Chasing Treasures

by Yukito

5 - Debriefing

Upon their arrival, Shining Armor was greeted by a harsh glare and a sharp tongue-lashing from Cadance. Sunset and Adagio decided to stay at a distance whilst Shining Armor was backed against his car, only managing to get out the occasional "dear" and "please".

"We agreed that we wouldn't involve her anymore! And yet here she is, with one of the sirens, no less!"

"She insisted!" Shining pleaded, finally able to get a sentence into the conversation. "She refused to leave it be! I swear I tried to-"

"You should have just dropped her off at her school!" Cadance turned her glare to Sunset Shimmer, who flinched and momentarily considered hiding behind Adagio. "And you! This is official FBI business – a civilian has no right to be getting involved!"

"B-But you need help with magic, right?" Sunset asked. "Look, I know you got these guys," she said, motioning to Adagio, "But do you really think they'll be that cooperative?"

"Oh, I have my ways," Cadance said, narrowing her eyes as she looked down at Adagio.

Adagio simply huffed and turned away. "Right now, you've given us little choice."

"Look, I just wanted to help," Sunset continued. "And now that I know Equestria is involved, I have to-"

"You told her that this involves Equestria?!" Cadance shouted, turning back to Shining Armor and stopping him halfway to the elevator. "Why don't you just tell her our secrets codes while you're at it?!"

"Now now, Cadie," Blueblood said as he approached the group, a foreign girl dressed for a jungle expedition to his right. "Think about it this way: with Sunset here, we no longer have to risk giving our jewels to the Dazzlings."

"'Jewels'?" the girl beside him asked.

"He must mean the jewels that allow us to cast our magic," Sunset explained. "Do I know you? You look familiar…"

Before the foreigner could answer, Blueblood took out a small ruby from his pocket and grinned as he saw the hunger in Adagio's eyes. "Oh yes. Ever since we learned that jewels are a source of magical conductivity, our department's been hard-at-work seeking and collecting any jewels in Canterlot that have even the remotest magic in them."

"So that's why we couldn't find any," Adagio surmised.

"So it's true," the foreigner said, approaching Sunset and Adagio with a fascinated look on her face. "The two of you can really perform magic with those jewels?"

Sunset grinned and puffed out her chest with pride. "Well to be honest, anybody could do it, but you would need to already be a very advanced magician to perform magic with just the jewel. Ordinary humans would need something to channel the jewel's magic with, first."

"'Ordinary' humans?"

"Speak for yourself," Adagio said. "We sirens are born with the natural ability to harness the magic inside of jewels directly. Magic is almost as simple as breathing to us."

"'Sirens'?!"

Cadance turned to Blueblood, and asked, "You haven't briefed her on everything yet, have you?"

"I thought it would be best for you guys to do that, since you have more experience with magic than I," Blueblood explained.

Cadance simply nodded. Just then, two more cars entered the garage and parked alongside Shining Armor's. From out of the first car came Aria and Chrysalis. Chrysalis looked over the group and said, "Ah, so the witness is joining us."

Shining Armor nodded, and watched as an annoyed Aria made her way to Adagio's side, whispering something into the other girl's ear as she cast glares at Chrysalis. "Eventful ride over?"

"Of course not," Chrysalis said with a wink. "I merely had to remind her of her position and the fact that, as a trained killer, I could end her life without her even realising it in more ways than she can count."

"Keep her away from me," Aria said as she turned her back to the group, crossing her arms with a huff.

"Chrysalis, try to play nice," Shining Armor whispered. "I know they almost killed you before, but-"

"For some reason, I really don't like those sirens," Chrysalis said. "I'm not sure why. Perhaps being a changeling for that short period of time affected me in some way."

From out the third car came Sonata and Gilda, the latter reaching into her ears and pulling out two corks that acted as makeshift earplugs. Cadance raised an eyebrow. "And… why were your ears plugged?"

"Because if I had to hear 'one hundred bottles of cider on the wall' one more time, I was going to compromise the mission objective!" Gilda explained, turning to Shining with a pleading look. "Please don't pair me with her again! I'm beggin' ya here!"

"Huh. Looks like you did something right, for once," Aria said as Sonata approached.

"Does that mean I get a pat on the head?" Sonata asked excitedly, lowering her head in expectance.

Aria gagged and moved away, but Adagio stopped her and said, "Pat her head, Aria."

Reluctantly, Aria patted her friend's head. Sonata giggled and then tackle-hugged Aria. "GAH! STOP IT! LEGGO!"

Sighing, Adagio left her two friends to their unusual ritual and approached the FBI agents. "So? When do we get started?"

"Well, now that everyone's here, we should proceed to the briefing room," Shining Armor said, before turning to Gilda. "Uh, you can take five, if you want. I'll brief you later."

"Oh, thank Christ," Gilda said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out three cigarettes at once. "If you need me to 'silence' the blue one, just say the word."

"That won't be necessary," Shining assured with a nervous laugh. "Alright, everyone! Please come this way!"

---

Once everybody was gathered in the briefing room, the first order of business was to introduce their witness, Daring Do, to Sunset and the Dazzlings.

"So that's why you seemed so familiar," Sunset said. "And all this time, I thought you were just a work of fiction."

"That was the idea," Daring Do explained. "You make a lot of enemies doing what I do, but you still need to get your heroic deeds known to the public. Criminals I haven't hit yet think I'm not real so they're not ready for me, and those I jhave hit will waste time trying to find me, only to fail… Until I got caught by Tirek's man, that is.

"To think, though, that you guys are from another world!" Daring's eyes were filled with stars as she studied Sunset and Adagio closely. "It's so incredible! A world, inhabited by talking ponies and by creatures from mythology, that can use magic!"

