Caverns & Cutie Marks: High School, High Stakes

by TheColtTrio

Chapter 35: That part of the story where the story is over but for some reason there’s still some pages left at the end so it just keeps going...

Three days had passed since the Hydra was banished.

Three days since Sunset Shimmer had been sent away.

Three days since the boys and their respective villains had disappeared into the portal.

Three days in which the six remaining girls had spent doing one thing.

Waiting.

Agent Coltson looked at the girls, waiting around the statue in front of Canterlot High School. The school had been closed, thanks to S.A.D.D.L.E.’s connections, and a story to explain the strange events over the last few weeks had been spread. One involving gaseous fumes coming off of a nearby swampy area, and the reflection of light from high-altitude weather observation balloons.

“So,” Coltson said, attracting the attention of the girls. “Do you want the news now? Or do we just… keep waiting?”

“Give it another minute,” Twilight replied. “Sunset’s book said they’d be coming around now.”

“Sure, sure. The book.” Coltson was silent for a few seconds. “So, how does that work, anyway? The book has interdimensional wifi? Is it 5G? What’s the roaming cha-”

The agent’s questions were cut short by by a pair of figures emerging from the statue’s base: two very familiar young girls. “Sunset!” Twilight shouted. “And Twilight! Er, other Twilight, I mean.”

Princess Twilight nodded. “Sunset suddenly appeared in my my castle a few days ago shouting about a portal. Sounds like you all had quite the adventure…” She trailed off as she saw Coltson standing nearby. “I… don’t think we’ve been introduced.”

“Phil. Phil Coltson.” The agent reached out and shook her hand. “Agent of S.A.D.D.L.E. Trust me, young girls walking out of statues is not the strangest thing I’ve seen this week.”

“He’s one of the good guys,” Rainbow Dash explained. “Big, secret, government agency type good guys.”

Princess Twilight smiled. “Well, I guess we should get more acquainted someday. Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship.”

Coltson was silent for a moment, his smile frozen as he nodded and processed her words. “Sure, okay. I’ll take that at face value for now.” Once everyone was gathered around, he clapped his hands together. “Okay, so, good news first. All of our readings show that the world is back to normal. No giant wooden wolves, no castles in the suburbs, not even a single bandit. We’ve back to our world of sleepy little towns where definitely nothing weird happens.”

That got a chuckle out of the girls. “Good news usually means there’s bad news coming too,” Sunset said. “Where’re the boys?”

“Ah…” Coltson’s smile fell slightly. “Well, you weren’t there for that part.” He cleared his throat. “Mr. Purple Heart, Mr. Light Patch, Mr. Wits End, and Chief Just Duty have all gone missing in action, as far as we can tell. Mr. Heart Burn and Professor Holdfast were picked up a few days ago, but neither of them have any memory of anything having to do with the Hydra. It’s like that part of them was just… gone, I guess.”

Sunset and Princess Twilight gasped, exchanging glances. “What?” Sunset asked. “How?”

“Pulled into the portal,” Applejack said. “Just after Wits ported you outta there.”

“I’m kind of surprised your friends didn’t tell you that through that magic book of yours there…” Coltson said, before suddenly looking thoughtful. “What do you do if you run out of pages? Does it generate more? Or clear the oldest pages?” The looks of anger quickly stopped his sidetrack. “Right, sorry, not the time.”

“We were hoping they might show up with you,” Sci-Twi explained. “Maybe some sort of sympathetic magical connection or something like that.”

“Sunset was the only one to show up,” Princess Twilight replied. “I don’t recall any reports of anything showing up in Equestria over the last few days; pony, person, or otherwise. Although, this does explain why Discord asked if I had heard anything from you all the other day…”

Coltson cleared his throat. “Sorry. Pony?”

“I’ll explain later,” both Twilights said at once.

A shiver ran down the agent’s spine. “Ohhhhkay then.”

“The fact that the two possessed villainous counterparts were spit back out means the portal only took the outsiders, but that doesn’t explain why Just Duty’s still missing. Maybe some sort of external influence...” Princess Twilight turned to Sunset Shimmer. “I’ll get back to my castle and see if there’s anything we can use to find them. Maybe there’s a book in the Canterlot Library on interdimensional travel.”

Sunset nodded. “I’ll go with you-”

“No, you should stay here in-case they show up again.” The princess turned back to the statue, one foot already through it. “There might still be some clues as to where they went. If anypony- anybody can find them, I’m sure you seven can do it. I’ll let you know what I find.” With that, Princess Twilight stepped through the statue and disappeared.

The remained girls and Agent Coltson stood in silence for several moments. “So,” Rainbow Dash said. “Now what do we do?”

“I…” Sunset looked down at the ground. “I don’t know.”

“Fence?” Coltson offered. Seven pairs of eyes turned on him with nearly identical quizzical expressions. “You know, like fencing? With swords and…” He trailed off. “Honestly, I’m not sure why I said that.”

The girls turned to look at each other. Eventually, Sunset took a seat on the school stairs. “Well...”

Comments

[Lotharin]

Is there gonna be another continuation after this one?