ya just wanna kidnap Agent Shadow before she reports back to her bosses, assumin' she hasn't already?”

Rainbow blinked. “Ooooh. I hadn't thought of that one. You think it would work?”

“No!” Twilight snapped. “We are not kidnapping a federal agent, no matter how much danger she poses to us!”

“We could keep her in AJ's barn,” Rainbow began.

“We ain't keepin' anyone in my barn,” AJ snapped. “What we're doin' is tryin' to lie low until we hear from Sunset or somethin' happens. We're in enough trouble that we don't need to go lookin' for more!”

“Oh, come ON!” Rainbow protested. “We need to go on the offensive while we still can. We find Sunset, take out the bear thing --”

“Ursa,” Twilight automatically supplied.

“Yeah, that. We take it out, show Agent Shadow how awesome we are, she decides to leave us alone and life goes back to normal! Easy!”

“And if she don't think we're all that awesome?” Applejack countered.

“Or worse, thinks we're an even bigger threat than the Ursa?” Twilight added.

“Pfft,” Rainbow pfft-ed, “That won't happen. We'll save the day like always and we might even get to be like government funded superheroes! Wouldn't that be awesome?!”

“We're not superheroes,” Twilight muttered.

“So let's go find Sunset and deal with all this crap! Who's with me?!” Rainbow cheered, lost in her own bravado.

“Really, Rainbow Dash,” came Rarity's voice as she wheeled up, followed by Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. “I could hear you from the side entrance! It's a wonder we didn't attract any official attention before all this happened with your mouth.”

“Hey!” Rainbow snapped.

“Everybody calm down!” Applejack said. “Rainbow, we ain't takin' any foolish chances until we got a better idea of what the heck's goin' on. Until then, we're just gonna go about our day like we always do!”

“While that thing wrecks more of town?” Rainbow now wore a frown of her own. “That's stupid!”

“What's stupid is taking silly chances on half-baked plans based on your dang hero complex!”

“What's stupid is not looking for our friend when she's been missing for an entire day!”

“Well, maybe if you were bein' a stubborn jackass --”

“Me?! I'm the one saying we should actually DO something and you want us to just sit at home with our thumbs up our asses!”

Rarity let out a scandalized gasp. “Really, girls!”

“Shut up!” Rainbow and Applejack snapped at her. Fluttershy eeped and tried to hide behind Pinkie. Twilight stepped forward, ready to physically separate the two if necessary, when all six of their phones chimed.  

The fight was quickly forgotten when they looked at the notifications on their screens.

“It's from Sunset!” Pinkie said.

The message was brief and to the point.

I'm on the roof.
> Escape, Theories, and Exhaustion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After fleeing from the orchard, Sunset had Twilight drop her a few blocks away from her apartment building. Both girls ponied down as they landed.  

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked. “I wasn't getting tired or anything, I can take you home.”

Sunset shook her head. “She knows where I live and I don't have anyone who can block her from getting to me if she decides to pay me a visit.”

“Then come stay at my house,” Twilight replied. “We've got the room and my parents will protect you if Agent Shadow shows up.”

Another head shake. “I have some other things I need to do.”

“You're not going to see Capper again, are you?” Twilight frowned.

“No, Twilight,” Sunset sighed. “I don't think I'll be dealing with Capper again any time soon. No, I just need to make sure some things that Agent Shadow doesn't know about yet remain things she doesn't know about.”  

Twilight opened her mouth to speak but Sunset silenced her with an upraised hand. “And it would be better if no one else knew about them as well, just in case.”

“I wouldn't say anything!” Twilight protested.

“I know you wouldn't,” Sunset said gently. “But I need to be sure, all the same. I'm sorry. Please don't think I don't trust you, this is just something I feel I need to do alone.”

Twilight fidgeted a moment, worry on her face. “Well... are you sure?”

Sunset gave her a gentle smile. “Yeah, I'm sure. Don't worry. I'll find a motel or something to stay at tonight.”

“You'll text me or something when you do?”  

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Yes, Mom. I'll even brush my teeth.”

The two looked at each other and laughed. Sunset gave her friend a hug. “Go home, Twilight. I'll see you and the girls tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Twilight said, still not sounding happy about the situation. “You better stay in touch.”

“I will.”

Twilight nodded, then ponied up again and flew off into the night. Sunset sighed and began walking down the street, away from her apartment, lost in thought.





She supposed it was inevitable she'd wind up back at CHS. It was the only place that she felt would be safe enough for her to hide for the night. Between the time she left Capper's gang and found her current apartment, she had spent many nights in the school, especially during the winter.  

She rounded the corner of the building to a side door which led to the gym. Hopefully, no one had noticed the defective lock and had it repaired in the last couple of years. Sunset herself had often thought about saying something, but for some reason, she just felt better knowing there was a way for her to get into the building no one knew about.  

She reached the door in question and tried the handle. Locked, as expected. The lock had always worked, but with the right knowhow and a small strip of metal, it was easily bypassed. Sunset reached into her bag and withdrew a roll of black cloth and a small flashlight. She clicked the flashlight on and held it in her teeth while she undid the small cord around the roll and spread it out on the concrete. An assortment of tools reflected the light. Another souvenier of her time with Capper.  

She pulled out a metal strip with a notch on one end. She pulled on the door again with one hand, and slipped the strip into the small gap between the door and the jamb. She let go of the door and began moving the strip back and forth with a sawing motion. She was rewarded with a click and the door opened easily.  

Ten seconds. I'm getting rusty.

She held the door open by putting her foot between it and the jamb while she put her tools away. Then she  took the flashlight out of her mouth, and entered the gym, letting the door shut and lock behind her. The gym was dark, but with the flashlight she made her way out into the halls easily enough.  

She wasn't worried about setting off alarms or anything like that. There hadn't been a budget for a full security system for the school in years. Instead the meager security budget focused on getting cameras for the rooms with the most valuable equipment. The A/V room, the library, the computer lab, the office and so on.  

Sunset had no intention of entering any of those rooms. Instead she took a familiar route to an unmarked door on the second floor of the school. Another tool from her little black roll dealt with the lock on this door, as it had many times before, and Sunset made her way to the roof.  

She liked the roof. It was calm up here. A slight breeze ruffled her hair as she looked out at the lights of the houses spread around her, turning into the stacks that indicated the tall buildings of Canterlot City proper.

She often came up here when she needed to think without anyone offering advice or suggestions. She had come up here after the Fall Formal, trying to figure out what to do with her life from that point forward. She had come up here after the Battle of the Bands, when the magic and the school had fully accepted her reformation. She had come up here when she started making changes to her life, to try to be the person she felt her friends deserved.  

And here she was again. Unsure of herself. Unsure of what was going to happen. Unsure if, maybe, she wasn't still making a huge mistake by staying on this side of the portal. Would it have been better if she had just gone back to Equestria once the Dazzlings were dealt with and the portal was open?

She supposed not. She still had a lot of work to do on herself before she could realistically expect to go back. And, truly, she wasn't certain if she wanted to. Oh, she had thoughts from time to time. A longing to be able to use magic on a regular basis, seeing all the fantastic creatures that didn't exist over here, the occasional longing for adventure that didn't involve having to hide who she was and what she could do.  

But even when those longings were strongest, she knew that if she did go to Equestria, she'd have to say goodbye to her friends. Oh, sure, they had counterparts on the other side, but Sunset had noticed, through her correspondence with Princess Twilight, that there were little differences here and there between her human friends and the Princess's pony ones. Similar, yes, but not identical. They weren't the same... well... people that Sunset's friends were. So, sooner or later, she contented herself with staying. She had decided to finish out her high school career for the short term, and then see what opportunities presented themselves afterwards.

But this situation was different. They were exposed and vulnerable to a government agency that would do who knew what to them for the power they carried. Sunset had been trying to figure out what to do if Agent Shadow did see them use their powers, and now that she had, Sunset had no idea what to do.

… Well, no. She had one idea, but she needed confirmation if it would work.  

She walked over to the dome that covered the library and sat down on the roof, pulling out her journal. She took out a pen and began to write.

Starlight? Are you there?

A few seconds wait, then writing began to appear on the page.

I'm here. Is everything okay?

You first. Are YOU okay?

We're all fine here. Something's happening though. We got word from the ponies down in Dodge Junction. The airship that led the invasion in Canterlot is back in Equestrian borders. 

Sunset sucked in a breath. Does that mean...

Nopony's sure what it means. We haven't seen it yet. It'll probably take it another day to get within range of Ponyville and the forest. I'll keep you posted. What about you?

Sunset took a deep breath... and lied.

We're okay for now. A bit of a scare when Agent Shadow decided to question all of us at school. But it got me thinking. You know our geodes?

The ones which give you your powers?

Yeah. My Twilight and I have been puzzling over how they work. We already know for sure that if we aren't wearing them, we don't have access to our powers. Princess Twilight also theorized that they may be analogues to the Elements of Harmony.

There was a brief pause, then more writing.

Twilight mentioned it to me once or twice, but she said that she wasn't completely convinced that they were the same. I mean, she thought they might be conduits for the Magic of Friendship, but not the same as the Elements themselves.

Right, Sunset wrote. But I was curious about something. Has Princess Twilight ever considered what would happen if one of the Elements was destroyed or otherwise unusable?

We've talked about that as a thought experiment. Well, she talked. I mostly just acted as a sounding board. She seemed to think that if an Element was rendered unusable, it would diminish the power of the rest of the Elements, but since it's also connected to the bearer, the other Elements would probably still be able to work just fine.

Sunset frowned. Damn. Not what I was hoping for.

Sunset... what are you thinking?

I was hoping that if the loss of one Element depowered the others, I could do the same to the geodes over here. 

Why would you do that?!

Because STORM isn't actually interested in us. They're interested in what we can do. Remove our power and we remove the interest. 

But there's still rogue magic over there! What if something happened after you did that?

It's a moot point anyway. If we assume that the geodes largely work the same way as the Elements, destroying one of them isn't going to affect the power itself. I just wanted to see if it was possible. 

Okay, as long as you're sure.

I'm sure. Oh, and Starlight?

Yes?

…I might go silent for a few days. If the worst happens, I'm going to try to hide the journal or at least get it into safe hands. If Twilight manages to get back to you before I can, try to keep her over there?

Another long pause, then:

I'll try, but I'm not making any promises. 

Thanks, Starlight. For everything.

You're welcome? I guess? Take care of yourself, Sunset.

You too. I'll contact you when I can.

Sunset closed the journal and put it back in her bag. She rested the back of her head against the library dome and sighed. So much for that plan.

She suddenly frowned as something Starlight had written came back to her. The power of a destroyed Element could still be used by the bearer of that Element. So what if both were taken out of the equation?

She blinked and shook her head. That was an unacceptable outcome. She'd have to figure something else out. It was too late to keep Agent Shadow from learning about their powers, but Sunset knew she could still keep Equestria's existence a secret. That had to be the new priority, no matter what happened next.  

Sunset yawned and she felt her eyelids grow heavy. The evening's excitement had finally caught up to her and the adrenaline was wearing off. Before she could do anything about it, she had fallen into a deep and dreamless sleep.
> Explanations, Planning, and Trouble
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I'm sorry,” said Sunset. “I didn't mean to worry any of you. I just passed out last night and didn't wake up until about ten minutes ago. Then I heard you arguing and realized what was going on.”

“You slept for over 18 hours!” Twilight practically shrieked. “How is that possible? Have you been sleeping since all this started? Eating well? Regular bowel—MMMPH!”

“I think that's quite enough of that line of questioning, Twilight, darling,” said Rarity. She gestured with her hand and the crystal lattice that had covered Twilight's mouth vanished. The nerdy girl blushed with embarrassment.

“Sorry, got carried away,” she said with a sheepish grin.

Sunset returned the smile. “It's okay. No, I haven't been sleeping too well since all this started. I guess everything just caught up with me last night.”

“So now that we know you're okay, what's the plan?” Rainbow asked. “Are we gonna go deal with that monster in the woods or deal with the Fed?”

Sunset frowned. “I don't know.”

Rainbow blinked. “What?”

“I don't know what we should do next,” Sunset said. She grabbed her right elbow and looked off into the distance, towards the woods. “Odds are Frank's been scared off to another hiding place, and I don't know what's going to happen now that Agent Shadow's seen what we can do. Did you guys see her at all today?”

“Nope,” answered Applejack. “We were wonderin' about that ourselves.”

“It does seem kind of strange that she hasn't tried to at least talk to any of us,” Fluttershy added.

“Can we even do anything about her?” Rarity asked. “At this point, nearly everything is out in the open as far as she's concerned. There really doesn't seem to be anything we can do until she makes her next move.”

“But that could be having us arrested!” Twilight protested.  

“For what?” Rainbow said. “What did we do that was illegal?”

“It's not a question of legality,” Twilight replied. “It's what STORM is authorized to do, and part of that is containing things like us! And if you hadn't noticed, she's been interested in us from the moment she set foot in town!”

Sunset's frown deepened as flashes of her brief reading of Tempest's memories came back to her. She chewed on the inside of her bottom lip for a moment then looked up at her friends.

“Okay, so this is what we're going to do,” she said. The other girls looked at her expectantly.

“Rarity's right,” Sunset began. “Until we know what Agent Shadow is going to do, we're at a stalemate where she's concerned. So, what we're going to do until then is try to take care of Frank before he winds up hurting anyone.

“Fluttershy,” she said, turning her attention to the girl. “I want you to talk to some of your animal friends and have them spread the word about Frank. Tell them to get a message back to you if they find him. He's still got to be somewhere in the woods. Hopefully, we can find him before anyone else does, or worse, if he wanders off to the next town over.”

“Right!” Fluttershy said. “I'll send out the word with Hubert, Carmilla, and Pedro as soon as I get home.”

“Speaking of...” Sunset turned to Twilight. “Is that offer to put me up still open? I don't think I should go back to my apartment for a while.”

“Of course!” Twilgiht said. “Anything you need.”

“Good. When we're done here, we'll stop there so I can grab some things and then head to your place.”

“What about the rest of us?” Rainbow insisted. “What do you need us to do?”

“For right not, go home, do your homework, and act as normal as possible,” Sunset answered.

Rainbow's jaw dropped open. “What?! That's it?! How is that going to help?”

Sunset up a hand on her friend's shoulder. “Right now we're in a race to find Frank and purge the magic from him before Agent Shadow does whatever she's going to do. We need to be ready to move as soon as Fluttershy finds out where he is. Until then, we need to get a much normal out of our lives as we can, because I have a feeling it'll be the last we get for a while. So no running off on your own.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow huffed. Sunset put her other hand on Rainbow's other shoulder and looked into the athlete's eyes, her gaze hard.

“I mean it, Dash. I want your word you won't do anything without the rest of us. Promise me.”

Rainbow saw the seriousness in Sunset's eyes, swallowed and nodded. “I promise.”

Sunset let out a sigh of relief. “Good.”

She looked around at all her friends. “I can't promise this is going to end well for any of us. But we'll do what we always do. Help those who need it and hopefully things will turn out okay.”

The girls all made noises of assent before collapsing into a group hug. Sunset closed her eyes and let the warmth overtake her.  

It'll be okay. It has to be okay. Right?





Night fell over Canterlot City, but the night was not completely quiet. On one of the lesser used roads leading out of town was an old rest area. It didn't get much use now, but that made it all the better for Tempest.

She leaned against the side of her car, under the sole working streetlight in the parking lot. She glanced at her phone, noted the time and folded her arms. They were late.

But not by much, as it turned out. A flash of light caught the corner of her eye and Tempest turned to see a convoy of six vehicles pulling into the parking lot. A sedan, two SUVs, a large cargo van, and two heavily modified box trucks. The trucks and the van all featured small dishes on their roofs, and all six vehicles were a uniform black. The SUVs, the trucks, and the van all featured the double lightning bolt insignia of STORM on the sides.  

The vehicles parked and disgorged nearly two dozen of STORM's best containment agents. Most were in the tactical uniform needed to capture and transfer cryptids and other dangerous items the agency encountered. There were a few other plainclothes agents like Tempest herself. One of them, a serious looking mint green woman with a wild shock of blond hair, walked over to Tempest. She was carrying a briefcase.

“Agent Shadow?”

When Tempest nodded in the affirmative, the woman nodded. “Agent Lightning Dust. The director sends his regards.”

“I'll take the regards,” Tempest said. “But I hope he also sent along more than just all of you.”

Agent Dust smiled and opened the briefcase. She handed Tempest a small manila folder. “As requested, detention warrants for the POIs you specified.”

Tempest opened the folder and smiled at the seven official documents inside. She felt the old thrill running up her spine. The one which meant the investigation was over and it was time to do what she did best. She looked up at the assembled agent.

“All right, listen up!” she began. “We have two objectives here. One is a large cryptid similar to a bear but with substantial differences in both appearance and strength. You've all dealt with that kind of thing before, so SOP where that's concerned. I'll give you details in a moment.

“The other objective is something some of you may have a problem with. In addition to the cryptid, we have seven POIs who have exhibited Class Two levels of paranomal power. So far, it seems they have not used this power in any sort of aggressive capacity, but they are known to use it to defend themselves. We need to strike hard and fast to neutralize them.”

“Ma'am,” said one of the squad, raising his hand. “Are we neutralizing with extreme prejudice?”

“That is a hard negative,” Tempest replied. She looked over the entire group. “We want to take both objectives unharmed. If that isn't possible, strictly non-lethal takedowns only. Are we clear?”

There was a noise of assent. Tempest nodded.

“Now, you should know that the POIs are, in fact, minors. However, the law is on our side. We have warrants to detain them until we know what kind of threat they are, if any. Hence, the aforementioned non-lethal takedowns. Does anyone have a problem with that?”

“What kind of power are we dealing with, ma'am?” asked Dust.  

“So far, from what I've seen, each POI has a different specialty. I don't know all of them, but I can say we are dealing at the very least with enhanced strength, enhanced speed, telekinesis, and some sort of force field creation ability. Additionally, at least three of the POIs are able to fly and the force fielder can levitate herself and others. As I said, however, they seem to only use these powers in defense. If we hit them hard and fast, we can probably deal with anyone who becomes belligerent. Some of them may surrender themselves once they see the warrants. Agent Dust, I want you with me on that. I have a feeling the less noise we make the better.”

Dust nodded. “Understood.”

“All right, people, that's the general outline. I want two squads. Most of you will be dealing with the cryptid. The rest will be coordinating with me on the POIs. Team leaders, come with me and I'll fill in the details. The rest of you get your gear ready.”

Tempest grinned at her fellow STORM agents. “It's time to go to work.”
> Raid, Window, and Sacrifice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I think that's everything,” Sunset said, coming down from the loft. She was carrying an overnight bag. “Ray's got a full water dish and plenty of food.”

“Is that going to be enough?” Twilight asked. “What if something happens?”

“I texted Miss Bookbinder and asked her to check on him if I'm not back by the end of the week. She said she would.”

“Right. Mom said the guest room will be made up for you by the time we get there. I really wish I had a car. I don't feel safe walking out in the open right now.”

“That makes two of us.” Sunset dropped her bag at the foot of the stairs and went to her desk. She grabbed one of the envelopes under the keyboard, produced a pen and scribbled “Do not open until 10/24” on it.  

“What's that?” Twilight asked.

“Precautions,” Sunset replied. “Okay, let's get going. The sooner we get to your house the better.”

As the two girls made their way to the front door, Twilight glanced out of the large picture window at the street below. Her eyes widened and she grabbed Sunset's arm. “Wait!”

“What is it?”

Twilight pointed and Sunset felt her teeth clench at the sight of the dark sedan and two black SUVs that were pulling up in front of the building. It wasn't long before Tempest Shadow appeared from the sedan, along with what looked like four other STORM operatives. The group gathered at the car and Tempest gestured, clearly issuing orders.

