//------------------------------// // Line Two // Story: In the Days That Followed // by shallow15 //------------------------------// “Principal Celestia,” came the voice of Raven Quill, the school secretary through the intercom. “Phone call for you on line two.” Celestia sighed and put down the forms she was looking at. “Take a message and tell them I'll call them back this afternoon, please.” “Um... it's Mayor Mare, Principal. She sounds kind of... frantic, to be honest.” Celestia rolled her eyes. When doesn't she? “All right, I'll take it. Thank you, Raven.” She picked up the receiver and punched line two. “Hello, Mayor.” “Have you been getting any unusual calls from the government?” The mayor did, indeed, sound frantic. “No, aside from the usual stuff from the CEA, the state's been pretty quiet.” “Not the state. Federal government.” Celestia's eyes widened. “What's happened?” “Nothing yet,” the mayor admitted. “But my office has been fielding calls from some government agency I've never heard of. They were asking about the incident at the mall last week, as well as the one back in July.” “I see.” “That's not all though. They were also asking about the incident at the Canterlot Bowl.” Celestia felt her teeth clench. The incident in question was the Battle of the Bands and the fight against the Dazzlings. While the official story had been that the giant sea monsters and laser unicorn was stage pyrotechnics and holograms, it had also been the one incident Celestia had been certain would attract the wrong kind of attention. “What agency are we talking about?” she asked. “One second. Um... the Specialized Taskforce Overseeing Remarkable Matters.” “Never heard of them. Did they say what department they're with?” “I've been avoiding the calls, to be honest. My assistant has been asking what it's all about.” Celestia sighed. “Mayor...” “I know, I know, but I don't know what to tell them!” The mayor let out a sigh of her own. “You assured me no one would believe what's been happening, Celestia.” “I know, but we need to keep up the front for as long as we can. We can't let those girls wind up as lab rats or, god forbid, part of some idiotic attempt to militarize the power they have.” “So what do I tell them? I can't keep dodging them forever.” “Stick to the story we established,” Celestia said. “As long as we're consistent, we should at the very least be able to buy some time to figure something else out.” “What are you going to be doing?” “Try to find out more about who these people are and who they report to. Do you have a contact name?” “Yes, it's... hang on... Tempest Shadow.” Celestia frowned and looked at the post-it note on her desk with the same name and, she assumed, the same phone number. “Right. I'll make some calls and get back to you as soon as I can.” “Do it fast, please. Sooner or later, I'm going to have to talk to them and I'll try to keep up the act, but from what my assistant said, this Tempest Shadow person seems really sharp.” “Right. I'll get back to you in a day or two. If you hear from them again, let me know.” “All right. I hope you know what you're doing, Celestia.” “So do I.” They made their goodbyes and the principal hung up the phone. She punched a button on her intercom. “Luna, could you come in here for a minute?” “On my way,” came her sister's voice. After a minute, Luna walked into the office and sat down. “What's going on?” “Trouble,” Celestia answered. She filled Luna in on the conversation she had with the mayor. “That's not good,” Luna concluded. “What do you need me to do?” “Do you still have those... friends of yours online?” Luna frowned. “Are you sure you want to go that route? That's skirting dangerously close to the line.” Celestia sighed. “I know, but I'm not going into this blind, and I'm damn sure not forcing Sunset and her friends to do the same. I want to know exactly who these people are and who they answer to. We don't have the time to file an FOIA request, so that just leaves your old gang.” Luna nodded. “I'll need to secure the connection when we get home, but I'll see what I can do. What am I looking for?” “Anything on something called the Specialized Taskforce Overseeing Remarkable Matters, and someone who works for them named Tempest Shadow. They're the one who keeps calling here and the mayor's office.” Luna jotted the names down on a post-it and looked at them. “Oh lord. We may be dealing with some seriously unhinged people here.” “What do you mean?” “The acronym,” Luna replied. “It's one of those that screams whoever started it wanted to sound intimidating and figured out what the letters stood for afterward. 'STORM.' Honestly.” “Silly name or not, we need to know who they are and what their track record is. Can they be reasoned with, or are they prone to sending in SWAT teams and asking questions later?” Luna nodded again. “I need to make some calls before I make any overtures online. My friends can be jumpy.” “Thank you, Luna,” Celestia said. “I appreciate it.” “We'll see how you feel when they start asking what's in it for them.” Luna got up and pocketed the note. “I'll let you know how it went later tonight at home.” With that, the vice principal left the office. Celestia slumped back in her chair and turned to face the window. This is not what I signed up for when I decided to become an educator. She turned her head to look at the picture of herself and Luna on the desk. It had been taken her senior year at Canterlot High, when Luna was starting as a freshman. A strange event had happened back then too, when the Friendship Games had been first proposed and held. Nowhere near as strange as what was happening now, of course, but the more she thought about it, the more Celestia had to admit the school seemed to be a magnet for all sorts of oddities and strange events. Only now, the strange events were becoming more dangerous and if not handled correctly, would not end well for anyone involved. Celestia swiveled back to her desk and reached into the bottom drawer. She withdrew a shot glass and a small bottle of bourbon. She poured out a shot and downed it, wincing as the liquor burned her throat on its way down. She returned the glass and bottle to the drawer and went back to her paperwork, trying to keep her concerns at bay until Luna returned with some answers.