Once safely back at Hunter’s apartment, Fluttershy worked to fully attend to her friends' injuries. Hunter had taken Sunset into the bathroom to dress her leg. She had stripped to her underwear and sat on the edge of the tub; Hunter straddled the edge of the tub beside her to clean and bandage the scratches. Having removed his shirt, Sunset could see the multitude of forming bruises on his torso from all the rock impacts he had absorbed.
“Those look like they hurt,” She reached out and lightly ran her finger over his shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’ll be alright.” Hunter assured with a chuckle. “At least Rarity and I will match, I know how important that is to a fashion forward gal like herself.” He smiled up at her. “You know, I have to admit; a girlfriend that can run ops with me… huge turn on.”
Sunset laughed. “That’s a line I never thought I’d hear.”
“Seriously though,” He nodded. “You all were fantastic out there; there are trained soldiers who have botched similar operations and every one of you was cool headed and on point.” He finished wrapping tape around her bandage and sat back. “You’re good, I suppose that means you have to put your clothes back on now.” He frowned.
“I can take them back off later.” She took his cheek and kissed him.
“My kind of debriefing.” He smiled.
“Hey you two,” Twilight’s voice followed a knock. “We’re set out here, are you almost done? I hope you’re maintaining professionalism.”
“Why don’t you come in and find out?” Hunter called back, awkward silence and footsteps following his words. “Yeah, I thought so.”
“Stop it,” Sunset batted his nose. “Let’s get out there, I need to tell everyone what I saw when I grabbed Melodiam.”
Sunset got dressed and they rejoined the others in the living room; as they took their spots in the room, Sunset sighed and palmed her knees. “Okay, I was able to grab ahold of Melodiam and read her memories; I know what her plan is now.”
“She intends to kill the humans of the city, right?” Twilight asked.
“No, only half,” Sunset explained. “She wants to keep the females alive to serve her and her… family.”
“Family?” Applejack repeated.
“She and Cobalt aren’t just working together,” She elaborated. “They’re… together together.”
“Aw, gross.” Rainbow Dash’s face twisted in disgust.
“I know right,” Hunter eyed her sarcastically. “A human having sex with a demi-human creature… can you imagine?”
“Well… you two are different.” Rainbow Dash quickly added.
“Nice save, darling.” Rarity shook her head. “So, she intends to multiply?”
“She’s getting ready to lay her eggs and she wants the city to be her nest; guarded by a legion of mind controlled women with Cobalt as their king.” Sunset concluded.
“But he hates the Dazzlings,” Fluttershy recalled. “Why is he with her if she’s basically the same thing?”
“Cobalt’s mind is twisted,” Hunter noted. “He spent his adult years attacking women because of what happened to him; somehow or other he sees some type of perfection in her and now he’s dedicated to the ideal she represents.”
“That’s the last type of guy that needs to oversee a society of women.” Twilight added.
“But she can’t do it anymore,” Pinkie pointed out. “We stopped her plan.”
“For now,” Rarity came in. “She’ll surely try again.”
“Not just yet she won’t,” Hunter countered. “Now she knows she has enemies, we’re going to be the new focus.”
“I suppose it’ll be easier to protect ourselves rather than trying to protect a whole dang city.” Applejack surmised.
Hunter smiled. “Now you’re catching on.”
“You could sound less happy about it at least.” Rarity eyed him.
“So what do we do now?” Pinkie asked.
“Well, I need to go check in with my new BFF’s at the hotel,” Hunter laid his head back. “They’re probably getting antsy and they could do with an update. For now, just go back to business as usual.”
“I suppose we do have school tomorrow.” Fluttershy reminded.
“Can’t we call in sick?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I mean, I think we’ve earned it.”
“I’m not missing school.” Twilight shook her head.
“I think Rarity should stay home for sure,” Hunter laughed. “Unless you want people to think your mom beats you.”
“You do have a point,” Rarity looked at her bruised arms. "I suppose it will be a turtleneck and jeans for me then... not really the season."
“I can just tell everyone I cut myself baking a cake.” Pinkie grinned.
“I guess so,” Applejack observed her heavy bandage. “As long as you tell them the cake won the fight.”
Rarity stood as their laughter at the idea died down. “Well then, I suppose we should return home.”
“Hey, Applejack?” Sunset called her attention. “Would you mind getting Twilight home? I’m going to stay here with Hunter tonight.”
“Sure thing,” Applejack motioned for Twilight to follow. “Hope you don’t mind the back of the truck?”