Sunset wasted no time. She turned to a now terrified Twilight. “Plan B. Follow me.”

Sunset quickly snapped the deadbolt and the other locks on the apartment door shut. She dropped the overnight bag, opened it, and pulled out her shoulder bag. She checked to make sure the journal was still inside, then slung it crossways across her body.  

“What do we do?” Twilight's voice was high and tight. “We can't just barricade ourselves in here!”

“We're not. Come on!”

Sunset led the way back up the stairs to the loft, Twilight rushing after her. Sunset climbed onto her bed and snapped the latch on the long narrow window above it.  

“I used to use this a lot when I first moved in and was still running with Capper,” She explained. “I hope I'm not too big for it now. Let's go!”

Twilight eyed the window nervously. “I-I don't think I can fit.”

“Sure you can,” Sunset answered. “There's a fire escape just below it. Watch.”

She took the shoulder bag off and pushed it out the window. A small metallic thud came back a few seconds later, causing both girls to wince.

“Probably should have done that slower,” Sunset said, sheepishly. “Come on. You first.”

Twilight swallowed and climbed up on the bed. She gripped the windowsill and paused. “I really don't think this will work, Sunset.”

Sunset groaned. “Twilight, we don't have time for this. There's no other way out. Now, either you climb through or I'm –“

There was a knock on the door, followed closely by the sound of a very irritated Miss Bookbinder. “Sunset, it's Miss Bookbinder. Are you home? There's some... people who want a word with you. I told them to leave, but they are very insistent.”

“Shit,” Sunset whispered. She turned back to Twilight. “Out of time.”

Before Twilight could react. Sunset wrapped both arms around her friend's thighs and shoved her bodily through the window. Twilight almost let out a yelp, but quickly bit her lip and scrabbled to gdt her upper body through the frame. It took a few seconds, but through Sunset's lifting and Twilight's scrabbling, she popped through and landed on the fire escape.  

“You okay?” Sunset whispered.

“Owwww, my butt.” came a quiet moan.  

Loud thumping came from the door. 

“Miss Shimmer, this is Tempest Shadow. I have a warrant for your arrest. If you open the door and come quietly, I can promise you this will be resolved quickly. If not, we're going to be forced to come get you.”

Sunset turned back to the window, then paused. Shit! The letters!

If the letters wound up in Agent Shadow's hands, the portal's existence would be revealed. Sunset got off the bed and moved quickly but quietly down the stairs. She grabbed the letters and shoved them in her pocket.

“All right, Miss Shimmer, you leave us with no choice. Open the door, Miss Bookbinder.”

Sunset dashed back up the stairs, right as the deadbolt snapped open. Fortunately the door was stopped by the other locks that had been installed. Sunset allowed herself a grin at the frustrated noise Tempest made.

“Break it down!” the agent's angry voice barked.

Sunset reached the loft and jumped on the bed, grabbing the windowsill and hauling herself through. She was halfway out when she suddenly lost momentum.

A few feet below her, on the fire escape, Twilight's worried face looked up. “What are you doing?! Come on!”

“I'm stuck!” Sunset hissed.  

“Stuck?! How can you be stuck?! You said you do this all the time!”

“When I was about two inches shorter and wasn't having Pinkie Pie ply me with cake and other sweets every other day!”

A loud thump resounded from behind her inside the apartment. Sunset placed her hands on the side of the building. She strained her muscles, grunting with exertion, but she still didn't budge. Another thump from inside, followed by a metallic clang as one of the locks gave way.

Twilight reached up and grabbed Sunset's hands, pulling with all her might. But the angle was awkward and while Sunset did move forward a little, she felt the top of the frame digging into her butt. 

Another thump, another clang, and then the sound of the door moving, before it was stopped by the chain. Sunset looked behind her, then yelped as she was suddenly enveloped in a purple aura and yanked out of the window. She heard a ripping sound, then landed hard on the fire escape next to Twilgiht.

“I'm sorry!” Twilight said. “I panicked.”

Sunset gave her a smile. “It's fine. I'm okay.”  

She stood up and paused. She reached behind her, feeling under the hem of her top. “But you owe me a new pair of jeans when this is over.”

They heard the door of the apartment crash open from the window. Sunset grabbed her shoulder bag with one hand, and Twilight's wrist with the other. “Gotta move!”

The two girls made their way down the fire escape. Above them, they heard an angry shout, but didn't stop or look up. When they reached the bottom, Sunset kicked the access ladder latch and slid down. Twilight followed, a bit more cautiously.  

“What do we do now?” Twilight asked, as Sunset led them down the alley behind the building.  

“We get as far away from here as we can,” Sunset replied. “We can get through to McCarthy Avenue through these alleys. If we're lucky, we can grab a bus or maybe a taxi.”

She rounded a corner into another alley, dragging Twilight along when she missed the turn. Twilgiht straightened her glasses as she found her footing again.

“What about the other girls? They're probably in danger too! We should let them know!”

Sunset shook her head. “If I'm right, they already do. You saw the other guys up there. Agent Shadow brought friends.”

Twilight stopped short. “We can't just abandon our friends, Sunset!”

Sunset turned around. “We're not! But we can't do anything to help them if we get caught ourselves. The best thing we can do right now is find somewhere safe to hide, then find out what happened to the girls.”

“That's... that's heartless!”

Sunset put her hands on Twilight's shoulders. “Yes it is. And it sucks, but you know it's the only thing we can do right now, Twilight.”

Twilight looked at her feet and nodded. “I hate this.”

Sunset stepped forward and rested her forehead against Twlight's. “So do I. But we'll get through it. I promise.”

“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!”

Both girls gasped as a black suited agent appeared in the alleyway. He held a taser gun in his hands. “You both are under arrest! Put your hands on your heads and get down on your knees!”

Twilight and Sunset both slowly turned to face the agent, raising their hands. As they did, Twlight glanced at Sunset out of the corner of her eye. Sunset's eyes widened as she saw a violet glow appear around Twilight's fingers.

“Twilight, don't!” she whispered.

“Run,” Twilight replied.  

With a whirl of motion, Twilight snatched Sunset up in her telekinetic aura and hurled her upward. Sunset let out a surprised shriek as she hurtled into the air and up to the rooftop of a nearby building. Twilight let out a puff of air, then screamed as the agent fired the taser, the pins sending nearly 25000 volts through her body. Twilight collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

Sunset scrabbled to the edge of the roof and clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from letting out a yell of her own as Twilight was hit. She forced herself to slide back before the agent looked upward.  She pounded her fist into her thigh to try to express the rage and grief she was feeling in place of the screaming she wanted to let out. After a few seconds she forced herself to get to her feet and began making her way across the roof, tears streaming from her eyes. She knew it was the only thing she could do. She knew Twilight had told her to run. She knew running away was the only chance she had of finding some sort of help for her and her friends.

She still hated herself for it.
> Shotgun, Family, and Negotiation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

STORM Agent Lightning Dust, like many field agents, was prepared for any sort of resistance to the arrest she was assigned to execute. You never knew how things were going to go. Sometimes, the detainee surrendered without a fight. Sometimes there was violence. Sometimes they just ran.  

And sometimes, they were being protected by a surly senior citizen with a shotgun, accompanied by a burly looking fellow who stood there, with his rather impressive arms folded, the biceps visibly bulging, and a young twelve or thirteen-year-old girl with a slingshot.

“I thought I told you all to git!” said Granny Smith, gesturing with the weapon. She didn't have it pointed at Dust or her team, but it was in a position where it could easily be brought to bear.  

“Ma'am, if you could please put down the weapon, I'll be happy to explain what's going on.”

“Oh, I know what's goin' on!” Granny snapped. “I know all about yer sneaky little guv'mint organization and how you been worryin' my granddaughter and her friends. Y'all can just toddle off back where ya came from, lessin' you want two barrels of rock salt in yer bee-hind, missy!”

“You tell her, Granny!” Apple Bloom cheered, pulling back the slingshot. “Ain't nobody takin' Applejack anywhere!”

“Nope,” added Big Mac. The biceps bulged a little more.

Dust sighed. She really didn't want to have to put in her report that she had to restrain a senior citizen. “Ma'am, I understand you're upset, but you really don't have any choice in the matter. If you continue to prevent me from executing this warrant, I'll be forced to arrest you and the rest of your family for obstruction of justice and I really don't want to do that.”

“And I don't wanna see any black suited goons on my property fixin' to make off with my granddaughter, yet here we are.” Granny Smith begain raising the shotgun. Agent Dust, along with the three other agents that had come with her, began reaching for their own weapons.

“What in tarnation's goin' on out here?!”  

Every blinked as Applejack appeared from around the corner of the house, carrying six bushel baskets of apples, stacked in two towers of three. She blinked as she saw the stand off. Dust stared even harder as the farm girl put the baskets down and walked over, not a sign of exertion on her face. Not even a light sweat.

The one with enhanced strength. Oh, damn, I hope we brought enough tranquilizers.

The agents didn't relax as Applejack walked over to the front porch. She adjusted her hat, glanced at Agent Dust, then turned to face her family.

“Granny, put that thing down. Ain't gonna help none, and you know it! Same for you, Apple Bloom!”

“They're here to take you away!” Apple Bloom wailed. “That ain't right!”

“And I ain't lettin' some fancy pants guv'mint spook come here on our land and start causin' trouble!” Granny said, gesturing again with the shotgun.

“Eeeyup,” said Big Mac, unfolding his arms and clenching his fists. The STORM agents produced their own weapons. Applejack quickly put her own hands out.

“Whoa, hang on! Nobody do nothin' they're gonna regret!” She looked at Dust. “Can ya give me a second to calm 'em down?”

“I AM calm!” Granny snapped. Applejack shot her a look.

“Granny!”

Granny Smith frowned, but lowered the shotgun. Applejack moved her glare over to Apple Bloom, who blushed and put her slingshot away before moving slightly behind her grandmother. Applejack let out an irritated sigh and glanced up at Big Mac.

“Y'all gonna behave while I get this sorted out?” she asked. Big Mac looked at his sister, then at the agents, and back again.

“...Eeeyup.”

Applejack nodded and turned to Dust. “Y'all mind puttin' yer gun away? It's makin' everybody nervous.”

Dust gestured at Granny with her head. “Not while she's holding that.”

“Yer men can keep theirs out,” Applejack said. “I just want you to put yours away.”

Dust quirked an eyebrow, then tilted her head back slightly. “Keep your weapons handy, but don't do anything unless they do first. Understand?”

There were noises of assent. Dust returned her gun to her holster. Applejack folded her arms.

“Y'all with STORM?”

“That's right.”

“Yer here for me?”

“Also right.”

Applejack nodded. “Y'all got a warrant?”

“I do.”

“May I see it, please?”

Dust reached into her jacket again and produced the warrant. Applejack looked it over, and handed it back. “Guess ya saw what I can do.”

“I did.”

“Guess ya also know that means cuffs ain't gonna be much use.”

“We came prepared for that.”

Applejack nodded again. “If'n I come quietly, y'all agree to leave my family alone? No charges. No accessories after the fact. No obstruction or anything like that?”

Dust considered for a moment then: “I think that would be an acceptable situation.”

“Gimme yer hand, then.”

Dust blinked. “Why?”

“We're gonna shake on it, and let me tell you somethin' else about me. I can spot a lie a mile away, so if yer tryin' anything funny, I'll know and all bets are off. Do we have an understandin'?”

Dust glanced behind her to her team, indicating they should be ready for anything. She extended her hand.

“Applejack, you git your behind back up here on this porch now!” Granny Smith ordered. Applejack turned to face her.

“Ain't yer call, Granny. And if this keeps y'all out of trouble, it's worth it.”

“The hell it is!” Granny snarled. “Ain't nobody takin' anymore of this family anywhere without my say so!”

Granny raised the shotgun, but before anyone could do anything, Applejack's hand shot up and crushed the double barrels.

“Quit bein' a dadblamed stubborn fool!” she snapped. “Ain't no sense in bringin' down more trouble than we already got! They got a warrant, I gotta go with 'em!”

“It ain't fair! You didn't do anything!” whined Apple Bloom.

Applejack looked back at Dust. “Can I get a minute?”

“You have two. Then we have to go. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” Applejack turned to face her family and held out her arms to her little sister. Apple Bloom collapsed into the offered hug.

“No,” Applejack began. “It ain't fair, and it ain't right. But I can handle myself. Y'all don't need to put yourselves in danger on my account.”

“I ain't ever gonna see you again!” Apple Bloom's voice was muffled. “First Mom and Dad, and now you!”

Applejack gently stroked her sister's hair. “Maybe, maybe not. I dunno what's gonna happen, sugarcube. But right now, my only priority is makin' sure you're safe, and the best way to do it is to go with these people without makin' a fuss.” She looked at her brother and grandmother. “Any of us.”

Granny Smith sniffled and Big Mac put an arm around her shoulders. Applejack gave them a sad smile and pulled back from Apple Bloom. “In the meantime, until this all gets straightened out, I need ya to do somethin' for me, okay?”

Agent Dust cleared her throat. “Miss Applejack? We need to go now.”

“Just a couple more seconds, please!” Applejack called over her shoulder. She reached up, removed her hat and plunked it onto Apple Bloom's head. “Keep an eye on this for me, will ya? Don't wanna lose it while I'm gone.”

Apple Bloom let out a choked sob and nodded. Tears filled her eyes, and Applejack's began to do the same in sympathy. She hugged her sister again and stepped back.  

“I'll be fine,” she told Granny. “I promise.”

“You – “ Granny sniffled. “You better get back here in one piece, missy! Harvest time's around the corner!”

“Yes'm. As soon as I can.” She looked over at Big Mac. “Y'all can handle my chores for a bit?”

“Eeeyup.”

Applejack smiled. “I love ya, ya big galoot.”

Big Mac returned the smile. “Love you too, sis.”

Applejack let out a deep sigh and turned around to face Dust. “All right, let's go.”

Dust took one of the girl's arms and another agent stepped up to take the other. They began walking back toward the SUV parked in the driveway. Applejack looked behind her to see her family huddled on the porch, watching her go. She gave them a smile and climbed into the back of the SUV. A few moments later, the vehicle rumbled off out of the cul-de-sac.

The rest of the Apples stayed there until the tail lights vanished.
> Reports, Difficulty, and Pastry
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The call came as Tempest was driving across town to her next arrest. One that, she had to admit, she was looking forward to executing in light of Sunset Shimmer's escape. But that wasn't as much of a setback as it could have been. Shimmer was smart. She would have to know that STORM was moving on all her friends. There were very few places she could go. She'd turn up eventually.

When her phone began to ring, Tempest tapped the “answer” icon on the car's dashboard display. Immediately she found herself listening to a cacophony of sounds. Some yells, some inexplicable crashes, and a few squelches of unknown origin.

“This is Agent Shadow. What the hell is going on?” Tempest demanded.

“Ma'am, this is Agent Sands, we're kinda... pinned down at the moment. The POI saw us coming and had time to prepare.”

Tempest quickly ran through the assignments she handed out in her mind. Who did I send him after?

A shrill voice came from the speakers. “YOU CAN TAKE MY PIES, BUT YOU'LL NEVER TAKE MY FREEDOM!”

Tempest nodded to herself. The pink one, right.

But something didn't seem to add up here, given her impression of the girls so far. “Pinned down? She's armed?”

“Um... not exactly, ma'am,” said Sands. “She doesn't have a gun or anything like that. She's got... pastries.”

Tempest glanced at the dash in disbelief. “Pastries?”

“Also cookies, pies, all the baked goods at this coffee shop. I don't know how she's doing it, but she's got an inexhaustible supply. She took down Agents Sticks and Stones with a tray of cinnamon rolls.”

“EAT MY CREAMY FROSTING, SUCKERS! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

There was another crash, and Sands came back on the line. “She got Agent Plants with the icing bag.”

“IT'S FROSTING, YOU CRETIN! LEARN THE BASICS!”

“And she's criticizing our knowledge of baking terms,” Sands added.

Tempest refrained from letting out a groan. “Are you seriously telling me that you are being kept from executing your duties because of one teenage girl with baked goods?!”

“Um... yes?” said Sands, dread evident in his voice.

“Agent Sands, you have ten seconds to get that situation under control or I am going to personally see to it that you are manning our station at the South Pole by the end of the day!” Tempest felt her control finally snap. “I WILL MAIL YOU YOUR CLOTHES, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!”

“Yes, ma'am!”

“I'm staying on the line to ensure you do. Now get on with it!”

Tempest came to a stop at a light and listened to the chaos coming over the line.

“All right, what do we have to work with?” asked Sands.

“Not much,” said another agent. “Somehow she gummed up the tasers and the tranq guns are stuffed with cupcakes.”

Sands groaned. “Fine, we'll just have to rush her. Get everyone over here.”

“YEAH,” came Pinkie Pie's voice. “THAT'S RIGHT! RUN! RUN! COWARDS!”

“Where is she getting all that crap from?” came a new voice. “That damn display case is empty!”

“I don't know and I don't care,” said Sands. “But we're going to put an end to it right now.”

“I'VE GOT DAY OLD BAGELS, AND I'M NOT AFRAID TO USE THEM!”

“Maybe we should just let her tire herself out,” said the first unidentified voice.

“She's been eating sugar in between throwing it at us for the last ten minutes, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon, Crystal,” said Sands.

“Damn,” said Crystal.

“Well, if we're gonna do it, let's do it!” said the remaining voice. “I got an idea. We grab this table, get behind it and rush her. Should keep us shielded.”

“Sounds good,” said Sands. “Let's do it.”

“PASTRIES SHOULD NOT BE AFRAID OF THEIR GOVERNMENT! THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE AFRAID OF PASTRIES!”

Tempest kept driving as the light turned green. On the phone, she heard a loud scraping sound, presumably the table, and some grunts of exertion.  

“You got it?” asked Sands.

“Yeah!” replied Crystal.

The remaining voice grunted in assent.

“Okay,” said Sands. “On three. One... two... THREE!”

The next few seconds were another loud mix of noise. Tempest heard screaming, day old bagels bouncing off laminated wood, the sound of furniture crashing into other furniture, Pinkie Pie letting out a yelp of surprise, and the agents barking orders to each other.

“Get her hands!”

“Where's her foot—OW!”

“Put down the eclair, kid, it's over!”

“NEVER! IF I GO DOWN, THIS ECLAIR GOES DOWN WITH ME!”

Suddenly, there was a muffled “poof!” followed by a wet, splattering sound and a brief moment of silence.

“Did she just make that eclair explode?”

“Ummmm,” came Pinkie's voice. “Nope? It was a false flag?”

Another moment of silence, then the sound of scuffling and Agent Sands came on the line.

“The POI is detained, ma'am.”

“Good,” said Tempest. “Get her secured, then move on to the next target.”  

Tempest ended the call without waiting for a reply. In the passenger seat, the other agent in the car glanced over at her.

“I think that might be the weirdest arrest I've ever heard,” she said.

Tempest glared at her out of the corner of her eye and kept driving. She really couldn't wait to get the hell out of this town.
> Arrest, Resistance, and Technology
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity stared up at Tempest, who was looming in her front door. Rarity could make out at least three other agents clustered on the stoop behind her.  

My my, she thought. You are just spoiling for a fight, aren't you?

She summoned up a bright smile and rolled back from the door slightly. “Why, hello, Agent Shadow! And what brings you here today?”

Tempest's cold expression didn't change. “I think you know why we're here, Miss Rarity.”

Rarity's own smile went from open to close lipped. She tilted her head back slightly. “Mother? Could you come out here, please? There's someone here I'd like you to meet.”

Cookie Crumbles appeared from down the hall. “What on earth is going on out – Oh, hello.”

