//------------------------------//
// Chapter 247: Remembering 
// Story: XCOM: Ranger 
// by Wanderer D 
//------------------------------//


XCOM: Ranger


Chapter 247: Remembering


By Wanderer D






"So what am I supposed to talk about here?" Adagio asked, looking across the desk at the counselor. "You know, there's another place where—"

"There's a pony version of me that is a princess," Luna interrupted, "I know."

"Well you both like to take the fun out of life."

If Counselor Luna was intimidated by having a chrono-dimensionally-partially-phased-expat-siren that was the template of which deadly psionic-wielding cyborgs were made of, she did not show it. "You don't say."

Adagio had to admit she was somewhat impressed. "I don't feel like talking much about myself."

Luna shrugged. "Then talk about something else."

Adagio ran her tongue against her teeth as she glanced around the place. "This new Sunset Shimmer," she said, "how different is she from our Sunset?"

"Our Sunset?" Luna asked, blinking.

"I was there when Sunset went to Canterlot High," Adagio said, looking at Luna straight in the eye. "I remember when you took her under your wing after History class, when she broke that kid's nose for bullying Abacus."

Luna's eyes went wide. "I-yes, I remember that."

"I don't have the same intimate knowledge of this Equestrian Sunset Shimmer, other than she's apparently a badass, which my Sunset would approve of."

Luna smiled. "That she would," she acknowledged, then leaned back. "You realize I can't tell you much about Miss Shimmer relating to her mental state. I can just share with you what amounts to publicly known facts." She paused. "Or at least commonly known within XCOM."

Adagio shrugged. "I've got an hour. So far I've caught up to date with most things until Princess Sparkle arrived."

Luna cleared her throat. "Well, I can't tell you much of what happened immediately after, just some general details. I know that shortly after Princess Twilight arrived and a closed meeting with the Commander, Bradford, Tygan, Lilly and Sunset, she was assigned to work at the lab, but also to undertake boot camp in order to have her be ready for this world. And while she was training, Jane and Sunset went on an extended mission to New Appaloosa."

Adagio nodded. "I'm not sure of the personal details between Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and our XCOM girls, but I do remember what happened. I think it was the first time I was able to take a good look at her through the system. I discovered that Julian had been unshackled, and that he was hacking Jane's pad. There was information about one of the XCOM invaders being heavily damaged, possibly killed."

"That would have been Jane," Luna said. "Sunset managed to get her to the old XCOM Base, and found a video on how to do blood tr—"

"Oh!" Adagio grinned, eyes wide. "The Doctors Gone Wild Video!" She laughed, leaning back. "I remember that, I was laughing so hard I had to phase myself out to let Sunset keep a mostly straight face through filming that."

Luna smiled. "I heard it was entertaining, although Sunset didn't share it with anyone."

"She did promise Vahlen only she would watch it," Adagio said, shrugging, "and only Sunset did."

"True enough, I guess," Luna agreed. "In any case, she transferred blood to Jane and managed to heal her."

"So a blood witch transferred blood to a victim," Adagio mused. "Not the smartest thing to do, unless she wanted to bind her to her will."

Luna grimaced. "I am unsure to whether Sunset Shimmer knew all the risks involved. The pair were recovered and returned to the Avenger, alongside Annette."

"Ah, yes, she's been giving me a wide berth since we arrived," Adagio said. "Not that I blame her, we weren't tight when we were in EXALT, but she and Aria… well."

"It was about this time that Twilight Sparkle went into her first mission… which was a trap set up by a traitor. I know that most of her team, except for Alejandra, were killed, and she herself made into a prisoner of the Assassin before Sunset and the others rescued her."

"Right."

"I don't know that much happened after until Sunset Shimmer's next mission. She left with Mox and Elena to join up with Angel, and they—"

"Angel?"

"Angel is… a viper," Luna said. "She and Sunset might have something going on, although there is a lot of speculation about things."

"Ah, yeah, I remember seeing her in the videos… and I think Chrysalis was in contact with her at some point while being trapped in the Network." Adagio grinned. "I thought you weren't allowed to mention personal details."

Luna huffed, crossing her arms. "That is common knowledge, I'm surprised you haven't heard about it yet."

Adagio shrugged. "So what happened next?"

"I believe that Sunset was almost killed during a chrysalid attack, and her friend and mentor Pratal Mox died as a result of saving her life."

"That's too bad," Adagio said softly, looking down at her shimmering, phased hands. "Mox was one of the few we got through to. Chrysalis and I really liked him."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not right now… just keep telling me the story."

"Of course." Luna took a deep breath. "After Mox's death, Sunset attended his funeral and was fully accepted as a Skirmisher herself, then she led her team into the Assassin's hideout and, although they were severely injured, they managed to kill her."

"Yeah." Adagio frowned. "It's too bad it had to be Aria, you know? I always thought she had more sense than that. Sonata, I'm not too surprised and Tirek just wants power… but Aria? That siren had a purpose, she had—" She cut herself off and shook her head. "Doesn't matter anymore, does it?"

"It might."

"Yeah, not doing that right now. So, Aria died. I remember that too, shook the whole Psi-Network and sent some upper echelons of ADVENT crying to mom and dad psionic overlords." She snorted. "So, what came next?"

Luna glanced at the clock.

"We still have half an hour counselor," Adagio smiled. "I'll let you do the talking."

"Fine. It wasn't much later on, after Sunset Shimmer had just healed from her injuries, that Twilight Sparkle had to return home." She hesitated. "Apparently something was happening in Equestria and they needed her and her Element to take care of it. That is when everyone in XCOM found out that Sunset and Twilight were aliens, and Dr. Estella emerged as a genius in the developing magi-tech field."

"You had an Element of Harmony in this ship?" Adagio asked, eyes wide. "What the hell?!"

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Like I would know, that's pony-gods level ordnance right there, and I hear that magic can make psionics explode."

"Well, the princess took it back… we haven't heard much from her directly since." Luna sighed. "Shortly after Twilight left for Equestria, Menace and Dragon teams were both sent over to New Appaloosa."

"Ah, that's the day the whole place went to hell," Adagio said. "I remember that too… ADVENT was in an uproar, New Appaloosa had been taken over by a hostile robotic force like they had never seen before, the doings of dear Julian and his side-kick Apple Bloom."

"Correct. Apple Bloom was severely injured during a fight and Julian, who has some complicated feelings for her apparently—"

"Speculation, counselor."

Luna gave her an annoyed look. "Julian created an entire process to convert her into a cyborg."

"Right, that, I did know."

"Of course." Luna leaned back. "No one knows exactly why, but shortly after that, during an infiltration mission, Fugue appeared and Sunset Shimmer was no more."

Adagio shook her head. 

"Aside from that, and the details of your own rescue thanks to you hacking into our system to let us watch the last battle of Stardust at the Temple Ship, along and the efforts of the commander and several soldiers and mercenaries to extract you, I believe you're up to date."

"With ten minutes to spare," Adagio said, grinning. "Mind if I head out? I'm supposed to meet the Commander after this, and I think I could use the time to center myself."

Luna chuckled. "Sure. But next time, you do the talking."

Adagio was already on her way out. "Sure, sure. See you soon, doc."


o.0.o End Chapter 247 o.0.o