“Isn’t that illegal?” Twilight asked.
“Just keep your head down.” Rainbow Dash put her arm around her with a laugh.
“I’ll ride with you,” Pinkie promised. “It’s super fun.”
As the girls headed out, Hunter moved over beside Sunset and accepted her into his side. “So, now that you’ve fought them… what do you think?” Sunset asked.
“Well,” Hunter sighed. “Those golems are a problem, that’s for sure. There doesn’t seem to be a limit on how many he can create; Pinkie and I were dropping those things like flies but they just didn’t stop coming.” He paused in thought. “Cobalt’s situation is unfortunate, but he’s chosen to side with her in wiping out countless lives… there’s a good chance I might have no choice but to kill him.”
Sunset’s head dropped a bit in hearing that. “I know it’s your job, but it’s still weird to hear you say stuff like that so calmly.”
“It isn’t my first choice, at least… not now.” He admitted. “Ridgeback and Skyfall left me no choice but to kill them; still, if they had chosen to stand down they could have lived. Celestia and I may have butted heads, but in working with her I see that you can bring down threats like Cobalt without jumping to the ultimate solution; especially when you’re fighting alongside friends.” He hugged her close. “And I’ve got a pretty sweet set of them on my team now.”
Sunset smiled. “I’m glad to hear that,” She rested her cheek on his shoulder. “So, you aren’t mad at us for making you go soft?”
Hunter patted her arm. “Trust me, the last thing you make me is soft.” He said with a grin.
Sunset reflexively smacked his chest, he recoiled in pain and she quickly sat up and began apologizing, having forgotten about his bruised body.
Across the city, in a sheltered location, Cobalt’s golems worked to clean up and furnish the area to a level of comfort suitable for Melodiam. The siren had sat silent since their escape, disquieted by the reality of their set back. Cobalt returned with a pair of his minions at his side, each carrying procured food and water. He quickly went and knelt in front of her, face mixed in anger and disappointment.
“Ms. Melodiam, I know you’re angry… I am too, but I promise I’ll track them down and kill them for what they’ve done to you.”
“Your words are noble enough, Cobalt,” She finally spoke. “But without means, they are just that.”
“About that,” Cobalt smiled. “Watch this, Ms. Melodiam.” He summoned one of his golems and reached into its chest, pulling out a handful of soil. He concentrated on the small mound and it formed into a rat sized golem.
Melodiam’s eyes perked at the feat. “Interesting.”
“I’ve been thinking about how to track them this whole time,” He began, setting the tiny creature down. “My golems are too big to just walk around the city and the concentration it takes to maintain them increases the farther away they are; but this little guy takes no energy at all and his range is hundreds of times that of a full sized model.” He pointed out into the street. “I’ll make an army of these little ones and fan them out across the city; I’ll find them in no time, you have my word.”
A smile returned to the siren's face as she stood and took his shoulders. “You continue to impress me, Cobalt. I knew you were the right choice for me.”
Cobalt took her hands and brought them to his lips. “Thank you, Ms. Melodiam.” He walked back outside and knelt on the ground, laying his palm down onto the earth. Rows upon rows of the tiny golems began to rise and immediately scurried off into the night to spread across the city in search of their master’s enemies.”
The next morning, Sunset left early to stop by her place and get ready for school; Hunter immediately went back to bed to recover from the previous night without bothering to set an alarm. Getting back up at around twelve thirty, he showered and headed back to the hotel the check up on the Dazzlings. As he approached the door he could hear Adagio yelling and the sound of furniture being violently tossed; he used the extra room key he had taken to rush inside, finding Sonata hiding behind an overturned chair.
“Oh, hey Hunter.” Sonata waved.
“Geez, did you forget how to knock?” Aria lowered the lamp she was holding over her head.
“What the hell is going on in here?” He asked.
“I just found out that Sonata charged over two hundred dollars on her phone for some stupid game.” Adagio glared at her cowering siren sister.
“I needed gems to pay for the upgrades on my village,” Sonata defended. “I need my farms at max level or my villagers won’t survive the winter.”
“You moron!” Adagio growled.
“Easy Moe, leave Curly alone,” Hunter flipped the chair back over. “Last thing you need right now is a noise complaint.”
“Fine.” Adagio stormed over to one of the beds and sat. “I take it you have news?”
“Yeah, we went up against Melodiam and your worst fan,” He sat in the chair. “We were able to put a stop to the immediate threat of their plan, but they got away.”