“Ma'am,” said Tempest, reaching into her jacket. She presented her ID and a folded document. “My name is Tempest Shadow. I'm with the Specialized Taskforce Overseeing Remarkable Matters. I have a warrant for your daughter's arrest.”

Cookie's expression darkened. “I see. May I see your warrant?”

Tempest handed the document over. She glanced down at Rarity. “You may keep that for your records. It's a copy.”

Cookie read it over. “I'm not seeing an actual charge here, Agent Shadow.”

“Under STORM's mandate to investigate and contain unusual events and phenomena,” Tempest didn't take her eyes off Rarity. “Your daughter has been labeled a Person of Interest, believed to possess abilities that could be dangerous to herself and the public at large. This warrant allows us to detain her for a reasonable period to determine the nature of her abilities and whether or not they pose a threat to the public.”

“And how long is this 'reasonable period?'” Cookie asked, sharply.

Tempest finally looked up. “It varies from case to case, ma'am. Could be as little as a day, could be as much as a year.”

“That doesn't sound very reasonable to me, Agent Shadow. And I think our attorney may agree with me.”

“That may very well be, ma'am. And you will be provided information for your attorney to talk to your daughter once she has been processed. Until then, I think you'll find their advice woul dbe for you to allow us to take your daughter into custody.”

“You aren't taking her anywhere!” Cookie snapped. “You have been harassing and terrorizing her for the last few days, attempted to kidnap her from the mall, and you expect me to sit idly by and let you and your goons haul her off to God knows where for God knows how long?”

“Ma'am, I understand you're upset about this situation and I sympathize,” said Tempest, her voice still even. “However, for the moment, you really have no choice in the matter. If you interfere with the execution of my duties, I'll be forced to have you arrested for obstruction of justice. And that will delay things even more.”

Rarity reached up and put a hand on her mother's arm. “Mother, please. It's all right. I'll go with them.”

“What?!” shrieked Cookie, looking down at her. Tempest did likewise, her face betraying surprise.

“It seems to be the fastest and easiest way to deal with the issue,” said Rarity. She glanced up at Tempest with a piercing look. “Besides, I'm certain Agent Shadow will operate within the full confines of the law and ensure Mr. Corpus will be able to visit with me as soon as possible. Isn't that right, Agent Shadow?”

Tempest felt her lips tighten, then: “We will do everything we can to expedite matters.”

Cookie looked from Tempest back down to Rarity. She knelt down and put her hands on her daughter's shoulders. “Are you sure about this, honey?”

Rarity nodded. “I'll be fine, Mother. Besides, I'm sure they understand the optics of doing anything untoward to someone in a wheelchair.”

Cookie leaned forward and the two hugged. “You keep your head about you, understand?”

“I always do,” Rarity answered. The two separated and both wiped tears from their eyes. Rarity held up her hands. “Handcuffs are required, I presume?”

Tempest nodded. “Hands behind your back, please.”

Rarity complied and Tempest stepped aside to allow one of the other agents to come in, put on the handcuffs and step behind the wheelchair. Tempest turned to Cookie and handed her a business card.

“She should be processed within the next 24 hours. Your attorney can make arrangements at this number.”

Cookie took the card with a frown. Tempest nodded at her.

“Thank you for your cooperation, Mrs. Crumbles.”

“Don't worry, Mother!” Rarity said brightly as she was wheeled out the door. “Everything will be just fine!”

The door closed and Cookie sat down heavily on the stairs and put her face in her hands.





“I'm surprised you didn't put up more of a fight,” said Tempest. She didn't really expect an answer. The girl was smart enough to know to keep her mouth shut. In fact, Rarity's sunny expression had disappeared the moment the front door to the house closed. 

To her surprise, Rarity answered.

“Yes, well, I didn't want to make a scene in the house. Mother tends to get upset when the furniture is in danger.”

Tempest frowned. “What?”

Rarity looked up at her, a devious smile on her face. “I was waiting until we were outside.”

Behind her back, Rarity gestured with a finger, and the crystal she had generated between her hands, shot upward, neatly severing the chain holding the handcuffs together. She thrust out her now-free hands, generating a wall of crystals between her and the agents and shoved as hard as she could. The crystals slammed into the agents, sending them flying. 

Tempest crashed to the ground and rolled to her feet. The other agents pulled their sidearms. Rarity swirled her right hand in the air and a crystal barrier surrounded her. Another gesture and it started spinning, expanding outward in a protective shield. One trigger happy agents fired, but the bullet ricocheted off the barrier, causing Tempest to throw herself to the ground.

“CEASE FIRE!” she shouted. She got back to her feet. “This isn't helping things, Miss Rarity!”

“Maybe not,” Rarity replied. “But it's certainly making me feel better!”

With another gesture, the barrier separated into its component crystals and shot out in all directions, causing all the agents to hit the dirt. Two of them got to their feet and began to rush the wheelchair, but Rarity generated another crystal flat on the ground in their path. As soon as they had stepped on it, the crystal sprung upward on one end, throwing the agents into the air like a catapult. 

Rarity grinned. Pinkie Pie is really becoming a bad influence on me.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Without looking she generated three small crystals and sent them flying behind her. There was a cry of pain and the trigger happy agent fell to the ground. The crystals had sliced across his cheek, causing it to bleed. He got back up, gesturing with his gun with one hand, the other slapped to his face.

Rarity quickly summoned a dome around herself. The trigger happy agent began shooting, in defiance of Tempest's orders. She gave him a wicked smile. 

“I can do this all day, sir!”

Across the yard, Tempest glanced around. While the street was empty now, all the shooting was bound to attract unwanted attention from the neighbors. Time to stop this.

She dashed back to the second sedan the other two agents had come in and popped the trunk. Inside were several long locked cases. The STORM insignia and the words “TOP SECRET” were emblazoned on each one. Tempest opened one case and pulled out a bulky silver weapon that looked like an oversized Nerf assult rifle with a large rectangular bore.  

Over the years of its existence, STORM had developed a number of weapons designed to deal with a variety of paranormal situations. However, due to their flashy and sometimes destructive nature, their use was extremely restricted in the field. The Director had authorized Tempest's team to use them only if  there were no other options in order to take the girls alive.  

Considering her prisoner was currently fending off three armed agents from behind a seemingly impenetrable force dome, Tempest figured she had all the justification she needed. She thumbed a switch on the side of the weapon which began humming in an ominous manner. She raised it to her shoulder and sighted the dome through the scope on the side. An HUD inside the scope provided a targeting reticule and a rising multicolored bar indicating the charge. After a few seconds, the bar was full and the words “FULLY CHARGED” appeared on the display.

Tempest pulled the trigger and a bright blue beam shot from the barrel of the gun. It crashed into the dome, and the crystals instantly dissipated. The three agents dashed forward and grabbed Rarity, two of them grabbing her arms. Rarity struggled, but couldn't break their grip. Crystals formed near the tips of her fingers, but she couldn't get them to move. Tempest walked up to the chair, and blinked.

The geode necklace around Rarity's neck was glowing. The agent looked at the crystals, then back to the necklace. She reached forward, grabbed the geode and pulled.

“NO!” Rarity cried. The thin chain around her neck snapped and Tempest stepped back. Instantly, the crystals disappeared and Rarity let out a howl of despair. She went limp, allowing the agents to handcuff her again and push her chair toward their vehicles.

Tempest looked down at the geode in her hand. It was small, about the size of a quarter, with a stylized diamond carved into it. Tempest put the gun down, leaning it up against her leg. She gripped the geode with one hand and thrust out the other.

Nothing happened.

Tempest frowned and put the necklace in her pocket. She'd bag it for evidence when she got back to the car. She picked up the gun and turned away from the house.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!”

Cookie Crumbles was standing on the front porch, her face red with anger. Tempest turned back and gave her a cold look.  

“She resisted arrest. We were forced to take action. I can assure you that she is not injured in any way, Mrs. Crumbles.”

“WE ARE GOING TO SUE YOU INTO OBLIVION! YOU AND ALL YOUR GOVERMENT GOONS!”

“That is your prerogative, Mrs. Crumbles. In the meantime, have your attorney call that number in 24 hours. Arrangements to see your daughter can be made then.”

Tempest turned away from the irate housewife. She figured Cookie would have more sense than to try to assault a government agent carrying a giant gun of unknown purpose. As she walked away she got her phone out and sent a text to Agents Dust and Sands.  



The POIs are wearing “friendship necklaces.” Confiscate them. Immediately.



Tempest returned the gun to the trunk, then went back to her own car. As the agents drove away, she saw Cookie and several of the neighbors converging on the sidewalk behind them. No matter. There had been complaints like this before. They would be sorted out in time.

Tempest allowed herself a small smile. Things had started out rocky, but were proceeding just as planned.
> Chase, Recklessness, and Overconfidence
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“She's going to turn!” cried Agent Lightning Dust.

“I see her!” said Agent Rain. He slammed on the brakes and spun the wheel, causing the sedan to drift dangerously into oncoming traffic. Dust felt herself leaning in the opposite direction, certain that the car was about to flip over from the sheer force of the turn. 

A rainbow streak flashed out of the corner of her eyes as the car straightened out and headed down the road, horns angrily sounding behind them. Dust turned her head and scowled at the smirking face that was keeping pace with them.

“'Sup!” Rainbow Dash chirped. “You know I could easily ditch you guys and be in Manehattan before you even get out of town, right?”

Dust replied by firing a tranquilizer gun at the girl. Rainbow's eyes widened and she began putting distance between herself and the car. Darts flew after her, most bouncing off the road and the buildings on the curb. Metallic pings dopplered away behind the sedan.

Except one.

Rainbow felt a stinging pain in her right leg. She looked down to see a dart sticking out of her inner calf, right above the top of her shoe. She glanced over at the STORM vehicle. Dust grinned and saluted her with the gun.  

Shit shit shit shit SHIT! Rainbow thought, her eyes rapidly scanning the road ahead. She didn't know much about tranquilizer darts, but if the movies were anything to go by, it was going to hit her soon and she needed to be somewhere safe before it kicked in. 

She took a hard left and wooshed down an alley, then another and another before coming to a stop at a side street. She quickly looked from side to side, then dashed out, not seeing any of the STORM agents. She began running, but staggered as her leg started to go numb. She reached down, yanked out the dart and tossed it aside. She gripped her geode and started running again, but only managed to go a couple of blocks before she tripped over her own feet. 

She got back up, ignoring the stares she was getting from the pedestrians. She limped her way along for a few moments, when the agents' car came around the corner. Rainbow cursed under her breath, then got an idea. It was a stupid idea and probably really dangerous, but considering her eyelids were starting to droop and her brain was feeling fuzzy, there didn't seem to be much of a choice.

Rainbow concentrated, ignoring the drowsiness overtaking her, and ponied up. She flexed her wings and shot into the air. She heard a screech and looked down, seeing the car come to a stop. Dust and Rain piled out of the car and were looking up. Rainbow gave them the finger and flew off over the rooftops.

Dust pulled out her phone and called Tempest. “Ma'am, she's... flown off. Yes, ma'am, wings. She's heading east from Berrow Avenue.”

Rainbow shook her head and lightly slapped her face. “Come on, stay awake. You still need to find somewhere to hide.”

The tranquilizer was hitting her hard now. Everything felt heavy. Her head kept sagging as sleep tried to over take her. Her wings were flapping slower and slower. She held them steady, gliding on the air currents as much as she could. 

“Somewhere... anywhere...” she murmured. She made a turn, then yelped as the side of a building loomed up in front of her. The surprise jolted her awake enough to regain a little speed and fly up to the top of the building. 

And suddenly, her wings gave out. She crashed to the roof and rolled across the hard surface, her wings, ears, and ponytail vanishing. She came to a stop, resting on her back. She pushed herself into a sitting position, despite her body's protests. She got to her knees, then tried to get to her feet. She managed to do so and started running, staggering almost instantly.

She fought to keep herself upright and managed to make her way to the edge of the building. She could see CHS in the distance and she nodded.

Gotta... make it... get help... yeah...

She reached up and tried to grab her geode. It was tough. Her fingers didn't seem to want to stay attached to her hand. Her tongue felt thick and heavy in her mouth. She slapped her hand against her chest a couple of times. Where was that damn rock? She needed to... to...

Her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell forward off the top of the building. It wasn't tall. Only three stories, and fortunately for the unconscious athlete, there was a large awning over the door of the cafe on the ground floor. 

She hit the awning, which bounced her a couple of times, before she tore through it and crashed onto a table, rolling off onto the patio. The diners crowded around her. One server knelt down and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the teenager's chest rising and falling. 

The server got up and was about to call for her manager, when Tempest arrived with two other agents.  The two other suits pushed the crowd back as the Tempest put a couple of fingers to Rainbow's throat and nodded when she felt a pulse. She got up and turned back to her agents.

“She's alive. Get her into the car. We'll check for damage when she's processed.”

Tempest looked around at the startled crowd. She held up her ID.

“We're with the government. This person is under arrest. We apologize for interrupting your meal.”

It took a few minutes of speaking with the manager, but soon Tempest was able to get back to her own car. Lightning Dust and Spring Rain had arrived in the meantime. Rainbow had been put in the back of their car. Tempest pulled out her phone and called Agent Sands.

“Where do we stand?” she demanded.

“From what I can tell, we have five of the seven POIs in custody,” said Dust. 

“Right,” Tempest said. “Agent Sands, you're on Fluttershy. Agent Dust, take the POI to the rendezvous point. Don't forget to confiscate that necklace. Then keep looking for Sunset Shimmer. She has to be somewhere in town.”

“Are you sure?” Dust asked. “If I were her, I'd probably be heading out of town by now.”

“Oh, she's still here,” Tempest smirked. “She has her friends to worry about.”

“Roger that,” came Agent Sands' voice. “And you, ma'am?”

Tempest straightened her jacket. “I'll be meeting up with Commander Flint. We still have the cryptid to deal with.”

Dust nodded, then piled back into her car with Agent Rain. Tempest ended the call with Sands and got back into her own vehicle. As she pulled into traffic she allowed herself a smile.

This day was turning out to be better than she had hoped.
> Fluttershy, Frank, and Failure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy made her way through the woods. The late afternoon sun broke through the trees, casting long shadows on the ground. She knew she shouldn't be here. She knew she was risking getting caught by Agent Shadow and her goons. Sunset had texted her, letting her know STORM was making its move and Twilight had already been arrested. Other texts had come from her friends for a while afterward, but all had gone worryingly silent. She knew she should be hiding somewhere the agents wouldn't think to look for her.

But, there was Frank.

The bear hadn't asked for any of this. He hadn't asked to be infected with rogue magic and turned into an Equestrian monster. He hadn't asked for the pain and confusion it was causing. And he definitely hadn't asked to be hunted down by a government squad of professional monster hunters.

Fluttershy frowned as she checked her phone again. Still nothing. No messages from anyone since Sunset warned them all STORM was making their move. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heartbeat. She had a job to do.  

She found herself alongside the creek that led to the clearing where Frank's cave was. She ponied up and took to the air, wanting to get there as fast as possible.  

The clearing still looked they way they had left it. A large cave in a rock face, with the clearing itself surrounded by fallen trees. Fluttershy lightly landed in front of the cave and peered in, her geode glowing as she called out.

“Hello? Frank? Are you there?” She took a few tentative steps inside the mouth of the cave. “It's Fluttershy. From the other day?”

She swallowed at the sound of a low growl echoing from the back of the cave. The geode helpfully confirmed that the “voice” was, in fact, Frank. She took another deep breath and stood so she was clearly outlined against the cave entrance.

“You need to hide, Frank. There's some people coming for you. People who aren't very nice. You met one the other night. I need you to go somewhere far away and wait for me and my friends to come find you so we can help you.”

More growls. Fluttershy shook her head.

“No, they're all... unavailable right now. And we need everyone in order to help you. I'm sorry.”

Fluttershy looked at the ground, feeling helpless and ashamed. “I wish I could help you myself, but I can't. I'm so sorry this happened to you, Frank. It's not right and it's not fair. We've been trying to deal with this kind of thing for a while now and it's getting out of hand.”

She felt her heart constrict in her chest and tears fill her eyes. She clenched her fists. This wasn't the time to go to pieces, damn it!

“And...” she sniffled. “And my friends are – “  

She lost it. The worry and the stress and the fear all got to her. She fell to her knees, put her face in her hands and tried to stop sobbing. She felt something loom over her and her nostrils flared at the musky smell. She wiped her eyes and looked up at Frank's ponderous form.

He had changed even more since the other night. He was about two feet taller. His fur was a deep indigo. Patterns of stars fused together into nebulae here and there with in the etherial hairs. His fangs were longer too, almost four feet long. He towered over Fluttershy, looking down at her with pained yellow eyes.  

Fluttershy, her heart racing again as her own survival instincts screamed at her to run as far away as possible and never come back, got to her feet and swallowed, wiping her nose. She looked up at Frank, who craned his head down, mindful of his fangs. They stared at each other for a long moment, then the giant bear gently rubbed his cheek against Fluttershy's shoulder, almost knocking her off her feet.  

Fluttershy giggled and reached out her arms. “Can I?” she asked.

Frank didn't move, allowing Fluttershy to put her arms as far around the ersatz Ursa's neck and give him a hug as best she could. They separated and Fluttershy smiled at him.

“Okay, we need to get you as far away from here as we can. I think if we head north from here we could make it to the boundaries of Faust National Forest before sunrise. That place is huge and there's plenty of places you can hide away from humans and any other animals if you need to. I'll keep an eye out from the air and keep you going in the right direction, okay?”

Frank chuffed and snorted in agreement. Fluttershy reached up and gently scratched him behind the ear, which cause Frank to let out a pleased rumble. Fluttershy giggled.

“Oh you like that, do you? Well, maybe if you're a good boy, you'll get more as the trip goes on. Come on, let's go.”

She led Frank out of the cave. She noticed that the arch of the bear's back barely cleared the top of the cave mouth as he lumbered out. “It's a good thing I came for you. Another couple of days, and I think you'd have been stuck in there.”

Frank let out more grumbles.  

“No, I am not calling you fat, silly! You know what I mean.”

She did a double take as Frank let out a series of snorts that sounded almost like a laugh. She smiled.

“Oh, stop it, you.”

They emerged into the clearing. Fluttershy put her hands on her hips and looked around.  

“Okay, so north is that direction. I'm going to fly up and see if I can find a clear path for you. Then, we'll – “

Blinding lights blazed through the clearing. Powerful search lamps, the kind used in crime scene investigations, came to life, turning the twilight as bright as noon. Frank let out a roar as Fluttershy threw her hands up, shielding her eyes. After a moment, she put them down and squinted into the light. Silhouettes of large forms carrying guns were lined up behind the fallen trees. Three figures walked toward them.

Fluttershy frowned as she saw Tempest was leading two armored STORM agents. The agent smirked as she looked down at the teenager, noting the pony ears and wings.

“Not costume pieces this time,” Tempest said, grinning. She glanced up at Frank, who was growling and leaning back as if preparing to spring. “Take it down!”

“NO!” Fluttershy screamed. She sprang forward, tackling Tempest. She knocked the STORM agent off her feet, causing both of them to crash into the armored agents. Frank rose to his hind legs and roared.

“FIRE!” cried a voice. Fluttershy looked up in horror as the armored team opened fire. There were chuffs of pneumatic cartridges being fired as tranquilizer darts flew from the barrels of the rifles, peppering Frank. Most bounced off the bear's hide, but a few managed to hit, causing him to roar again and begin charging forward. 

“Frank, no!” Fluttershy got to her feet and turned to help. Tempest sprang up, and wrapped her arms around Fluttershy from behind.  

“No, you don't!” Tempest snapped.

