Chasing Treasures

by Yukito

4 - Magic DOES Exist

The drive was awkward, to say the least. Shining Armor and Sunset Shimmer sat opposite to Adagio, whose hands were cuffed. Sunset had explained herself to Shining Armor, but he had refused to say anything about why Adagio was present.

"I told you, this is not a civilian matter," Shining Armor said, much to Sunset's dismay. "I will drop you off at your home and I promise that I'll get back to you on securing your visa."

"There can be no reason you'd be seeking her out other than something to do with magic," Sunset reasoned, glaring over at the siren. "You'd honestly trust her over me?"

"Like you once did, she has a debt to repay to society. You, however, are now a free civilian." Shining Armor shook his head. "This case is simply too dangerous for you. Frankly, we shouldn't have even recruited you for the Kaitou Moon case."

"Children should not meddle in adults' affairs," Adagio said, smirking at how riled-up Sunset Shimmer was getting.

"You shut up! And besides, I'm not a civilian, technically! That's why I came to you, remember?"

"I'm not recruiting you on a technicality."

Sunset groaned. "You are… so stubborn! Look, I can handle myself, and you said it yourself that you'll need all the experts on magic you can get."

"I have no doubts that you can handle yourself-"

"Then why-"

"Because I have a responsibility to protect people, that's why!" Shining Armor took a deep, calming breath, and sighed. "I'm sorry, Sunset, but I'm not backing down on this."

Sunset fell back into her seat, crossing her arms and humming to herself in thought. "… Guess I've got no choice. I'll just have to follow you and check it out myself."

"No, you won't."

"If you think you can stop me, go right ahead. You'll have to arrest me, and then I'll have another debt to repay. Your boss will surely push you to recruit my help in this matter."

"Meanwhile, if she's left to her own devices, it will be harder to protect her," Adagio reasoned, chuckling as she pointed to the FBI agent. "Of course, you could just out her and have her deported. That would solve many peoples' problems."

"… Okay, how about this? I'll explain to you what's going on and why it's so dangerous," Shining Armor offered. "And then, you stay out of it. For your own sake."

"We'll see," Sunset Shimmer replied. "First, I want to know how magic's involved. I thought the people of this world didn't know about it."

"Well, as you know, magic isn't easily-wielded in this world. To be honest, it was only in the recent Dazzlings case that we learned magic can be harnessed through jewels. Before that, we only knew of certain objects with magical properties.

"In ancient cultures, magic was widely-known and used by the elite, but its powers were either misunderstood, or disguised as something else."

"Misunderstood?"

"For example, a gift from the gods, one that demanded a sacrifice. Or a pact made with a demon. Because of this, and the fact that only the elite were allowed to use such powers, knowledge of it was rarely retained, and as these cultures died out one-by-one, the power of magic remained only in myths and folklore.

"The Dark Ages, where 'witches' were hunted and burned, and the Salem Witch Trials – these are events that happened because, although people still remember that magic exists, they don't know of the exact details. They misunderstood science as magic, or blamed their misfortunes on it.

"As technologies advanced, though, our abilities to uncover true magic improved greatly. In fact, every major government agency – FBI, CIA, Interpol – they all have divisions where the knowledge of magic is known, and that are tasked secretly with the jobs of securing magical artefacts and keeping its power from being abused."

"Right, and your department was tasked with watching over me."

Shining Armor nodded. "The CIA left jurisdiction of any case related to Equestria with us. This current one is related to a man named Tirek."

Sunset and Adagio both gasped and shot towards Shining Armor at the mention of that name. "Tirek?!" Sunset shouted.

"Are you sure?!" Adagio added.

"Y-Yes… Do you know the name?"

Adagio gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. "If I'd known he was the man you were going after… No, if it's this world's version of him, it may be fine."

Sunset composed herself and explained, "Tirek was, in our world, a powerful, ruthless dictator from ancient times. He ruled the Castle of Nightmares with the Rainbow of Darkness, and enslaved ponies – turning them into monsters – to pull his chariot and expand his land."

"He drove the sirens to near-extinction," Adagio said, "Simply because they lived on the land that he wanted to build a second castle atop of. Nobody knows what became of him – some say he was killed by the Rainbow of Light, whilst others say he is locked in Tartarus, still living to this day…"

"Tartarus…" Shining Armor deadpanned, receiving a confirming nod from Sunset. "Okay, I'll just… take your word for it. Though to be honest, it fits the bill. Here, Tirek is the head of an underworld organisation, whose influences spreads to every corner of the world. He's a ruthless, dangerous man, who uses whatever means he has to get what he desires. Kidnapping, extortion, slavery, murder, and inciting wars are just the tip of the iceberg.

Recently, his branch here has been making moves… louder, than normal. They recently stole a magical artefact from a museum, but then discarded it without a care. We believed they were looking for something particular, and just yesterday, a witness confirmed our suspicions; Tirek is hunting the Sage's Stone."

"What's that?" Adagio asked.

"According to our witness, it is a stone said to act as a key to another world, a utopia filled with magic, inhabited by creatures who can use magic in their day-to-day lives."

Sunset cupped her chin, sweat pouring down her head. "That sounds like… Wait, you said that the FBI was handed all jurisdiction for cases related to Equestria. That means that…"

Shining Armor bit his lip. He thought of something to say, but he knew that no lie would fool this girl now. So he nodded his head. "Yes… We believe that Tirek intends to use this stone to invade Equestria, and use its magic to further his goals…"

Sunset slammed a fist into the seat beside her, fire in her eyes. "Okay, that settles it," she said. "There's no way you can keep me off of this case now. Not when it's my home that's being threatened. Now, tell me more about this witness…"

Comments

[Emperor]

Gee, and I wonder how that stone got there. Hopefully it's not yet another thing that Equestria dumped in another world so it couldn't be used against ponykind!