Shining Armor cleared his throat, returning the meeting to order. "Now then, Miss Do, if you would please tell them what you told us?"

Daring Do nodded. "Right. On my latest expedition, I was in search of a stone said to be able to grant the wielder a great source of unimaginable power: the 'Sage's Stone'. However, I've done some reading on the stone and it turns out that the stone doesn't grant this power directly; the stone is a key, with which one can enter another world – your 'Equestria'. A world filled with magic, thought by the ancients to be some sort of 'promised land'."

"And right now, Tirek has at least one of the stone's two halves," Shining Armor said. "According to Miss Do, the halves can only be reunited by a magical solvent, which we are currently looking into. However, assuming the worst-case scenario, Tirek would have access to Equestria, putting your world in much danger."

Adagio waved her hand dismissively. "Please," she said. "Not that I want to defend Equestria, but those guys aren't pushovers. I mean, look what they did to us."

Sunset nodded her head. "While I haven't attacked Equestria itself, I still know that it isn't a force to trifle with. You guys should know that, too. Tirek may have magic, but Equestria is a magical superpower."

"I'm afraid the situation's a bit more dire than that," Daring Do said, taking out a book from her backpack and opening it to a marked-page. "Here. According to this, the portal that the Sage's Stone opens is much bigger than the one you came through."

Shining Armor nodded. "Whilst the one you used was big enough for one person – or pony – to fit through, this one is big enough for an entire army, along with whatever weapons they have."

Sunset gulped at that, whilst Adagio simply huffed. "So he can take a few guns with him. Big deal."

"And tanks. And planes. And attack helicopters," Sunset corrected. "And, if he has any, weapons of mass destruction – of which Equestria has none."

"It… gets worse," Shining said, sending a chill down Sunset's spine. "Last week, we received a report that Tirek's men raided a military compound and stole one nuclear warhead."

"One is all they would need, if they get that portal open," Chrysalis said. "Even with just the one, demonstrating that level of power would put them in a position where Equestria would have no choice but to surrender."

"Not just Equestria," Sunset said. "The entire world would have to surrender to Tirek's demands."

"Right, which brings us to our two current objectives," Shining Armor said. "The first is to ensure Tirek does not get his hands on the Sage's Stone, preventing him from opening the portal. The second, which should take priority, is the removal of the nuclear warhead – disarming or extracting, I don't care. In the event our first objective fails, the second must succeed to at least give Equestria a chance of fighting back."

"So why is it just the FBI involved in this whole thing?" Adagio asked. "You told us you're not the only government body that knows about magic, so why just you guys?"

Shining Armor sighed and shook his head. "Unfortunately, the decision was made for us not to share this information with other agencies, nor to ask for their help. In the event we are successful, the US government wants full recognition by the Equestrian one – in short, they aren't willing to share any of the glory. The CIA will still help us, mind you."

"And what if we fail because we don't have enough aide," Sunset asked, gritting her teeth together. "What if millions of Equestrian lives are lost and Canterlot is bathed in the fallout of a nuclear blast?!"

"… It means that the American government is willing to accept that risk," Chrysalis said. "Under the guise of not knowing who they can trust and not wanting to endanger the soldiers of any other countries, they will place the lives of every Equestrian on us."

"That's cold," Aria said, a devious smile on her face. "I think I like these guys."

"Well, we do have some level of help," Shining Armor announced, pointing to a small country on a map behind himself. "The Vespanian government have agreed to cooperate with us in regards to recovering the nuclear warhead, and our own military will be assisting us in that regard. Since the warhead itself doesn't fall under the category of 'magic', we have a lot more at our disposal. I want Sonata to come with me on this one."

"Why me?" Sonata asked.

"I must admit, I'm confused by that decision, too," Chrysalis said.

"Because Sonata displayed excellent sharpshooting abilities beforehand, and we may have need of such skills in this case."

"Sonata's not goin' anywhere with you alone," Adagio said. "Aria, you're with her."

"What?!" Aria shouted.

"No arguments. Besides, if they're talking about skills they can make use of, your hacking skills will surely be needed."

Aria huffed, but said nothing in response. She simply fell back into her seat and grumbled angrily beneath her breath.

"The rest of you will be divided into teams – one to look into finding the other half of the stone, one for the magical solvent, and one for finding out how the stone is used to create a portal. There may be a specific location and if that's the case, we can secure it."

Blueblood rose from his seat, a nervous smile on his face as he approached the door to the briefing room. "Well then, I suppose this is where I spring the surprise on you…"

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. "What surprise?"

"Now, just remember, it was the boss who ordered this." After clearing his throat, Blueblood gripped the door's handle and said, "Everyone, there will be one more member joining our team. And that member is…"

As the door opened, Cadance gasped, Sunset gripped the jewel around her neck, and Shining's face contorted in rage. "No…" he said.

At the doorway, Sombra stood in a clean, black suit, but with his hands cuffed, his feet chained together, and his mouth gagged. Despite his appearance, his arrogance still filled the air inside of the room.

"Agent Sombra," Blueblood announced, "Reporting back for duty."

Comments

[Ri2]

Oh damn it, not him...

[Harmony light]

Dun dun daaaa, good chapter

[Emperor]

'Vespanian'?

Considering you're not afraid to put these stories in the U.S., and even in Maine proper, it's a little bit baffling you resort to a fictional country for back-up purposes, unless it's supposed to be some sort of batpony country analogue.

Never mind a single nuclear warhead merely being enough. I wonder just how small the landmass of Equestria is in your headcanon. If it's a smallish country, then a single nuke could contaminate the entire country with the radioactive fallout.

A little bit funny to see Daring Do fangirl over the idea of magic being real, though if she's anything like her Equestrian counterpart one would expect her to have cottoned on to its existence beforehand.