“Get OFF!” Fluttershy brought her foot up and drove the heel of her boot into Tempest's foot, crushing the instep. As she did, she expanded her wings out sharply, breaking Tempest's hold on her. She took to the air to face Frank.

“Frank! It's okay! Don't hurt anyone!” she cried. Frank roared again and Fluttershy couldn't help but notice how big his other teeth were. Her thoughts were interrupted by the angry sound of Tempest's voice.

“TAKE THEM BOTH! OPEN FIRE!”

Fluttershy whirled around in the air and shrieked as the darts started flying through the air again. Which is why she didn't see Frank's massive paw come up behind her. Frank, blinded by rage, batted Fluttershy hard, sending her sailing across the clearing. She crashed into a tree and fell to the ground. Two more agents grabbed her and held her down. Fluttershy snarled and tried to get back to her feet, flapping her wings, trying to smack the agents with them. They dragged her to her feet.

Fluttershy gaspes as she saw another groups of agents rush forward with what looked like modified cattle prods. They jabbed them into Frank's side, causing him to roar in pain. He raised his paw again, but another wave of darts hit him in the side. His eyes rolled up in his head and he crashed to the ground, causing the whole clearing to shake.  

Tempest turned back toward Fluttershy, running a hand through her crest of hair. She loomed over Fluttershy, who looked up at her with a defiant expression. Tempest glowered at her, reached out, and ripped the geode from around the teenager's neck. Instantly, Fluttershy's ears and wings vanished.

Tempest looked at the geode in her hand. “Interesting.”

Fluttershy's glare could cut diamond.“If you or your goons have hurt Frank, I'll – “

“'Frank?'” Tempest quirked an eyebrow. She looked over her shoulder where the squad was binding Frank's legs and muzzle with large metallic bands. She turned back to Fluttershy. “Well, that's even more interesting. I look forward to discussing this with you further, Miss Fluttershy.”

She looked at the agents. “Get her out of here.”

Fluttershy struggled against her captors, but they kept her firmly in check. As she was loaded into the back of one of the large SUVs, she looked back at Frank. He wasn't moving and the squad were moving the trees and backing up one of the cargo trucks to the clearing. She swallowed and tried to keep from crying.

I'm so sorry, Frank. 
> School, Ultimatums, and Choices
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset spent the rest of the afternoon moving. She made her first stop at a drugstore to grab a large manila envelope, then the post office, where she used that envelope to mail the letters she had intended to leave in her apartment to Miss Bookbinder.  

From there, she moved at random around the city, sticking to back alleys and little used roads. She had no idea if STORM had called in the police to assist them, so she kept away from any authorities she ran across. Her phone blew up with texts and calls. She ignored the calls, but read the texts, confirming her worst fears. Her friends were being hunted down, and there was no way she could get to any of them in time to help.

She hated herself. Hated herself for running. Hated herself for being a coward. Hated herself for bringing all this down on them. Her mind kept screaming the litany of failures that had led to all this.

If I hadn't let Firecracker die. If I hadn't ruined Gardenia Glow's life. If I hadn't brought the magic here.  If I hadn't stolen Twilight's crown. If I hadn't left Equestria. If I hadn't left Princess Celestia.

If I hadn't been born.

She knew the thoughts were destructive. She knew they were lies. She knew that the good she had done since she'd reformed outweighed the bad of her past. But it didn't stop the thoughts from coming or the worry from trying to overwhelm her.

She was so caught up in her litany of self-hate that she barely noticed the sun going down until a streetlight came on above her. Sunset blinked and looked up. She sighed and rolled her eyes. Of course.

She was across the street from Canterlot High. She guessed her subconscious had guided her back to the portal. The sun had almost set behind her, casting her shadow almost completely across the street to the plinth where the portal normally existed.  

Sunset pulled out her phone and checked her texts. Nothing in nearly an hour from any of her friends. That wasn't good. Sunset resisted the temptation to text back. The less she called attention to herself, the better right now.

She looked back up at the school and sighed. She needed to get off the streets for the night, and while the school wasn't ideal, it was at least a place she knew she could get into.  

And maybe I can get some help from Principal Celestia in the morning, she thought. She yawned unexpectedly. The adrenaline from the afternoon was beginning to wear off. Sunset hefted her bag higher on her shoulder and crossed the street. 





“Status report,” Tempest barked as her team reconvened at the rest stop on the edge of town. The strike team was already transporting the cryptid back to the rendezvous point. The six POIs were secured in a prisoner transport van Tempest had requested.

Lightning Dust jerked a thumb behind her at the van. “The POIs are still secure. We confiscated the necklaces. The rainbow haired one is still out cold. I had a medic look at her. She's fine, but she's gonna have a hell of a headache when she wakes up.”

“What about the others?” 

Dust shrugged. “They're keeping quiet. We've got them cuffed to the restraining bars and it looks like you were right about those necklaces. The one who could easily break them doesn't seem to be able to do so. I think we managed to knock the wind out of their sails.”

“What about Sunset Shimmer?” Tempest demanded. “Has anybody found her yet?”

“Sands and Rain are still looking for her. I sent a couple of rookies to stake out her apartment.”

“I want her in custody tonight. Send whoever we can spare to search.”

“That's gonna take time,” said Dust, concerned. “And she could be hiding anywhere. Hell, she could have left town for all we know.”

Tempest shook her head. “No. She wouldn't leave her friends behind. She told me that much. Wherever she is, she's already planning some idiotic rescue.”

“Couldn't we wait for her to come to us then?” Dust asked. “Drop some hints of where we are? Use her friends as bait?”

“Normally, I'd say yes. But she still has her necklace and we don't know what it allows her to do. I don't want to take the risk she can hurl fireballs or something like that. I just – “ 

Tempest trailed off as a thought came to her. “I think I have an idea. Did you confiscate their personal belongings too?”





It was getting to be a habit. Sunset had gone back up to the roof to clear her mind and, for the second time in two days, had fallen asleep as soon as she sat down with her back to the library dome. She was startled awake by her phone ringing. 

Unfortunately, Sunset was never at her best when first awakening and she answered the phone without thinking.

“Hello?”

“I honestly didn't expect this to work,” came Tempest's voice. “I gave you credit for being smarter, Miss Shimmer.”

Sunset's eyes popped open and she sat up straight. “What have you done to my friends?”

“Nothing... well, Miss Dash is currently sleeping off a ridiculous amount of tranquilizers. And before you get indignant, our medic's confirmed she'll be fine.”

The smug tone of the agent's voice caused Sunset's blood to boil. She felt her face heating up and her anger begin to take control.

“Let them go! They have nothing to do with this!”

“I think we both know that's not true,” said Tempest. “We're very interested in all of you... and those 'friendship necklaces' of yours. How about we talk about those?”

“The only thing I have to talk about with you is how much you've pissed me off right now!” Sunset yelled into the phone. “Let my friends go or I swear I'll--”

“You'll what?” Tempest's voice was hard and mocking. “Mount a rescue? Come charging in with whatever powers that necklace gives you, save your friends and take down the eeeevil guv'mint agency in the process? This isn't a cartoon, Miss Shimmer. That's not how this works.

“You essentially have two choices. One, you can surrender yourself into custody. We'll have a conversation about you, your friends, and what's really been going on in this town over the last year or so and then, maybe, everyone can go back home. We'll probably have to keep the necklaces, of course. That kind of power can't be left in the hands of teenagers.”

“You have no right to those!” Sunset snarled.

“I have EVERY right!” Tempest snarled back. “This is what we DO! Contain dangerous things the public doesn't need or want to know actually exist out there in the dark! Don't push me, little girl. I've seen and done things you can't possibly comprehend!”

“Try me. I'm not exactly a normal teenager, either.”

“Oh, I know that,” said Tempest. There was a pause and the sound of a deep breath. “I almost forgot your other option. Would you like to hear it?”

“Knock yourself out,” Sunset huffed. “Since I'm not there to do it myself.”

Tempest ignored the jibe and continued. “Option two is a lot more messy. You can continue to elude us. You're resourceful enough, I'm sure you'd be a persistent thorn in our sides for months. But, if you do that, well... I'm afraid I can't guarantee any of your friends will be going home any time soon.”

“That's illegal and you know it!”

“Not if we were to, say, classify them as Enemy Combatants. The powers they possess certainly present a threat to the security of the nation. That would allow us to detain them indefinitely and legally. And even if their parents were to object, we could still keep the case in court for months, if not years. And then there's you.”

Tempest's voice went even colder. “I will ensure that every law enforcement agency in the country knows the name of Sunset Shimmer. You won't find a single place where your picture isn't plastered on every post office bulletin board or on every TV screen. We have agents everywhere and they'll all be looking for you. You might be able to run for a while, but you'll be so busy trying to survive, you won't be able to do anything about your friends.”

Sunset's teeth were clenched so tightly they felt like they might shatter. Her blood was roaring in her ears and she wanted nothing more than to get her hands around Tempest Shadow's throat.

“And if you decide to declare war on us,” Tempest continued. “You can be sure that for every so-called victory you have, your friends will pay the price. And it will not be quick and easy, I can promise you that.”

Sunset inhaled through her nose so hard her nostrils nearly collapse. The next words were out with no thought and no hesitation. “So, you didn't learn a damn thing from Glitter Drops after all.”

Dead silence on the other then then: “What did you say?”

“I know about Glitter Drops. I know she died. And I know ever since then you've been the STORM Director's lap dog hoping he'll throw a few scraps your way so he'll tell you what happened to her.”

Now, Tempest was audibly angry. “Don't push me.”

“I'll push you if I feel like it!” Sunset snapped. “That's all you've been doing ever since you came to this town! I will rescue my friends, Agent Shadow, and I will find a way to make every little bit of dirty laundry STORM has public! I'm taking option two. Good luck finding me.”

There was another pause then: “We already have.”

A car horn blared from below the roof. Sunset got up and walked to the edge, keeping back just far enough so she could see over it.

Five vehicles were in the faculty lot. Two sedans, two SUVs and a van. Searchlights mounted on the SUVs and the van were shining onto the building. One of the sedan doors opened and Tempest stepped out, still holding the phone to her ear.

“You really need to keep that temper of yours in check, Miss Shimmer,” she said. “That kind of anger causes people to make unwise choices. Like arguing with a federal agent on the phone while her team traces the signal.

“Fuck you,” Sunset cursed.

“My my, such language.” The humor went out of Tempest's voice. “I have agents on every exit out of the building. I'm willing to overlook your little tantrum, Miss Shimmer, provided you surrender yourself.”

“And what if I don't?”

“Like I said, your friends will pay the price.”

Sunset snorted. “What? You're gonna kill them? I can't imagine the Director would be happy about that. And I doubt he'll be willing to talk about Glitter Drops if you tell him you had to kill one or more of us.”

Tempest didn't rise to the bait. “No, Miss Shimmer, I'm not going to kill any of them. Surrender, or I can guarantee you that you will never see any of them ever again. In any capacity. Not even from their families, or classmates, or even that obnoxious principal of yours.”

Suddenly, Adagio's words echoed through Sunset's mind. “This is what you're up against. A quasi-fascist government task force who are so committed to keeping things like us a secret that even the people who know us aren't safe.” 

Could they actually be that powerful? Could Tempest and her goons silence everybody about the seven of them? And even if they couldn't, what would happen if more rogue magic manifested in town. There would be no one to do anything about it. Except STORM, and if they stepped in, it would only be a matter of time before they found the portal to Equestria. If Princess Twilight did manage somehow to repel the invasion, she wouldn't wait forever to check on what was happening over here. She'd reactivate the portal, increasing the risk of it being found.

And if STORM discovered the portal, anything they did with it would only lead to disaster. 

“Well, Miss Shimmer?” Tempest's voice brought Sunset out of her thoughts. She felt her anger drain out of her. She felt trapped. Every move seemed to be the wrong one. If she ran, her friends would be imprisoned for the rest of their lives and un-personed in the world at large. If she surrendered, the magic would be in STORM's hands and who knew what would happen then. She could just “lose” the geode somewhere, but that would just make Tempest suspicious and the agent would probably tear the school apart looking for it. Besides, in the event the girls could get them back, they'd be extremely useful in making their escape.

Of course, Tempest wouldn't wait forever and she'd probably send her goons in to arrest Sunset if she chose to do nothing.

There was also the other option. While Canterlot High was only two stories, it was definitely high enough. It was entirely possible that the geodes would stop working altogether if one of the girls died and their connection to the magic stones severed. If the geodes no longer worked, then STORM had no reason to keep the girls prisoner. They might out of sheer pettiness, but what would be the point? STORM had existed this long without the public being aware of them. Six teenagers wild story about being abducted by federal agents sounded too ridiculous to be true.

Sunset looked at the edge of the roof. It would be so simple. So quick. One quick dash, a short jump and then... it'd all be over but the paperwork. No Sunset Shimmer. No geodes. No magic. No reason for STORM to keep the others. 

But that was the coward's way out. And while she may have felt like one earlier, Sunset Shimmer was no coward. And she also knew that being on the run wouldn't help things either. No, there was only one choice. The riskiest, yes, but also the only one that ensured she would be able to help her friends. 

She had no idea what she was actually going to do to help them, but the first step was making sure they were all together.

“All right,” she said quietly. “You win. I'm coming down.”

“Down?” Tempest said quizzically. “Ah. The roof. I see.”

“Don't send anyone after me,” said Sunset. “I'll come to you. I see any of your goons on my way down and I run. I know every inch of this building. You'll never find me before I'm gone. Deal?”

There was another pause then:

“If you are not in front of me in three minutes, then don't expect to hear from the other six ever again. Do we have an understanding, Miss Shimmer?”

“I'm on my way.” Sunset ended the call without responding and headed to the roof access stairwell. She didn't have a lot of time and there was something she needed to do before she was arrested. 

She quickly made her way back down to the ground floor. The hallways were dark, only illuminated by the occasional ceiling light for safety and energy conservation. Sunset looked around for signs of flashlights or anything else that may have indicated Tempest had been lying.

Seeing nothing, Sunset ran down the halls, keeping to the balls of her feet to minimize noise, until she reached the library. Much to her relief, the door was unlocked and she went inside. She quickly made her way to a shelf in the back of the library and crouched down. She took her journal from her bag and shoved it into a space on the bottom shelf. There was no way in hell she would let any evidence of Equestria's existence fall into STORM's hands. It would be safe here. Sunset doubted anyone would notice the out of place book for a while. She took her bag to the circulation desk and dropped it in the Lost and Found bin behind it. She'd pick it up later.

Assuming she would still be able to.

She left the library and quickly made her way to the exit leading to the faculty lot. The searchlights and headlights had been trained on the doors and were blazing through the glass. It was blinding and Sunset could barely make out the vehicles. She took a deep breath, then put her hands up and used her hips to hit the crash bar that opened the door. She moved slowly and deliberately until she was outside, where she stood, waiting for the agents to make the next move.

Tempest strolled out of the light until she was in front of Sunset. She looked down at the shorter girl with an expression of triumph. Sunset gave her a look of contempt.

“This isn't over,” she said quietly.

Tempest sneered and produced a pair of handcuffs. “No, Miss Shimmer, it isn't. In fact, I'd say we're just getting started.”
> Underground, Under Surveillance, and Undermined
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

STORM Secure Site Bravo-Six was located about thirty miles from Canterlot City. It was set back some distance from the main road on a large patch of property bordered by razor wire tipped fences, and several guard patrols. There was only one gate in or out of the site, manned at all times by guards who had standing orders to shoot to kill.  

The building itself wasn't all that impressive. A squat four story concrete cube with rows of windows on all four sides. It was nothing special, which was the point. The building itself only handled the paperwork.

The real work took place in a six level bunker underneath the building. Each level highly secured and equipped with multiple redundant systems to ensure anything STORM brought in stayed in. Each level was cordoned off into seven sectors. Each sector could be individually isolated from the others, then each level could be isolated and so on and so forth until the entire bunker was cut off from the outside world. Nothing left Secure Site Bravo-Six unless STORM wanted it to leave.  

Level Two, Sector Four was the primary detention area. There were twenty individual cells, five interrogation rooms and four guard posts manned by two stationary guards each, with a patrol of another half dozen STORM guards that patrolled the corridors. Extra guards were posted outside any interrogation room currently in use.  

Such as Room 4.

Tempest flashed her ID to the guards who stepped aside. Tempest passed her ID over an electronic pad next to the door. There was a beep and the LED on top of the pad changed from blue to green with an audible click. The agent put her ID away and walked inside.

Sunset Shimmer was sitting at the table in the center of the room. She was wearing blue scrubs, the standard issue for all of STORM's “guests.” A pair of handcuffs were around her wrists, the chains welded to the metal table. Her brow furrowed and her lips pursed as Tempest sat down opposite her, putting a briefcase on the table beside them.

“Where are my friends?” Sunset demanded, her voice cold.

“They're safe,”  Tempest replied. She didn't look at Sunset, instead opening the briefcase and taking out a couple of file folders and a tablet.

“That isn't what I asked,” said Sunset.

Tempest quirked an eyebrow at her, then closed the case and put it on the floor. She opened the file. Inside were several papers, forms, and Sunset's forged documentation. Tempest pulled out her phone and activated a recording app.  

“The date is Thursday, October 12th. For the record, this is Field Agent Tempest Shadow speaking to Person of Interest number 5737, name: Sunset Shimmer, regarding case number 478-QRH-3961.”

Tempest looked up at Sunset and held up the forged documents. “These are good, Miss Shimmer. Not perfect, but very good.”

“Where are my friends?” Sunset repeated, folding her arms.

“All in good time. But since we're repeating questions to each other, allow me to repeat one of mine. Who exactly are you, Miss Shimmer? Your documentation is fake, so clearly you're here illegally. There's zero record of you in the Canterlot City area until you started attending Canterlot High. There are no actual records of your birth, or of the court case where you were granted emancipation. Nor is there any other record of you before that time in any other town within a 200-mile radius of Canterlot City. You seem to have just appeared out of thin air and with you seems to have come all manner of chaos.”

Sunset felt her face begin to fall at the last sentence, but quickly firmed up her expression. This wasn't the time to let guilt get the better of her.  

“I don't know what you're talking about, Agent Shadow,” she replied. “I want to see my friends, please.”

Tempest frowned. “Oh you don't, hm? You happen to survive a gas leak at your school and wind up in a crater where there are no gas pipes. You've been present at multiple sightings of strange lights and night time rainbows around Canterlot High. We have reports of outright demonic manifestation and breaches in the fabric of reality itself and that you were right in the middle of it! There is video of you and your friends with horse ears and wings, that I know for a fact are not costume pieces, because I've seen them vanish myself when we took these from your friends!”

Tempest reached into her pocket and tossed an evidence bag on the table. Sunset's eyes widened as she saw the geodes inside it. She almost reached out a hand, then thought better of it.

“What are these?” Tempest demanded.  

“Friendship necklaces,” Sunset replied.

“Bullshit!” Tempest slammed a fist on the table. “I've seen what Rarity can do. Other agents have reported that your friend Pinkie Pie caused an entire coffeehouse of baked goods to explode. Rainbow Dash has exhibited superspeed and Applejack enhanced strength. Twilight Sparkle is a telekinetic. We may not exactly know what you and Fluttershy can do yet, but we will. All of these abilities seem to be connected to these necklaces and we want to know what they are and how they work!”

“I've told you what they are,” Sunset said, her voice quiet. “It's not my fault if you don't believe me.”

“Don't get smart.” Tempest took a deep breath and let it out. “Where are you from... originally?”

“I would like to see my friends, please.”

Tempest tapped her fingers on the table for a moment, then picked up the tablet. She activated it, set up the stand and spun it around so Sunset could see the screen. The display showed security camera feeds from six of the detention cells: bland isolated rooms with a bunk, a table, one chair, a sink and a toilet. Each one of Sunset's friends, also clad in the blue scrubs, were visible.