“You let them get away?” Aria asked sourly.
“She had enslaved hostages and a modified air raid tower that she was planning to use to broadcast her song over the city.” Hunter detailed. “Those took priority over capture of the enemy,” He frowned a bit. “I’m fine, by the way.”
Adagio flustered. “We can see that,” She gestured to him. “Why ask about something we can clearly see for ourselves?”
“You’re so cute when you try to be nice." Hunter laughed. "Anyway, I saw your pendants.”
“Are they still okay?” Sonata asked.
“Yeah, she’s got one around her neck and the other two around her wrists.” He explained.
“So we’re back to waiting then.” Aria sighed.
“Unfortunately,” Hunter nodded. “But, the large scale danger isn’t hanging over us anymore; I'm hoping they’ll come after me now.”
“Wait, you want them to come after you?” Sonata repeated in confusion.
“As long as they’re focused on killing me, they aren’t harming innocent people.” He stated confidently.
“That's… quite noble.” Adagio admitted, impressed to hear such a thing from a human.
“Hey, you up for another outing?” He quickly asked.
“Yeah!” Sonata cheered.
“Absolutely.” Aria concurred.
“Cool,” He pushed himself up from the chair. “I’ll wait in the hall while you change.”
Hunter took them out on the town again for lunch; he went over the battle in full with them and also ended up telling them about his time in Equestria during his last adventure. They asked him about what modern Equestria was like, having not seen it with their own eyes in so long. Hunter told them as much as he could, admitting that the nature of his mission didn’t leave much time for sight seeing. With a few hours burned, he took them back to the hotel and set course for Canterlot high; he arrived about fifteen minutes before the final bell and headed into the halls to wait for Sunset to get out of class.
“Hunter?” Principal Celestia called as she headed down the hallway in the opposite direction.
“Ah, my favorite former principal.” He smiled as she came to a stop before him.
“How have you been?”
“Good, keeping busy at least,” He noted. “I had to break up with my last girlfriend though.”
“Oh.” Celestia recalled the bizarre encounter with her doppelganger. “I’m… sorry to hear.”
“Yeah,” Hunter nodded. “It was odd, did you notice that she looked exactly like you?” He asked.
“Um… well, I had noticed a… slight resemblance.”
“No, she could have been your twin.” He insisted. “Once that hit me, things just got weird… especially when we were….”
“I understand.” Celestia quickly cut him off. “These things do happen.”
“I guess so,” He shrugged. “But it all worked out, I’m dating Sunset now and things couldn’t be better.”
“Really?” Celestia smiled. “Well, that’s wonderful to hear.”
“How about you?” Hunter inquired. “How’s the whirlwind lifestyle of the modern principal?”
“I don’t know about whirlwind, but things have been relatively calm lately.” She noted as the final bell began to ring. “Oh my, time already,” She smiled down at him. “It was good to see you again.”
“You too, I’ll see you around.” Hunter let her pass as students began rushing from the nearby classrooms. He greeted many familiar faces as he proceeded towards Sunset’s locker; he found her packing away her books for the day with a tired look on her face. “Ah, mission lag,” He chuckled as he neared her. “Happens to the best of us.”
“Hunter,” She perked and quickly hugged him. “Figured you’d be asleep.”
“I passed out again after you left,” He confessed. “But I’m so sore that if I just sat around all day I’d be in even worse shape.” He glanced down her body. “How’s the leg?”
“Good,” She patted the bandaged area. “It doesn’t hurt at least.” The two of them started down the hall. “Any plans for the night?”
“No, we need to take it easy and heal up for the next fight.” He put his arm around her as they walked.
“Well, Rainbow Dash has another game tonight; want to come with?”
“Sure,” He nodded. “I could go for a night of fresh air, popcorn and hot dogs of questionable origin.”
“Great,” She smiled. “Flash and the guys will be there too.”
“Ooh, that means I can finally talk boy stuff like cars, power tools and boobies.” He noted with all the giddiness of a schoolgirl.
“Seriously, this is a good opportunity for you; you’re going to be living here now so you should start playing a bigger part in everyone’s lives.” She suggested.
“Fair point.”
“Yeah, so have fun… and don’t embarrass me.” She toned.
“You know, the more you tell me not to, the more likely I am to go out of my way to do it.” He reminded with a smile.
“You want to sleep on the couch tonight?” She asked with an equally smug smile.
Hunter chortled with a quiet nod. “You win this round, Shimmer.” He conceded.