Rainbow Dash lay on her back on her bunk, her hands behind her head. After a few seconds, she looked directly at the camera and gave it the finger. Fluttershy was curled up on her bunk, hugging the pillow tightly. Twilight was pacing around the cell, following the perimeter of the walls. Pinkie Pie, her hair flat and limp, was sitting against one wall, her head resting on her knees. Applejack was largely doing the same, but sitting on the bunk. Rarity sat on her bed. Sunset was relieved to see her legs were still in braces and there were a set of cheap crutches resting on the bed next to her.

“There,” Tempest said, taking the tablet back. “As you can see, your friends are fine. Now, are you going to answer my questions?”

Sunset looked at her for a long moment, then: “No.”

“No?”

Sunset slowly shook her head. “No, Agent Shadow, I will not answer your questions. None of us will. I've already told you I would do anything to protect them, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. But I will tell you one thing.

“Those,” she pointed at the evidence bag. “Are completely worthless to you. I've done tests on them myself. To any sort of serious scientific analysis, they're just a bunch of pretty rocks. We're not going to tell you anything about them. I'm not going to tell you anything about myself. They won't tell you anything about me.”

Sunset leaned forward and narrowed her eyes. “And there's one more thing I'm reasonably certain I can tell you. The Director will never, ever, give you what you want.”

Tempest's jaw tightened and her fists clenched. “Don't think you can play cheap mind games with me, Miss Shimmer.”

“I'm not,” Sunset replied. “I just know how people like him work. I should, I used to be one. You're just as much of a prisoner of STORM as we are, Agent Shadow. The only difference is we know we're in prison.”

Tempest stood up and glowered down at Sunset. “I am going to get some water. Would you care for some, Miss Shimmer?”

Sunset met her gaze, a faint smile on her lips. “Thank you, Agent Shadow, I would.”

Tempest returned everything to the briefcase and left the room. Sunset, sure there were cameras in the room, leaned back in her chair.

Okay, she thought, that's step one. Now let's see if I can get her to bite on step two.
> Status, Dissatisfaction, and Dreams
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a couple of hours later when Tempest walked into the break room on Level One. She made a beeline for the coffee machine and was adding her usual mix of cream, honey, and sugar to it when Lightning Dust entered. The other agent leaned up against the counter.

“So,” she began. “Anything useful?”

“No,” Tempest grumbled. “Not from Shimmer, anyway.”

“You should lean on the one you found with the cryptid,” suggested Dust. “She looks like she'll crack pretty easily.”

“Don't be so sure,” Tempest snorted. “I got a taste of what she's like when she's pushed when I interviewed them at the school.”

She took a sip of her coffee. “I don't get it. They're teenagers. They should be begging to go home. To see their parents. Anything. But they aren't.”

“Didn't you say Shimmer might have connections to a gang?” Dust asked. “That could explain it.”

Tempest shook her head. “Only in Shimmer's case. But not the others. They've all lived in the suburbs their entire lives. Nothing out of the ordinary until last year at that damn dance.”

“So what happened at the dance?”

“I have no idea. But it wasn't a damn gas leak, I can tell you that much. If I could just get a handle on one of them. Find a crack, something.”

“Agent Shadow?”  

Tempest and Dust looked up. A uniformed STORM guard was in the doorway to the break room.  

“Sorry, ma'am,” he said. “But the Director is on line one. He wants to speak to you.”

“Can I take it down here?” Tempest asked. The Bravo-Six bunker was shielded from most communications. Cell phones were completely useless, hence why the Director was calling from a landline.  

“Yes, ma'am. Level One phones connect to the outside.”

“Thank you.” Tempest crossed the room to a phone mounted on the wall and hit the button for line one. “Agent Shadow.”

“Well,” came the Director's voice. “I'm glad to see seven teenagers weren't too much trouble for you, agent.”

Tempest could hear the condescension and felt her teeth grit. “Yes, sir. I'm sorry it took longer than usual.”

“Never mind that. What have you been able to find out?”

Tempest sighed. “Not much. They're all being quiet at the moment. One of then, the ostensible leader, made it clear she has no intention of being helpful.”

“What are we doing about that?” demanded the Director.

“I'm still trying to figure that out, sir.”

The Director grumbled. “Fine. Have you discovered anything about them?”

Tempest fought to keep from sighing in frustration. “Yes, sir. Whatever powers they have seem to be connected to the necklaces we confiscated from them. If they had access to their abilities otherwise, we probably would have been looking at a breakout attempt by now.”

“They haven't tried to escape?” The Director sounded surprised.

“No, sir. At least, not yet. They seem to be keeping quiet.”

“That bothers me.”

“Me too, sir,” Tempest admitted. “We're keeping a close eye on them for the moment.”

“What about the cryptid you reported capturing?”

“In holding on Level Three. We're feeding it and doing our best to keep it docile until we can figure out what to do with it.”

“What's the problem?”

“Honestly, sir, there's nothing like it in our files. We have no idea what sort of natural habitat it has, so we aren't sure where we can safely relocate it.”

“Then terminate it.”

Tempest's eyes widened. “Sir?”

“You heard me. If we can't get rid of it somewhere it won't bother civilians and it's of no use to us, terminate it.”

“Sir, I think that might be an... unwise course of action,” Tempest began. “We've never terminated cryptids we've captured before. It's also very resilient. We needed an entire squad and nearly every tranquilizer we had just to contain it. The bio division alone could benefit greatly from – “

“All right, all right, save the sales pitch. Obviously, we're in an unusual situation, here. About those necklaces, any chance our people could use them? Do we actually need those girls?”

“I'm afraid so, sir. I had them tested and compared with the samples I found at the quarry outside Camp Everfree. They're the same, but from everything our people can tell, they're just ordinary geodes. It seems that in order for the power to be used, you need both the rocks and the POIs.”

“And we can't give the rocks back to them or we're looking at a guaranteed breakout attempt.” The Director was silent for a moment, then: “All right. Continue as you are for now, agent. We'll figure out a plan once I get there tomorrow.”

Tempest blinked. “I'm sorry, sir?”

“I'm coming out to Bravo-Six,” the Director repeated. “I want those girls working for us, and I want to be sure they understand the position that they're in.”

“Sir, not to sound insubordinate, but are you sure that's wise? The cryptid – “

“Is still secured on Level Three, isn't it?” The Director snapped. “Or are you saying that you can't handle something like this?”

Tempest's lip curled up and she gripped the phone receiver tighter. “No, sir. I can handle it. We'll have everything prepared for your arrival.”

“Good. I'll see you then. And Tempest?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Good work.”

The call ended and Tempest replaced the receiver. She turned to Lightning Dust, who was looking at her with interest. “The Director will be arriving tomorrow. Make sure everything's in order.”

“The Director's coming here?” Atonishment was evident in Dust's voice. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” Tempest replied. “So everything needs to be in order. Get on it.”

“Yes, ma'am!” Dust grinned and left the break room. Tempest went back to her abandoned cup of coffee and picked it up. She stared into it for a while.

“The Director will never, ever, give you what you want.”

Tempest sipped the coffee then spit it back out into the sink. It had gone cold. She dumped the remnants down the drain and crushed the cup in her hand before tossing it in the trash.

She doesn't know a damn thing about him... or me.





In a large secured room on Level Three, Frank dozed in fitful sleep. He dreamed of the forest. Of the river. Of Harry. He dreamed of the glowing blue flower he had eaten which started all of this. He dreamed of She-Who-Speaks and her pack. He dreamed of better times.

He dreamed...

… and he grew.
> Showers, Strategy, and Creaks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There were some concessions even STORM had to make for their captives. Bathing, for example. It was written down in the agency's bylaws that “all reasonable accommodation must be made to all sapient detainees for purposes of health and hygiene, including but not limited to: nourishment, digestive system end products, bathing, and other necessities.”

But, while STORM was required to allow the girls to shower, they weren't required to let them do so as a complete group. So, they were split up into two groups. Sunset, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were in the first group allowed to shower.

“Ten minutes max. Hurry it up,” ordered the female guard who stood at the entrance to the tiled communal shower. The three girls started the water and stood under individual shower heads.

“Are you two all right?” Sunset whispered.  

“I'm okay,” Fluttershy whispered back. “I'm worried about Frank though.”

“I overheard one of the guards,” said Pinkie. Being with her friends seemed to be bringing back some of her liveliness. “I think they've got him on another level.”

Sunset nodded. She turned and wet her hair under the stream before opening the hotel room sized shampoo bottle she'd been given and running it through her hair.  

“So what's the plan?” Pinkie asked. She glanced at the guard, saw she was facing away from them, and inched closer to Sunset.  

“There isn't one,” Sunset answered.

“WHAT?!” Pinkie shrieked.

The guard whirled around. “HEY! Back under your own stream! And no talking!”

The three girls were silent. Sunset rinsed her hair and leaned slightly over, keeping her eyes on the guard. “There isn't a plan, because I'm waiting to see what Tempest does first.”

“That doesn't sound like a good idea,” Fluttershy whispered back. “Suppose they do something awful to us or Frank?”

“I don't think they will, at least not yet,” Sunset replied. She raised her voice so the guard could hear. “Is it okay if we scrub each others' backs?”

The guard looked over her shoulder. “No funny stuff. This ain't a women in prison flick.”

“Got it. Fluttershy, do you mind?” Sunset turned her back to Fluttershy, who grabbed another small bottle of body wash and began applying it to Sunset's back.

“I'm pretty sure they want to recruit us,” Sunset continued in a low voice. “Tempest hinted that the guy in charge is interested in what we can do. She'll probably try to entice all of us to join.”

“Fat chance,” Pinkie hissed. She had shampooed her own hair, and the suds now formed a towering swirl atop her head, making her look like a pink soft serve cone.

Sunset nodded. “I know. But if we play it smart, we might be able to get back together and get the geodes back.”

“And rescue Frank?” asked Fluttershy, her voice hopeful.

“And rescue Frank,” Sunset smiled, turning around.

“Time's up!” the guard barked. “Rinse off and get out here!”

“If you manage to meet up with the other girls, tell them not to do anything until I give the word.” Sunset ducked under the spray and rinsed herself off. The other two followed suit and headed out to get their towels.





Down on Level Three, STORM guard Shell Casing blinked as he heard a faint metallic creaking noise. He frowned and concentrated. After a few seconds, he heard it again.  

He and his fellow guard, Flak Jacket, were currently stationed outside the door of Containment Unit Seven, where the cryptid that had been captured was currently confined. He looked at the large vault door and put a hand to it.

“What's up?” Flak Jacket asked.

“You didn't hear that?” Shell asked.  

“Hear what?” Flak frowned and looked at the door. “What am I looking for?”

“I don't know. I heard a creak. Sounded like it was coming from the vault.”

“Seriously?” Flak gave him a disapproving look. “This thing's like 90% titanium. The floor had to be reinforced just to get that thing in here. There's SIX on this level! Nothing's getting out of there.”

“Yeah... you're right.” Shell went back to his original position. “Probably just my imagination.”

“Probably.” Flak was quiet for a moment then smirked at his partner. “Like that cute waitress you said you got a number from last week.”

Now it was Shell's turn to shoot his partner a disapproving look. “We have a date on Saturday!”

“Surrrrre, you do.”  

“Fine, don't believe me,” Shell moved his eyes forward. “At least, I'll be getting laid that weekend.”

“Just because my husband is out of town this week and your so-called date doesn't exist is no reason to get personal.”

“Oh, fuck you, dude.”

“I'd be bored. You'd be embarrassed.”

The two looked at each other, then laughed.  

And inside the vault, Frank dreamed...

… and grew.
> Arrivals, Circumstances, and Realities
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Director arrived early the next afternoon. Tempest was on hand to greet him. He was not in the mood for pleasantries.

“Show me.”

Tempest had taken him to an observation post on Level One, where she showed him the security feeds from the cells. He cycled through each feed and snorted.

“This is what gave you so much trouble?” he asked, glaring at Tempest out of the corner of his eye.

Tempest felt her teeth clench, then forced herself to relax. “As I said in my report, sir, they were ready for us, somehow. And they had help.”

“Yes, yes, the principal and her sister at that school. What are we doing about them?”

Tempest blinked. “I... wasn't aware we were expected to do anything about them, sir.”

Now the Director's head turned to look at her fully. “You seriously think it's a good idea to let anyone who knows about what these girls can do to run around loose?”

“Sir, with all due respect – “

“'With all due respect' means 'I think you're full of shit,'” The Director interrupted. He sighed and waved a hand. “Go ahead. Tell me what the problem is.”

“Given what I've seen while I was there, if we detained everyone who knows about these girls and what they can do, we'd have to isolate at least half the population of Canterlot City, if not everyone. And that would definitely bring us the kind of attention that even Congress couldn't ignore.”

The Director let out another exasperated sigh. Sometimes the damn Constitution could be a real nuisance. “Understood. So let me make sure I've got this straight: these girls have, for want of a better term, 'super powers.' We know what five of them can do. Two of them are unknowns. Three of them also grow wings when their powers are active. They're also connected, somehow, with the cryptid contained on Level Three. But they don't have their powers unless they have those necklaces you confiscated from them.”

“That's correct, sir.”

“What about those necklaces? Do we know how those work yet?”

Tempest shook her head. “Our team hasn't been able to get them to do anything. As I said on the phone, as far as they can tell, the necklaces are made from ordinary geode crystal. I believe that they won't do anything unless they are in those girls' possession.”

The Director turned his attention back to the security monitors. He leaned forward.  

“Show me the ringleader.”

The security guard brought up Sunset Shimmer's cell. She was stretched out on her bunk, her arms folded across her stomach. She was looking at the ceiling, her eyes unfocused, lost in thought.

“What do we know about her?” asked the Director.  

“Not much. Her documentation is fake. Very good forgeries, but not good enough to fool our people. As far as I've been able to tell, she showed up in Canterlot City almost six years ago. Ran with a local gang leader for a while before enrolling as an eighth grader at Canterlot High. No record of her anywhere within a 100 miles of the city before then. Used to be the terror of the school until something happened at their Fall dance last year. Since then, she's apparently become a model student.”

“You mentioned something about some other POIs out there?”

Tempest nodded. “Adagio Dazzle and her cronies. I think these girls encountered them. We've got reports of weird lights and manifestations over the local concert arena. And something else interesting: I ran into Dazzle. She claimed she and her friends don't have their powers anymore.”

The Director frowned and looked back at Tempest again. “And why aren't they in custody as well?”

“I was hoping they could give me something to use against Shimmer and her friends. I'm afraid I spooked them, sir. They appear to have run again.”

The Director growled in his throat. “Seems to be a habit with you, agent.”

Tempest's eyes flashed and she opened her mouth to protest, before closing it again. “Yes, sir.”

The Director looked at the feed for a few more seconds, then stood up. “Right. Bring them to one of the larger interrogation rooms. I want to talk to them.”

Tempest blinked. “Sir, I'm sure that's not necess – “

“You've gotten nowhere with them, so far, Agent Shadow,” the Director snapped. “They know your face and your tactics. They're inoculated. They probably still think they're going home at some point. I intend to make their situation perfectly clear.”

He turned and walked out of the security room, pausing as he passed Tempest. “You've done well, agent. But don't push me. Not if you want me to tell you what you want to know.”

The Director didn't wait for a response, but continued on his way out of the room “Ten minutes, agent,” he called over his shoulder.

One of Tempest's fists clenched. Her other hand went up and rubbed at the scar across her eyes. She turned back to the security guard. “You heard him. Set them up in Interrogation Two.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

Tempest stalked out of the security room, Sunset's words ringing unbidden in her ears.





The seven friends were finally back together for the first time since being captured. They sat in metal folding chairs on one side of the stainless steel table. The handcuffs had been dispensed with. The table didn't have seven stations for the chains.  

“What – “ Twilight swallowed hard. “What's going on?”

“Somethin' important, I reckon,” Applejack replied.  

Sunset nodded. “I agree. They wouldn't risk putting all of us together otherwise, geodes or no geodes.”

“Should we be talking about those out loud?” Twilight asked. “There's probably microphones in here somewhere.”

Sunset shrugged. “Agent Shadow already knows they're special. She has to have passed the word up the chain. Still, if I were in her shoes, I wouldn't let all of us be in the same room together unless I didn't have a choice.”

“So, what do you think is going on?” asked Fluttershy.

There was a click and Sunset straightened up in her chair. “I think we're about to find out.”

The door opened, admitting Tempest, a security guard, and a tall, lanky man with an impressive white beard and incongruously broad shoulders. His upper lip was clean shaven and he walked with an easy grace. He was dressed in a expensive suit that fit his somewhat awkward frame. He had a genial smile on his lips, but his blue eyes were hard and cold, almost hooded by his bushy white eyebrows.  

The security guard took his post be the door, as the man sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the table. Tempest placed some files on the table in front of him before stepping back. She remained standing.

The man's smile turned into a grin. “Ladies, you've been granted a rare privilege. My name is Cosmos Stormking. I'm the Director of STORM.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “So, you're the jerk in charge who sent that jerk --” She pointed at Tempest. “ – to hassle us all damn –OW!” 

The athlete glared at Applejack, who had elbowed her in the ribs. Applejack just looked at the Director, who let out an amused snort.

“Yes, I am 'the jerk in charge.' And believe me, I understand how annoying this all is. But, look at it from my perspective. I see a report on the news of four women tearing up a shopping mall with what appears to be genuine supernatural powers. I send one of my best agents out there to look into it, and she finds not just one incident, but several over the last year or so. Along with that, a massive conspiracy of silence on the part of most city officials to try to keep it all undercover.

“And so she digs and what does she find? That nearly every incident reported can be traced back to seven teenage girls. All of whom appear to have access to the aforementioned supernatural powers, and one – “ He looked directly at Sunset. “Who seems to have appeared out of nowhere six years ago, and certainly seems to know more about what's going on that she's telling.”

The Director leaned forward and folded his hands on the table. “Now, there are a couple of ways this can go. You can continue to keep quiet, and then I'll have to do something regrettable to get you to talk, and it will be a long drawn out ordeal that won't be pleasant for any of us. Or, you can tell me what's actually been going on in Canterlot City and your part in it and things will go easier for you.”

“And when do we go home?” Rarity asked, coolly.

The Director shifted his glance to her, his expression still pleasant. “I beg your pardon?”

“I noticed that your generous offer failed to indicate when we can all go home,” Rarity elaborated. “One would presume, since that is the way these things tend to work in the movies and so on, that such an offer would include promises of going home if we decide to cooperate. So, Director Stormking, if we decide to cooperate, when do we get to go home?”

“Oh, that,” the Director replied pleasantly. “You don't.”

“What?!” shouted Rainbow Dash. She leaped out of her chair and slammed her palms on the desk. “That's bullshit!”

The Director calmly rose to his feet and leaned forward. He towered over Rainbow Dash. He raised one hand, placed it on her shoulder, and shoved hard, causing her to crash back into her chair.Rainbow let out a cry of pain as she landed. Applejack and Fluttershy, on either side of her, moved in to make sure she was all right.  

The Director rose to his full height and put his hands behind his back.

“Let me make your situation perfectly clear, ladies,” he said, his voice even. “You aren't going home. As of now, you belong to me. I can use power like yours for the betterment of STORM and the country. What we are discussing right now is whether you'll be using that power as willing agents... or as unwilling assets.”

“You can't do this!” said Twilight. “There are people --”

“'People who care about us who won't stand for it,' blah blah blah.” The Director waved a hand dismissively. “I've heard it before. And I've dealt with it too. Many, many times. You're not dealing with an amateur, ladies.”

“Neither are you,” Sunset said, getting to her feet. “We've dealt with worse than you before. We can take anything you dish out.”

“Maybe, but they didn't have my resources. Besides, I don't have to do anything to you. There's plenty of people in Canterlot City who know what you can do. It'd be a shame if we had to quarantine the entire town for an indefinite period until we can assess what exactly you've done to them to engender such loyalty.”

“We didn't do anything to them!” cried Pinkie Pie.  

“That's what you say,” replied the Director. “But, I'm sure you'll forgive me if I don't believe you. And of course, there's your families. Who knows what you've infected them with since you got these abilities? We might even have to take... extreme precautions.”

Sunset felt her face flush and her teeth clench. She fought to keep her temper in check. It wouldn't do any good to lose it now.

Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash didn't have Sunset's sense of restraint.

“You give us back our geodes and we'll show you what kind of ass kicking you're in for if you try any of that crap! We'll kick all your asses from here to Baltimare and back!”

A grin came across the Director's face. “You know, that is an excellent idea.”

He turned and walked out of the room. Tempest blinked and leaned over the table to gather up the files. As she did so, she caught Sunset's gaze.

“I told you,” Sunset said quietly. Tempest glared at her and followed her superior. The door closed behind her and the guard stood in front of it, making it clear that any unwise moves would be dealt with.

Twilight looked over at Sunset. “What just happened?”

Sunset frowned. “I'm not sure.”





“Sir, what's going on?” Tempest asked, as she finally caught up to the Director.

“They tipped their hand, agent,” Stormking replied with amusement. “So now we can get confirmation of what all of them can do. Send them down to Observation Two on Level Four.”

“Observation Two? Sir, you aren't seriously thinking of giving them those necklaces, are you?”

“Why not? From all your reports, even with their powers, they still have a few standard vulnerabilities. The first sign of trouble, we flood the place with knockout gas.”

“Sir, the second they get those necklaces, they're going to try to break out. And they might succeed.”

“I'm well aware of that, agent,” said the Director. “Which is why we're going to give them something else to worry about... and maybe kill two birds with one stone.”

Tempest frowned in confusion. “I'm sorry, sir, I'm not following you.”

The Director turned to look at her, a malicious grin on his face. “Send the cryptid down to Observation Two as well. Let's see how those girls handle these kind of things, shall we?”
> Observation, Geodes, and Frank
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The cave Frank was being held in was making him angry. It was too cold, too quiet, and worst of all, it was cramped. His back constantly bumped up against the top and the giant fangs hanging from his mouth kept scraping the floor. His legs were burning as he tried to stretch but he had almost no room to move.

Worst of all were the occasional jolts of lightning that seemed to come every time he roared to let his displeasure known. They hurt and made the fuzziness in his head even worse. In fact, there wasn't much that he recognized as “himself” left anymore. There was only pain, confusion, and anger.

All three got worse when he felt a rumbling in the floor below him and he felt himself moving backwards, even though he wasn't the one causing it. He let out another roar and was almost immediately zapped again. He growled in the back of his throat, hunkered down as best he could.

And waited.





Level Four of Secure Site Bravo-Six was different from the other levels. It's layout was very simple: two vast chambers, each three hundred yards by one hundred, and nearly five stories tall. Reinforced alloy walls, a variety of security measures, and an ingenious transport system that allowed the detainment chambers on Level Three to be transported easily to either Observation One or Observation Two.

In between the two observation rooms was a hallway with elevators and stair access on each end. In the middle were two staircases leading up to the control room. From there, STORM's cryptid experts could observe and monitor the abilities of whatever subject was under observation at the time, and activate any security devices should said subject become... rambunctious.

Under the stairs leading up to the control booth were two large sets of doors, one on each side, leading into the observation chambers. Sunset and her friends, along with two visibly armed STORM guards, were standing in front of them. Rarity had been transferred to a wheelchair from the medical bay on Level One.

There was a buzz and the double doors slid apart. One of the guards turned to the girls.

“All right,” he said. “Inside.”

Rainbow Dash frowned and clenched her fists, but Applejack put a hand on her shoulder. When Rainbow turned to look at her, she shook her head. Rainbow let out a snort and went inside with the rest of the group.  

“Hey, look!” cried Pinkie Pie. She pointed at a small table sitting in the middle of the room. On it, the seven geodes sparkled in the fluorescent lighting.  

“Aw, yeah!” Rainbow grinned. She zipped across the room to the table, followed closely by most of the other girls. Twilight looked behind her and stopped as she saw Sunset slowly walking behind them, a thoughtful look on her face.

“Sunset? You okay?” she asked.

Sunset looked up at her and smiled. “Yeah, sorry. Spaced out for a second.”

She sped up until she caught up with Twilight. They started walking toward the table, and Twilight leaned closer.

“What's really going on, Sunset?” she whispered.

“I'm trying to figure something out,” Sunset answered. “Give me a few minutes.”

“Do you think we can get out of here?”

Sunset was silent for a moment, then: “Maybe. But that's not the problem.”

“Then what is?”

Sunset shook her head. “The walls have ears. Let's get to the others first.”

They hurried to the table, where the others had put on their necklaces. They picked up their own and put them on.

“Feels good havin' these back,” said Applejack.

“I agree,” replied Rarity. “I felt like a part of myself was missing.”

“So now what?” Rainbow asked with a grin. “We pony up and lay the smack down on these assholes?”

Sunset shook her head. She gestured that the girls should come closer. “Getting out of here isn't going to solve the problem.”

“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked. “We go all rainbow lasers and pewwwwww! We get out of here and go home.”

“And then what?” Sunset asked. “We still have STORM on our trail and they know where we live. If we just break out of here, they'll be waiting for us. Not only that, if we decide not to go home, we're going to need to split up to make it harder for them to find us. And that's going to need money.”

“Which we don't have,” said Twilight.

“Exactly,” Sunset nodded.  

“And there's Frank,” said Fluttershy. “We have to find him and help him.”

“Right,” said Sunset. “What we need to do is to find a way to do all that and make sure these guys leave us the hell alone after this.”

“Ladies!”

The girls looked up at the observation booth. They couldn't see anyone as the window was one-way glass. The voice of the Director continued.

“This is one of our observation chambers. We're interested in seeing what you can do and we'd be obliged if you would demonstrate your powers for us.”

“Fat chance, asshole!” Rainbow cried back. Behind her, Applejack smacked her hand over her face.

“Not helping, darling,” Rarity trilled through clenched teeth.

“I figured you might be reluctant,” said the Director. “So I decided to give you a little incentive.”

There was a rumbling in the floor and across the room, another set of double doors opened in the walls,  and a large rectangular vault slid into the the room. As soon as it was fully in the room, the doors closed again, disappearing as quickly as they appeared.

There was a roar that shook the vault and made the hairs on Sunset's neck stand on end. She looked up at the observation booth.

“What's in there?” she demanded, having a pretty good idea.

“I decided to reunite you with your friend from the woods.”

There was a red light on the front of the vault, which turned green and the door popped open.  

It was like watching a large purple explosion as Frank burst from the vault. Metal groaned and shrieked as he wrenched himself from the vault. The seams of the vault burst and Frank emerged. Now nearly thirty feet tall, his fangs were the length of one of the girls. His fur was a fluctuating shade of purple, with stars twinkling throughout, making him look like a living nebula.

“Frank?” Fluttershy asked. Frank roared in response and glared at them. There was no intelligence in those crazed eyes, only pain and anger.

“It's your call, ladies,” said the Director. “Because either you or it is going to walk out of this room today.”

Sunset cursed under her breath. She looked from the booth, to her friends, to Frank.  

“What do ya wanna do, Sunset?” asked Applejack.

Sunset started to shake her head, then stopped and her eyes widened as something clicked in her head. She looked up.  “Pony up.”

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked.

Sunset nodded. “They want a show, we'll give them a show.”

She let herself give a small smile as they grabbed their geodes, ears, tails, and wings appearing. She walked around the table and began heading toward Frank, trusting her friends would follow.  

We'll give them a show, all right, she thought. And we'll bring the house down.
> Communication, Risk, and the Truth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy swallowed hard as she, Rainbow, and Rarity got closer to Frank. He was truly gargantuan now and towered over them. As they got closer Frank finally freed himself of the remnants of the vault and rose to his hind legs, letting out an angry roar. Fluttershy stopped in her tracks, he heart pounding in her chest.

What if it doesn't work? What if he's too far gone? The poor thing looks like he's in so much pain.

Her thoughts were interrupted by something squeezing both her hands. She looked to see Rarity and Rainbow holding her hands reassuringly. She smiled as she felt their love forher. She took a deep breath and stepped forward. Her geode began glowing with a soft light.

“Frank? It's me, Fluttershy. Can you hear me?”

There was the sound of wrenching metal and a roar as Frank finally freed himself and stared down at her. His mad yellow eyes glared uncomprehendingly at her. Fluttershy swallowed and flapped her wings, taking to the air.

“I.. I know you're scared and your hurt, but I promise I'm only here to help you.” She steeled herself and flew closer to Frank's muzzle, trying very hard not to notice the razor sharp fangs that dangled from it. She tentatively reached out a hand.

“I promise, we'll do everything we can to fix you and get you back to the woods, okay? There's nothing to be afraid of.”

Frank snorted and rumbled. Fluttershy swallowed and flew closer. She felt the hot breath rushing from Frank's nostrils, and gently made contact.





“”Do we have readings?” Tempest asked one of the techs seated at the control board.

“Yes, ma'am. Some kind of energy reading coming off all of them.”

“What about her?” The Director pointed at Fluttershy.

“Definite spike there, sir,” said the tech.  

“What is she doing?” the Director asked. Tempest looked down and frowned in thought.

“I'm not a hundred percent on this, sir,” she began. “But I think she's communicating with it. She was in a similar position when I found them in the woods.”

“Interesting,” rumbled the Director. “I wonder if she can control animals as well as talk to them. That could be very useful.”

“Yes, sir,” Tempest said. Her voice was even, but something inside her really did not like the tone of the Director's voice. It sounded... “hungrier” was the only word she could think of.  

“I just know how people like him work. I should, I used to be one. You're just as much of a prisoner of STORM as we are, Agent Shadow.”

“Where are the other four?” The Director demanded, snapping Tempest out of her thoughts. She turned to the tech.

“Get them on the cameras!” she barked.  

The tech flipped through the feeds until he brought up Sunset's group at the doors they had entered from. Applejack was trying to fit her fingers in the nearly invisible crack between them.  

The Director let out a laugh. “Seriously? They think that will work?”

“It might, sir,” said Tempest. “She's the one with the super strength.”

“Well, let's give her a little correction, shall we?” The Director stepped forward and pressed a button on the console.





“OWWWWWW!” There was a flash, a whiff of ozone and Applejack flew back from the door and landed on her back.  

“Applejack!” cried Sunset, Twilight, and Pinkie. They rushed over to the fallen farm girl, who was pushing herself into a sitting position. Her fingertips were slightly charred.  

“Are you all right?” Twilight demanded, knewwling dsown next to her. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“I'm fine,” Applejack said. “Just got zapped pretty good. Guess we should have expected that.”

“Probably,” Sunset replied. “My fault. I'm sorry.”

Applejack waved the apology away and let Sunset help her up. “Ain't your fault. Ya can't think of everythin'.”

Suddenly, Frank's roar echoed throughout the chamber and the four girls turned and gasped in horror as he slapped Fluttershy away with the back of one massive paw. Fluttershy was screaming as she flew through the air. Rainbow Dash grabbed the handles of Rarity's wheelchair and zipped them both away from the crazed Ursa.  

As they moved, Rarity threw up her hands and a ball off crystals surrounded Fluttershy. The ball bounced off the wall, above the window of the observation room and down to the floor. The crystals dissipated, leaving a dazed, but otherwise unharmed Fluttershy on the floor.

The girls clustered around her.

“Are you all right, darling?” Rarity asked. Fluttershy nodded her head.

“I really want to go home now,” she said.

Another roar echoed through the chamber. The girls looked up as Frank began moving toward them, slowly at first but picking up speed.

“What do we do?” Rainbow asked. “Fluttershy can't get through to him!”

“And they have defenses to keep us in!” Twilight replied. She looked at Sunset. “Do we try to heal him?”

Sunset looked at the rapidly approaching Frank. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out a way out of the situation that wouldn't reveal their full power to the Director.

This would be so much easier if we had a friend on the inside. Wait.  

She looked up at the observation window, then down at her geode. Maybe we do.

She turned away from her friends and began running toward Frank. Another gasp came up from the girls.

“What are you DOING?!” Rarity demanded.

“Something that may be extremely stupid!” Sunset replied. “Twilight! Be ready to catch me if this doesn't work!”

“If what doesn't work?” Twilight asked, horror in her voice.

Sunset didn't answer, she looked back and up over her shoulder, judging the distance, then back toward Frank. When she was a few feet away, she summoned all her strength and leaped into the air towards the Ursa, letting out an inarticulate scream that she hoped he would perceive as a threat.

She caught a flash of rainbow light out of the corner of her eye. Of course. Rainbow had decided to try to stop her, the idiot.

Not now, Dash, please! She pleaded silently. Fortunately (?), Rainbow had no time to react when Frank reared up and, much like he'd done with Fluttershy, backhanded Sunset away. Sunset's vision was blurry and the wind was knocked out of her lungs, but she managed to throw her arms up over her face and squeeze her eyes shut as she sailed through the air and crashed backward through the observation window.

She hear glass break and felt millions of pinpricks in her back, arms and legs as she crashed to the ground. She managed to gasp in a lungful of air and start breathing again. She opened her eyes to find the Director and Tempest staring down at her, stunned. 

“What –?” Sunset coughed then caught her breath again. She looked at the Director. “What did you do to Glitter Drops?”

“What?!” the Director snapped, his expression darkening. 

“WHAT?!” Tempest yelped, her own eyebrows raising.

Sunset's geode started glowing as she reached up and grabbed both of them, putting one hand on each of their arms. 

I really hope this works.

There was a flash of light, and Sunset's eyes washed out as the magic took hold. 

And all three of them saw the truth.
> The Agent, the River, and the Escape
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What do you think you're doing, agent?”

Glitter Drops and Cantata Luster came to a halt in the small graveled lot next to the river. Headlights from a car had burst to life the second they emerged from the scrub and the Director's voice could be heard.

“Get behind me,” Drops said. The nurse complied as the Director, flanked by two other STORM agents stepped forward into the light. Drops noted with some small relief that Tempest wasn't one of them. However, another friend of theirs was.

“Really, Spring?” she asked Spring Rain, who was training his pistol on the two of them. “After everything we talked about?”

Spring Rain opened his mouth to respond, but the Director cut him off. “Agent Rain knows which side of his bread is buttered on. He's been telling me some very interesting things about you, Agent Drops. Things you've said, like 'evidence,' 'abuse of power,' and my personal favorite, 'megalomaniacal lunatic with delusions of grandeur.'”

The Director grinned, a cold, unfeeling grin that didn't meet his eyes. “And now, here you are. Helping one of our most important assets to escape.”

“She doesn't know anything!” Drops snapped. “She just happened to help the POIs get away from us! She doesn't know where they went or how to find them! There's no reason to detain her!”

The Director looked them both over for a long moment, then grinned again. This one warmer and more personable. “You're right.”

Both Drops and Cantata blinked. 

“Is he serious?” Cantata asked.

“I don't know,” said Drops.

“Of course I am,” answered the Director. “If what you're saying is true, then there isn't any reason to hold her in custody anymore.”

Drops frowned. Something didn't smell right. “You'll send her back home? No purging?”

“No purging.”

“And she goes back to her normal life? No surveillance or 'friendly visits?'”

“Well, naturally, there'd have to be some surveillance. But if she really isn't that close to the three of them, I see no reason why it would have to last longer than, say, six months?”

Drops looked behind her at Cantata. The nurse nodded, accepting the terms. Drops took a deep breath and looked back at her superior.

“You have a deal, sir. If she goes home right now.”

The grin returned. “Excellent. Ms. Luster, if you would get into the car, please. Agent Rain will take you to the airport and we'll have you back home in Whinnyapolis in no time.”

Cantata took a few tentative steps out from behind Drops. She turned to look at the agent. “Thank you.”

Drops nodded with a smile. “Go on. Go home.”

Cantata walked past the Director and the agents heading for the car. Drops watched all three carefully. 

When Cantata was reaching for the door handle, Agent Rain whirled, gun still in hand. Drops quickly reached inside her jacket for her own sidearm.

The Director saw the motion. Drops was fasrt, but he was faster, pulling his own gun and firing it twice in one smooth movement before Drops could train her own weapon on him. Two more shots rang out behind him as Rain finished off Cantata. The Director turned away from the injured agent to look over the body.

“Well?” he asked. 

Agent Rain got up from where he had been checking for a pulse. “Doornail, sir.”

“Call in a cleanup crew. The POI escaped, Agent Drops was in pursuit. Somehow the POI got hold of one of our standard issue firearms and shot Agent Drops. We arrived on the scene and put her down in response. Clear?”

“Clear, sir!” Agent Rain got into the car and onto the radio, calling for backup.

“Sir! She's on the phone!” came the voice of the other agent.

The Director cursed under his breath. He whirled around and stalked across the lot to where Drops was laying. Sure enough she had a phone in her hand. Her eyes widened as his shadow fell over her. 

“Hurry!” she gasped. “Not sure where – NO!”

The director fired four more shots into her torso, then grabbed the phone and ended the call. He put the phone in his pocket before yelling back over his shoulder.

“Agent Rain! Change of plan. Lose the body somewhere far away. The POI killed Agent Drops and escaped before we could arrive on the scene.”

“Yes, sir!”

He heard Rain grunt as he heaved the body into the trunk of the car and drive off. His gaze didn't break from Drops'. When he hear the car pull out of the lot, he knelt down and looked at the pale face of Agent Drops. 

Blood was running from her mouth and it was obvious she wasn't going to last much longer. He gave her a small smile.

“It's a shame, agent, you could have been so much more useful to me.”

A set of sirens came to his ears and he got to his feet and turned around as three STORM vehicles, two police cruisers and an ambulance arrived. He got out of the way, letting the EMTs do their work. A few minutes later, Tempest Shadow arrived and forced her way to the fallen agent.

The Director managed to get to her before Drops could say too much. Not that it would have mattered, with the blood loss, Drops was nearly incoherent. Soon, she was loaded into the ambulance and rushed to the hospital. 

After he sent Tempest home, he pulled out his phone and called Agent Rain.

“Is it done?”

“Yes, sir. I put her --”

“I don't want to know the details, agent,” Stormking barked. “I just want to know that it's done.”

“Yes, sir, it's done. No one will find her for quite a while, if at all.”

“Good. I have one more thing for you to do tonight, agent.”

“Yes, sir?”

“Later tonight, once everything has died down a little, I need you to liberate Agent Drops.”

“Total liberation, sir?”

“She'll have served STORM to the best of her abilities... right until the end.”

“Understood, sir.”

The Director ended the call and put his phone away. He exchanged a few words with the police officers on the scene, then climbed into the back of one of the STORM vehicles.

“Back to base.”

The car sped off into the night.





The vision ended and Sunset looked at Tempest's shocked face.  

“Now, you know,” she said quietly.  

Tempest looked from her to the Director, whose face was twiting into a mask of anger. “You killed her. She just wanted to help the nurse and you --”

“She was a traitor!” Stormking snarled. “And unless you want to be branded the same, agent, you'll do what I say!”

“Oh, look,” said Sunset, interrupting him. She was standing next to the console “A big button marked 'Emergency.' Let's see what it does!”

Sunset slammed her fist down on the button. Immediately, alarms went off and gas started to pour into the observation room. Sunset jumped onto the console and grinned at the STORM operatives.

“Don't think knockout gas is going to be helpful here. I mean, unless you want to pass out yourselves in the process. Oh yeah, and Frank's PISSSSSSED at all of you, so I'd be ready for him. See ya!”

Sunset turned her head. “TWILIGHT! CATCH ME!”  

Then she leaped back out of the broken window.
> Arguments, Delay Tactics, and Convenience
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“TWILIGHT! CATCH ME!”

Twilight looked up and let out a gasp of horror as Sunset came flying out of the broken window leading to the observation booth. She threw up her hands and managed to stop Sunset from impacting with the floor by about six inches. She set Sunset upright and dashed over to her, pounding her fists into her friend's chest.

“You dumb, dumb, stupid, dumb, dumb, dumb--”  

“'Bitch?'” Sunset suggested.

Twilight shot her a look. “You said it, not me.”

The sound of powerful fans kicked on and the cloud of gas that had been slowly forming was quickly ventilated out of the room. Sunset looked up at the observation booth. Nobody appeared to be paying them any attention.

She looked actoss the room, where Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity were keeping Frank busy. The Ursa was clearly getting agitated with Rainbow Dash zipping around him, distracting him long enough for Applejack to land a punch or try to grab one of his paws, or Rarity attempting to contain him in her crystals.  

Sunset nodded and called out: “Pinkie! Fluttershy!”

The other two quickly came over.  

“Okay, we need to get out of here,” said Sunset. “But I may have just made things harder for us.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

Sunset gave her a sheepish grin. “I may have just put the entire base on red alert?”

Twilight slapped her hand over her face. “Dumb, dumb, stupid, dumb, dumb...”

“I was hoping it would trigger an evacuation or something,” Sunset explained. “But I guess I was wrong. It shouldn't be a problem if we can herd Frank towards the doors.”

“Frank is an unstoppable monster right now!” Twilight protested. “Even Fluttershy can't get through to him!”

“He's the only thing we've got!” Sunset countered. “We need an ace in the hole, Twilight!”

“Um...” said Fluttershy.

“Sunset's right,” Pinkie said. “Right now, her, me, and Fluttershy are pretty much useless in a fight, unless I can somehow find a cafeteria or something. We need an edge!”

“Excuse me,” said Fluttershy.  

“An edge?” Twilight pointed back to where their other three friends were barely keeping the mammoth bear in place. “Look at him! He's beyond all reason. He's basically an unstoppable killing machine, and I, for one, don't really want to be responsible for getting a bunch of people who are just doing their jobs killed as we escape!”

“This is what they're paid to do, Twilight!” Sunset snapped. “They knew the risks when they decided to join these fascists.”

“Actually...” Fluttershy tried again.

“Are you listening to yourself right now?” Twilight snapped back. “Just two weeks ago, you were a wreck from what we did to stop Firecracker Burst and now you want to unleash giant magic death on people who may not know exactly what this organization does? We know the Director's a creep, but the lower level troops? Most of them are just following orders!”

“Oh, my god,” Sunset rolled her eyes. “I'm not proposing wholesale slaughter, Twilight!”

“Sounded like it to me!”

“GIRLS!” Fluttershy's yell caused the argument to stop immediately. All three turned to Fluttershy who stood there with her hands on her hips, looking stern.

“What I was about to say,” she began, “is that if we purge the magic from Frank, I can probably communicate with him again and convince him to help us.”

“But how does a non-magic bear help us get out of here?” Pinkie asked.

“Well, for one thing, he'd be smaller than he is now, so it would be easier to get him out of here. And for another...”

The three of them stared as a positively evil grin crossed Fluttershy's face. “Even without the magic, he's still a five hundred pound grizzly bear with a grudge.”

There was a very breif moment of silence, then Rainbow Dash crashed to the ground beside them.

“Dash!” Sunset cried. “You okay?”

Rainmbow got to her feet and wiped away the small trickle of blood coming from her nose. “I think we're wearing him down!”

She zipped off in a flash of colors. Sunset turned tot he rest of the group.  

“Okay, step one, we fix Frank. Step two, we get the hell out of here.”

“No,” Twilight objected. “Step one, we get out of this room before somebody sends a squad in to tranq us again. No, wait, that's step two.”

Twilight ran over to the large doors leading into the observation room. There was a keycard reader next to them. She raised her hands and wrenched the panel off the wall, exposing the wiring. She quickly grabed a handful of wires and started fiddling with them.

“My kingdom for some wire strippers,” she muttered.

“Here ya go!” Pinkie chirped, appearing beside her with the tool in question. Twilight blinked as she took them and stared at her friend.

“How...?”

“Eh, picked them up somewhere. Nobody ever searches the hair.”

Twilight opened her mouth, but Sunset called out to them.

“Twilight, whatever you're doing, do it fast!”

Twilight clipped a pair of wires, stripped the insulation off the ends, then twisted them together. There was a spark and the smell of ozone. A loud clunk could be heard from the doors. Twilight nodded in satisfaction then dashed to the normal sized door nearby and repeated the process.

As she and Pinkie went back to rejoin Sunset and Fluttershy, a thought occurred to her.

“Wait a minute. You have wire strippers in your hair, but nothing sugary to activate your powers?”

“Well, I did. But y'know...”

Pinkie leaned in close to whisper in Twilight's ear. “... I stress eat.”

Twilight opened her mouth, then thought the better of it. “Come on. Let's go fix our friend.”
> Healing, Surprises, and Sequins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Pony up!” Sunset called. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity immediately cut their attacks on the Ursa short. Rainbow grabbed the handles of Rarity's wheelchair and sped them both back to the rest of the group, Applejack following behind.  

When all seven were together, Rarity created a large crystal dome around them as protection. Frank, startled at their sudden departure at first, quickly recovered and let out another roar before rushing to the dowm and smashing his claws into the top.

“Whatever we're going to do, we better do it quickly!” said Rarity, her face flushed with the strain of keeping the dome together. “I don't know how long I can hold him back!”

Sunset's mind raced, trying to remember how to trigger the healing explosion of magic that all seven of them had produced before. So far, it had always simply triggered when all of them were together, but in this case it wasn't happening.  

There was another roar anda crash, causing the girls to let out a cry of surprise as cracks began forming in the dome overhead.  

“Sunset...” Twilight's voice was tinged with panic. Sunset closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind, hoping that something would come to her. Some magic word, or action, or something that could help her and her friends...

Friends.

“Join hands!” Sunset cried. Another crash rocked the dome and more fractures appeared.

“Is this the time for that kind of touch feely crap?” Rainbow asked.

“Just do it, for corn's sake, Rainbow Dash!” Applejack snapped back. She grabbed one of Dash's hands and took Pinkie's in the other. The rest of the girls followed suit, forming a ring. At that point three things happened at once: Frank smashed his claws into the dome causing the whole crystal structure to dissipate into magic dust, the girls formed a ring with their linked hands, and Sunset felt something similar to a circuit closing in her fingers. 

Instantly, the magic coursed through all seven girls. Each felt a sudden soothing warmth on their right cheek as cutie marks appeared there. Rainbow colored light becang to eminate from them, causing Frank to wince at the sudden intensity and stagger back. 

The girls felt the prison scrubs they were wearing ripple and change. Much to their surprise, the new clothes were not the ones they had acquired and ponied up into since Camp Everfree. 

Twilight was now clad in a near sleeveless periwinkle tunic, her cutie mark emblazoned on her chest with a flared purple skirt and slightly lighter purple tights underneath. The entire look was topped off with black boots covered in stars and a tiara on her head.

Sunset's outfit was even more vibrant. A red sequined gown with matching tights. Knee high black boots topped with a yellow flame motif. A tiara of spikes atop her head.

Rainbow's outfit was simple and practical: a long blue and red tunic with her cutie mark on her chest, black sequined tights and a pair of winged multicolored high top sneakers. 

Fluttershy's was even more basic; A purple sequined wrap dress with an open green overskirt aroudn her hips and pink flat shoes with white butterflies on the toes. 

Pinkie's new outfit, as expected, was a poofy pink and blue balloon of sequins complete with white and gold ankle boots. 

Applejack's was probably both the least flashy and most practical. A blue denim shirt, cowgirl boots, and a flowing ruffled red skirt with the apparenly now required sequins. 

By contrast, Rarity's was nearly mythological. An off the shoulder tunic dress with a gold belt and tiara dotted with sapphires. Sandal style boots in gold that came up to her knees and the piece-de-resistance; a flowing shoulder cape.

They had no time to appreciate their new looks though. No sooner was the transformation complete, than the now-familiar magic double rainbow spiraled upward from the circle of friends, reached its peak and crashed down onto the Ursa, who let out another surprised roar. However, it wasn't the only surprise.

As soon as the rainbow hit Frank, a beam splintered off and smashed into Rarity, causing her to let out her own shocked yelp. The girls gasped as Rarity's form became lost in the swirl of color. Soon, however, the magic ceased and both Rarity and Frank crashed to the ground.

Sunset glanced over at Frank, who was now back to his normal size and shape. Something that could have been steam or smoke but was actually neither was coming off his fur. She turned to the girls. 

“Fluttershy, go check on Frank. Applejack, go with her in case he gets physical again. The rest of us will check on Rarity.”

“Right,” said AJ. “C'mon, Fluttershy.”

The other girls crowded around Rarity, who was on her back on the ground. Her eyelids fluttered and they opened. She looked up at Sunset.

“Was it like that for you?” she asked, her voice small.

“Maybe?” Sunset's expression was vague. “I'm not sure. Are you okay?”

“I think so.” Rarity sat up and wiggled her feet. “Everything seems to be all right.”

“Do that again!” Twilight demanded.

“Twilight, what --” Sunset began, but Twilight held up a hand cutting her off.

“Do what you just did again, Rarity,” she repeated, less forcefully this time.

Rarity looked at her confused, but her feet wiggled once more. Then her eyes widened.

“Did I just move my feet?” she said, her voice tinged with wonder.

“Yes!” Pinkie cried, throwing her arms around the fashionista. “You did! You got your legs back!”

“Let's take it slow,” said Twilight, “We don't know that for sure. Rainbow, help me.”

Twilight put one of Rarity's arms around her shoulders, while Rainbow took the other one. Then slowly, all three girls got to a standing position. Rarity set her jaw, then lifted her arms and took a few halting steps forward. She staggered a bit, but quickly recovered. 

“It's like my feet are asleep, but I can feel the pins and needles!” Delight was evident in her voice. She took a few more steps, gently at first, then with more assurance. Soon, she was moving with increasing speed, almost running. She turned back to her friends, tears of joy glinting in the corners of her eyes.

“I CAN WALK!”
> Accusations, Denials, and Decisions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You used me.”

Tempest stared at the Director, who was himself looking out the shattered observation window Sunset Shimmer had just leaped out of.  

“Amazing,” he said, observing Twilight Sparkle catching the falling girl in her telekinetic field. “This could be more useful than I thought.”

He reached out and tapped a button on the console, activating the ventilation fans. The knockout gas began being sucked out of the room. Tempest's lip curled up in a snarl and she grabbed the Director's shoulderand shoved him so he was facing her.

“You used me!”  

The director frowned and straightened his jacket. “You forget yourself, agent.”

“You killed Glitter Drops!”

“I did no such thing. I think you're letting whatever it was that girl did to us run away with you, agent.”

Tempest snorted. “Bullshit. I don't know what she did, but I know it was the truth.”

Tempest was certain of this. Everything made too much sense. Glitter's death, the disappearance of the nurse, the way Spring Rain wasn't as personable as he used to be before it all happened. Sunset Shimmer may have been able to break into her mind, but whatever the girl did, it wasn't planting deception.

“The truth?” The Director stepped forward, towering over her. Tempest looked up at him defiantly. “The truth is what I say it is, Agent Shadow. The truth is that I am still in command here. The truth is that you will continue to do exactly as I tell you, or you may soon find yourself in a very untenable position. That is the truth.”

“You can't gaslight me anymore, sir.” Tempest spat the word. “You've lied to me for too long and I'm not going to be fooled by you anymore.”

The Director stared at her and then laughed, loud and mocking. “Do you really think I care whether or not you're 'fooled' by me, agent? You are nothing. A grunt, a drone. Your only purpose is to follow my orders. And I think you know full well how much I dislike insubordination.”

The Director stepped back and gave her a grin. “Now, I'm willing to overlook this little tantrum of yours provided you get those girls back under lock and key... immediately.”

He didn't bother to wait for a response, turning instead to the door. “I'll send a squad down here to back you up. Don't disappoint me again, agent.”

“You KNOW it's the truth as much as I do!” Tempest snapped as he walked out the door. He paused and turned back at her.

“Maybe... but good luck proving it.”

The door closed. Tempest picked up a chair and threw it against the far wall with a scream. As soon as she did a double rainbow spiraled up into her field of vision from the observation room. She dashed back to the window and leaned out.

What the hell?!

The cryptid was gone, replaced by a perfectly normal bear. The girls were suddenly dressed in extremely flashy outfits, horse ears and wings in evidence. All of them had long ponytails that added to the anthropomorphic horse theme. Then, she saw something which made her eyes widen even further.

“I CAN WALK!” Rarity cried. She ran back toward her friends who caught her up in a massive group hug. They seperated after a moment and walked back toward the bear. Sunset Shimmer turned and Tempest stepped back from the window, out of the girl's sight.

She stood there, mulling over everything that had happened. If they were smart, the girls would have sabotaged the doors leading into Observation Two. But if they did that, they pretty much had trapped themselves and it was only a matter of time before the squad showed up to recapture them. 

Tempest looked at the door leading out of the observation booth then back at the console. Her mind whirled with ideas. What she needed was time, and to get time, she was going to need a distraction. 

The STORM agent walked back to the console and pressed a button labeled “Containment Level Transport.”

Down in the observation room, the girls yelped as the hidden doors in the far wall slid open and the platform with the broken vault began sliding backward out of the room. Tempest watched as they got the groggy bear up and moving and onto the platform just before the doors closed behind them.

Tempest nodded in satisfaction. That should do it.

She went to the door leading out of the observation booth. She had work to do and not a lot of time to do it.
> Chaos, Anarchy, and Choices
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was clear, from the reports coming to Tempest through her earpiece, that things were not going well for STORM. All the agents and security forces, plus the various lockdown procedures were apparently unable to cope with seven superpowered teenagers and a bear.

Of course, the fact that Tempest had subtly undermined many of those self-same lockdown procedures might have had something to do with that.

“They're on Level One!”

“Well, keep them there! If they get out the Director will have our asses.”

There was an odd squelching sound over the airwaves, then:

“I just got hit with an exploding danish!”

Tempest felt a smirk come to her face, but she quickly forced it away. She rounded the corner and frowned as she spotted Spring Rain running towards her. He nodded as he got closer.

“I've got a squad heading up to Level One!” he shouted. “If we hurry, we can get them back under containment and – HEY!”

The “HEY!” was because Tempest grabbed his arm and dragged him into a nearby supply closet. She slammed him up against the wall. Hard.

“What the hell, Tempest?!”  

“You killed the nurse,” she said, her voice cold.

“Nurse?” Rain blinked. “What nurse? What the hell are you talking about?”

“The one Glitter Drops helped escape. The one you killed because the Director wanted it. Just like you killed Dropsy later that night.”

She didn't need to hear him say it. His face going pale was all she needed. She slammed him into the wall again.

“You little weasel! We came through training together! What did she ever do to you!”

“I was following orders! Don't pretend you wouldn't have done the same thing!”

“I wouldn't!” Tempest snarled. “She was my friend!”

“Wake up!” Rain shouted back. “No one says no to the Director! You know that! If I hadn't, I'd have wound up just like her eventually! I'm sorry I did it, but I had no choice!”

Tempest glared at him, her nostrils flaring. “Well, I'm giving you one right now.”

She let him go and stared him down. “Option One: You confess to what you did to the higher ups. You testify against the Director and you live with whatever consequences come after that.”

Rain returned the glare. “Fat chance,” he sneered.

Tempest's eyes narrowed and she reached into her jacket.  

“Which brings me to Option Two.”

She pulled out her sidearm and clicked the safety off. The sound filled the small closet. Spring Rain's eyes widened as Tempest pressed the barrel to his forehead.

“Time to make your choice.”
> Secrets, Offices, and Post-Its
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The girls and Frank finally managed to get to the office building above the bunker. Squeezing Frank through the narrow doorways had been difficult, but the problem was quickly solved by Applejack punching a few strategically placed holes in the wall. Twilight then used the debris to create barricades for the STORM forces behind them. This had enabled them to buy some time to get out.  

“Looks like we made it!” Rainbow said, looking out another door. “I can see the lobby out there!”

“Any guards?” Rarity asked.  

“Not that I can see.”

“Not exactly helpful, darling.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Yeah, but I dunno... holy crap!”

She backed off from the door and let it close, holding it open just a crack. “It's that Stormking guy!”

Sunset looked up and pushed her way through the group. Behind her, Frank snorted.  

“Shhh, quiet, Frank!” Fluttershy whispered. “We're almost out.”

Sunset crouched next to Rainbow and looked out the crack. Stormking stepped into the elevator. The doors closed and the indicator lights above the doors began illuminating.

“Hmmm,” Sunset thought.  

“What's up?” asked Rainbow.

“Getting out of here isn't going to be enough,” said Sunset. “What we're going to need is some hard evidence of what he's doing with STORM to get him off our backs for good.”

She continued to watch the elevator lights. It stopped on the fourth floor.  

“How do we get that kind of evidence?” Twilight asked.

“I have an idea. Twilight, you come with me. We're going to pay a visit to his office.”

“What about us?” Rainbow asked.

Sunset grinned. “You guys get to be the distraction.”





Stormking slammed his briefcase onto the desk of the office he had commandeered when he arrived. It was all unraveling. He cursed his own shortsightedness. It wasn't supposed to be like this. They were teenagers for God's sake. They were supposed to have been crying and whining to go home or promising anything to get out of trouble.  

Now, they were making fools of his organization. The basis of his empire. That could not be tolerated.

The phone on the desk rang. He snatched up the receiver. “Yes?”

“Sir, they've made it to the lobby. They're tearing the place apart!”

Stormking frowned. That wasn't right. If he were in their position, he would have headed out of the building as fast as possible and tried to leave the compound.  

“What about down in the bunker?”

“Chaos, sir,” reported the operative on the phone. “They tore the place up on their way out and blocked most of their path behind them. Most of the team is trapepd down there for now. Should I call the guard outside and have them move in?”

Stormking considered for a moment then said “No, Have someone meet me at the back loading dock. I have an idea.”

“Yes, sir.”

Stormking opened a drawer in the desk and took out his own sidearm. He checked to make sure it was loaded and shoved it into his jacket. He left the office and stormed down the corridor toward the elevator at the rear of the building.

As his footsteps echoed away, the door to the stairwell in that corridor opened, and Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle stepped out. They hurried to the office and Twilgiht used her telekinesis to deal with the door lock.

“This is becoming a bad habit,” she muttered.

“What?” Sunset asked.

“Nothing.”

The door clicked and the two entered the office. They made their way over to the deak, where the briefcase was still sitting on top of it.

“What are we looking for?” Twilight asked.

“Anything that can help us,” Sunset answered. She went to the breifcase and pressed the latches. Much to her surprise, they popped open.  

“Lucky us,” Sunset murmured. She opened the case and let out a pleased noise. She reached in and pulled out the laptop computer strapped inside. She opened the computer and let out a groan.

“Of course. A password.”

Twilight edged her aside. “Let me take a crack at it.”

“Do you  have time?”

“Not  really, no. Check the rest of the case. Maybe you can find something.”

As Twilight worked, Sunset dug through the case. Aside from a few random case files and office supplies, there was nothing that seemed out of the ordinary. She picked up a pad of post-it notes and sighed. She idly ran her thumb over the top sheet.

“Wait a second,” she said. She ran her thumb over it again. Yes, there were definitely impressions in the paper. She put the pad on the desk and grabbed a pencil from the case. She pressed the side of the lead to the paper and began dragging it back and forth.  

She smiled as letters and numbers became legible on the paper. She passed the note to Twilight.

“Try this.”

Twilight looked at her, then at the pad, then entered the string of characters into the password field. The two of them stared as the desktop came up.

Twilight laced her fingers and cracked her knuckles. “All right. Now let's see what else we can find.”
> Confrontation, Suspense, and the Truth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“This is ridiculous!” Rarity said, dropping her arms.

The girls had been tearing up the lobby ever since Sunset and Twilight had sneaked upstairs. The place was a shambles. And yet, no STORM agents or soldiers had shown up to deal with them.  

“Somethin' ain't right here,” said Applejack.

“I agree,” replied Rarity. “We should have been fending them off like mad almost as soon as we started.”

“Maybe we're just that awesome,” said Rainbow with a grin. “We blocked them off downstairs and they're all too chicken to come up here from outside!”

“Or there's something else going on,” said Fluttershy. She as sitting on the floor, leaning up against Frank, who had curled up in one corner of the room.

“Most likely,” came Sunset's voice. The girls crowded around as she and Twilight emerged from the stairway. “So let's not be stupid about this. Okay?”





A few minutes later the front doors to the building opened and the seven girls and the bear emerged onto the steps leading down toward the parking lot.  

Five seconds after that, spotlights blazed to life, freezing the girls in place. Out in front of them wwere several armored vehicles and a plethora of agents and guards. All with weapons trained on them.

And in front of them was the Director, who grinned widely.

“It's been amusing, ladies,” said the Director, “But it's time for you all to be good girls and go back to your cells.”

“Fat chance!” Rainbow snapped.  

Stormking laughed. “Look around you! There's two dozen highly trained agents here all with itchy trigger fingers. It's very simple. Fight and they turn you all into a smear on the pavement. Or you can surrender and serve your country.”

“Don't you mean 'serve you?'” Twilight asked, her face hard.

The Director's smile turned into a frown. “What?”

“We found your laptop,” Sunset explained. “You really should have torn off more post-its from the pad you wrote your password on.”

“At least you were smart enough to use random characters,” Twilight added.  

“Some very interesting stuff on there,” Sunset continued. “Especially in that second hard drive you have. You have a lot of people who owe you favors, don't you? I wonder what the press and some of the other members of Congress would think if they saw that.”

“Not to mention the long term plans,” Twilight said. “Detention centers, dissident re-education programs, the abolition of term limits, and a whole bunch of other stuff that violates the Constitution.”

“And that's just what we had time to look at,” said Sunset. “We transferred a whole bunch of it to the cloud. Not everything, but we're pretty sure we grabbed enough to keep you occupied with subcommittees and investigations for years.

“Oh, and in case you think you can just kill us and that information will just sit there, we sent the link and the password to several trusted people with explicit instructions.”

“Basically,” said Twilight, “If we don't show up at Canterlot High on Monday morning, they're going to access those files and send them to as many members of Congress and the media as possible. You might have enough time to start running in that case, but either way, everyone will know exactly what you are, Director Stormking.:

Stormking's teeth clenched and his expression turned ugly. “No one will believe you.”

“I think they will,” came a voice. Tempest Shadow came into the spotlights. “Especially after what happened to Glitter Drops and the nurse comes to light.”

Stormking's nostrils flared. “I told you before, you have nothing concerning that!”

“I have Spring Rain. He's currently in one of the detention cells,” Tempest replied. “He's more than eager to save his own skin. And then there's all the missions you sent me on.”

Stormking let out a bark of humorless laughter. “Do you really think you're going to escape unscathed from all this, agent?”

“No, sir,” Tempest said. “But I'm pretty sure that the things Agent Rain and I have to say about you would get us some leniency.”

Stormking snapped his head to the side. “Open fire!” he barked to the troops.

There was silence. Then, Lightning Dust turned and pointed her sidearm at the Director.

“I'm sorry, sir, but I don't think we can do that,” she said.

“I AM IN CHARGE HERE, AGENT!” Stormking bellowed.  

“Pursuant to investigation of the charges Agent Shadow is proffering, I'm afraid I have to relieve you of duty, sir,” Lightning Dust responded.  

Stormking stared as the rest of the troops trained their weapons on him. Then, faster than anyone expected, he had his own gun out and was swinging it toward Tempest.  

“YOU TRAITOROUS LITTLE BITCH!”

The gun fired and Tempest instinctively threw her hands up to cover her face.  

Then there was silence, and Tempest opened her eyes. A large crystal shield was in front of her. The bullet had embedded itself halfway through. The crystal disintegrated and the bullet fell to the ground. Tempest turned to see Rarity smiling at her.

“Thank you,” Tempest said, a little stunned.

“Think nothing of it, darling.”

Stormking yelped as he was tackled to the ground by three agents and restrained. Lightning Dust got up and turned to Tempest. “Orders, ma'am?”

Tempest blinked. “What?”

“You're the senior agent on site, ma'am,” said Dust. “So, for now, you're in charge. What should we do?”

Tempest looked from Stormking's hate ridden face to the seven girls who had caused her so much trouble over the past week. They all looked anxious, uncertain if they could trust her. Even the bear seemed unusually contrite. Tempest's gaze narrowed on Sunset Shimmer, who folded her arms and gave her a compassionate look.

“It's your choice, Tempest.”

Tempest took a deep breath, rubbed the bridge of her nose, then turned back to Lightning Dust. “Put him in the cells.”

The troops restraining the now-former Director hauled him to his feet and dragged him off. Stormking spouted obscenities as he was frog-marched back into the building.  

“And secure that laptop!” Tempest shouted to them.  

“What about them?” Lightning Dust asked, gesturing to the girls.

Tempest looked back at them, then sighed. “Get the bear back to the woods. As for these seven, give them their stuff back and take them home. We'll get their statements later.”

Again, she focused her gaze on Sunset Shimmer.  

“It's over,” she promised.
> Volunteering, Fallout, and Propositions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Well, it's the damnedest thing I've ever seen,” said Tough Love as he got up from the stool at the end of the exam table. “But, yeah, as far as I can tell, you've got a clean bill of health.”

“You could try not sounding so disappointed, darling,” said Rarity. She gave her now-former physical therapist a smirk. “Or were you planning something truly horrendous when I got back from my unexpected absence?”

“Maybe,” Tough Love said with a grin. “I went to the county museum while you were gone. Spent a lot of time in the medieval section getting ideas.”

“I knew it! You may have others fooled, but not me, you fraudulent mountebank!”

The two of them laughed, and Tough Love folded his arms as he leaned up against the counter.  

“Honestly, I think I'm going to miss the insults most of all.”

“Well,” Rarity said, looking down at her feet. “I had some thoughts on that.”

“Oh?”

“I've been thinking about all the other patients who come here. People who aren't lucky enough to have magic on their side which can miraculously heal their injuries.”

“What are you saying, Rarity?”

Rarity looked up. “Well, obviously, I'm not qualified to help with actual therapy or anything like that, but if the clinic could use a volunteer to wash towels or wipe down equipment or things of that sort, I'd like to help.”

Tought Love blinked. “You want to volunteer?”

Rarity nodded. “I think I should give something back. I got lucky. I was only incapacitated for a couple of weeks. I feel like I should be helping those who are going to be dealing with their problems for longer.”

Tough Love considered for a few moments. “Well, I'd have to check with my boss, but I think we could use a little part-time help around here.”

Rarity let out a squeal of delight and leaped off the table. She threw her arms around Tough Love's neck and hugged him. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Tough Love managed to escape Rarity's bear hug. “Okay, you're welcome. Good grief, any more of that and I'm the one that'll need help.”

Rarity flashed him a wicked grin. “Turnabout is fair play, darling.”





The girls were called out of class the next afternoon. They were sent to the conference room when they arrived and found that Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna were there talking to Tempest Shadow.

“Ah, girls,” said Celestia as the door opened. “Come in. Have a seat.”

“What's she doing here?” Rainbow Dash said, suspicion heavy in her voice.

“Agent Shadow – “ Luna began, before she was cut off by Tempest clearing her throat. “Ah yes, excuse me. Ms. Shadow has a few loose ends she needs to wrap up concerning everything that's happened over the last couple of weeks.”

“'Ms. Shadow?'” Sunset asked, frowning. Tempest let out a small sigh.

“That's the first thing. STORM is being reorganized. After everything involving Stormking went to the right people, a special subcommittee started an investigation. For right now, STORM operations are suspended, as are all field agents.”

“Who's runnin' the show now?” Applejack asked.

“The subcommittee appointed an interim director. She has a much less draconian view of how things ought to be run.”

“Well, that's good,” said Twilight. “But that still doesn't explain why you're here.”

Tempest opened a manila folder on the table in front of her. She pulled out some papers and distributed them to each girl. “First off, this is a formal apology from the government for your illegal arrest and incarceration. Everyone involved has been suspended, demoted, or terminated from the agency.”

“'Terminated?'” Fluttershy squeaked.  

Tempest smiled. “Terminated as in 'fired,' don't worry. Additionally, financial compensation will be sent to your parents or guardians. The checks will be made out in your names, so what you do with them is entirely up to you.”

“How much are we talking?” asked Rainbow, leaning forward.

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity snapped. “Must you be so crass?”

Tempest looked at Sunset. “Since you are living on your own, I was able to bring yours to you directly.”

The former agent slid an envelope across the table. Sunset picked it up and opened it, looking at the check inside. Her eyes bulged out of her head. “This is...”

“What the government feels is adequate compensation for the time and inconvenience of the investigation,” Tempest finished.  

“How much is it?” Rainbow demanded.

Sunset passed the check to her. Rainbow looked at the amount and let out a barely audible squeak. Sunset took the check back and put it in her pocket.

“You all got the same amount,” said Tempest. “As I said, what you choose to do with it is up to you. There's one other thing, Miss Shimmer.”

Sunset's frown returned. “And what is that?”

“After talking with the interim director, she and I agreed that some extra compensation was in order for your assistance in clearing up the matter of Agent Drops' death and the disappearance of Cantata Luster. So she pulled some strings.”

Tempest pulled more papers from the file and passed them over. Sunset looked at them and stared even harder at them than she had at the check.  

“What is it, Sunset?” Fluttershy asked.  

“Papers,” Sunset replied. She looked up at Tempest in shock. “Legitimate naturalization papers.”

“Congratulations,” Tempest grinned. “You're officially a citizen, with all the rights and privileges there unto.”

Sunset looked back down at the certificate of citizenship, the Social Security card, and all the other bits and pieces that meant she now officially existed. She felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She could get a driver's license. She could go to college. She had a future.

She looked up at Tempest. “Thank you!”

“I thought it was the least we could do,” Tempest replied. “The documents you had weren't going to last forever.”

Sunset suddenly found herself in a congratulatory group hug as her friends nearly tackled her to the ground in enthusiasm.

“WOOO! SUNSET OFFICIALLTY EXISTS PARTYYYYYY!!!” Pinkie Pie bellowed as confetti, streamers and balloons popped out of nowhere.  

The hug ended and the girls took their seats. Tempest brushed some confetti off her shoulder and closed the folder. “There is one more thing though.”

“And what's that?” Sunset asked.

“When STORM is up and running again, things will be different, but we're still interested in what's been happening out here.”

“We're not working for you,” Twilight said firmly. “Don't even ask.”

“I wasn't going to. The interim director has determined that whatever it is happening, it seems to be largely confined to Canterlot City and its immediate environs. Moreover, it seems that you girls have things pretty much under control on that front.”

“So, you're NOT going to force us to become some sort of magical girl hit squad?” Rainbow asked, confusion in her voice.

“No,” Tempest replied. She turned her gaze back to Sunset. “However, we would like to be kept abreast of any sort of magical incursions that you encounter. Informal reports, if you will. In return, we can help ensure that no one else gets suspicious of what happens out here or what you can do.”

“Who would we report to?” Sunset asked.  

“Me,” Tempest responded. “When the re-org is finished, I'm not going to be a field agent anymore. I'll be riding a desk. The interim director feels that since I already have the background on you girls, I'd be suited to act as your liaison.”

“So if we encounter anything magical that we have to deal with, we report what happens to you, and STORM covers it up?”

“If necessary,” Tempest replied. “But let me be clear. This is a request, not an order. If you decide you don't want to associate with us, that's fine, but we can't guarantee what you do won't garner public attention, and that might lead to other people like Stormking, or worse, taking an interest in you and your abilities.”

“Is that a threat?” Rainbow Dash frowned. Tempest blinked.

“No, just what I said, a request. If you work with us, we can protect your secret. If you decide not to, we can't. It's that simple. It all depends on how much of a liability you'd consider us at this point. Personally, I wouldn't blame you for turning the offer down after everything that's happened.”

The girls looked at each other, then at Sunset, who was sitting in thought. She folded her arms and looked at Tempest. “What about a trial run?”

Tempest blinked. “I'm sorry, I'm not following you.”

“Show us STORM can do what it says it can,” Sunset explained. “There is one thing left over from all this that we need taken care of that we can't do ourselves. If you can pull it off, then I think we can work with you under those conditions.”

“What do you need?”

Sunset told her.
> Repercussions, Consequences, and the Days That Followed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Firecracker Burst's funeral was held the following Saturday. The turnout from Canterlot High was substantial. Everyone said it was a lovely service, and offered their condolences to Blazing Spark and Shiny Stars. Firecracker's parents nodded and smiled and said all the right things.

Sunset Shimmer watched from a distance as the funeral began to break up. That was it. It was finally over. Soon, the coffin would be in the ground, Firecracker's parents would finally say goodbye to their late daughter, and the entire nightmare of the last few weeks would be behind everyone involved.

“I'm surprised you didn't come with your friends.”

Sunset blinked and turned to find Gardenia Glow standing next to her. Firecracker's girlfriend ran a hand through her hair. “I didn't see you at the service at the church.”

“I was in the back of the room,” Sunset explained. “I thought it'd be better if I just hid in the crowd. Didn't want to agitate her parents again.”

Gardenia nodded. “I can see that.”

They stood there in silence, watching as the funeral attendees went their separate ways. After a while, Firecracker's parents began to walk away from the grave site, leaving the coffin behind.

“So, who's in there?” Gardenia asked, nodding at the coffin.

“As far as I know, no one,” Sunset answered. There hadn't been anything left of Firecracker to bury.

“That fed help you set all this up?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“How did you arrange that?”

“Helped her solve another case she was working on,” Sunset said. Not the whole truth, but Gardenia didn't really need to know or necessarily care about that. “In return, we got her off our backs, and she helped arrange all... this.”

Gardenia nodded again. “So what does the world at large think happened to her?”

“Accident in the woods. She went for a hike and slipped off a cliff.”

Gardenia finally turned her head to look at Sunset. “That's pretty thin.”

“Tempest said the simpler the story, the better,” said Sunset. “Less chance of it unraveling.”

Gardenia let out a sound of assent. “I suppose that makes sense.”

The two of them stood for a moment, watching as the coffin was lowered into the grave. Sunset turned her own head to look at Gardenia.

“Did you get your sister set up with your aunt?” she asked.

“Next week. She's staying with me for now. We had that funeral while you were... gone.”

Sunset nodded. “I should probably go.”

“Yeah,” said Gardenia. “Me too.”

The two of them began to walk away from each other. After a few steps, Sunset turned around.

“Gardenia!”

Gardenia paused, and looked back over her shoulder. “What is it, Sunset?”

Sunset opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “Good luck, Gardenia.”

Gardenia looked at her then walked back. “I tried to kill myself because of you. Did you know that?”

Sunset swallowed and nodded. “Yeah. Firecracker told Rarity. Rarity told me. I don't know what to say. Nothing sounds right.”

“Then don't say anything, because honestly, I don't want to hear it. You hurt me, Sunset Shimmer. You hurt me in a way that you can't fix. But, like I said before, I forgive you for all of that. And if this really is all over, then let's just say goodbye and try very hard to never see each other again.”

Sunset swallowed again and nodded. Gardenia let out a sigh through her nose, turned, and walked away.  





Sunday, the girls convened at Rarity's house to help her move back to her upstairs bedroom from the downstairs guest room where she'd been sleeping since her paralysis. It didn't take long, since there was no furniture moving involved. Within a couple of hours, all seven of them were eating pizza and relaxing. Rarity had excused herself a few minutes before. As Applejack and Rainbow Dash began arguing over who would get the last slice of pizza, she came back into the room, carrying a large white garment box.  

Rarity sat down on the bed next to Sunset and placed the box on her lap. Sunset looked down at the box in confusion.  

“What's this?”

Rarity smiled. “Just a little something I've been working on for you during the last couple of weeks. Go try it on!”

“What, without looking at it?”

“Surprise us all, darling!” Rarity insisted. “I think it's some of my best work to date.”

“Well, if you insist.” Sunset got up from the bed and went into  Rarity's huge walk in closet.  

“What did you make her?” Applejack asked.

“Remember when you two were planning to go to Klugetown?” Rarity asked. “Sunset said she was having doubts about wearing her old outfit. I thought maybe a change was in order.”

As if on cue, the bedroom door opened and Sunset walked in. The girls let out assorted noises of approval and surprise.

Sunset was dressed in an orange top that left her shoulders bare. Her cutie mark was stenciled onto the front and accented with glitter. A magenta skirt was wrapped around her hips and featured two buckles that held it in place. A black studded belt separated the two items. A matching pair of black ankle boots with similar studded straps were on her feet.

But the capper was the leather vest with gold studs on the collar and lapels. The entire ensemble said tough, but friendly. Sunset herself was grinning from ear to ear. Tears were visible in the corner of her eyes.

“Do you like it, darling?” Rarity asked.

“It's perfect!” Sunset cheered. “How did you do this?”

“When we talked about your old outfit, I noticed that you still had a little nostalgia for it, so I thought perhaps you needed something similar, but different. So I simply reversed the colors of the top and bottom, letting everyone know that you've turned yourself around. I made things a little more open, making you seem more inviting. And right there...” Rarity pointed at Sunset's chest. “Your insignia.”

“Cutie mark,” Sunset automatically corrected.  

Rarity smiled. “Either way, darling. You mentioned something about accepting it again, so it seemed time to start wearing it openly.”

Sunset came forward and hugged her friend. “Thank you so much!”

Rarity returned the hug. And soon, Sunset found herself surrounded by her friends in another group hug. After a few moments, they separated and went back to chatting, goofing around, and other assorted activities.

Sunset glanced at herself in her new outfit again in the mirror. It felt good. Another crisis had been dealt with, and they had all come out of it stronger than ever. She felt like she could take on anything the world, or the magic, could throw at her.

Suddenly, there was a loud pounding sound and the door to the bedroom burst open, revealing a very flushed and disheveled Princess Twilight Sparkle. She looked at the group with a crazed eye.

“WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?!” she yelled, concern in her voice. The other girls looked at her, then at each other, then burst out laughing. Princess Twilight blinked, then stared at them, one eye twitching.

“Did I miss something?” she asked.

Sunset waved her into the room. “Come on in, Princess. I think we've all got a lot to catch each other up on.”





“And that's it?” asked the interim director of STORM over the sound system in Tempest's rental car.

“Yes, ma'am. They've agreed to the informal reports now that the funeral has been taken care of.”

“Good, I'm glad.”

“Anything else we need out here, ma'am?” Tempest asked.  

“No, head back to the office tomorrow, Tempest. I think we're done in Canterlot City for a while. Thank you.”

“Thank you, Director Shimmer.”

Tempest ended the call and pulled out into traffic.