• Published 25th Jan 2018
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XCOM: Ranger - Wanderer D



Sunset Shimmer escapes Equestria... with unforeseen consequences.

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Chapter 212: Counseling

Ranger

Chapter 212: Counseling

By Wanderer D

Present Day

"I love you too."

Chrysalis' voice was a whisper, but at that moment, the images on the table and the screen flashed.

They watched in horror as the ship was torn apart with Sunset's body exploding into particles just before the alien cameras that had presumably recorded all of it went offline.

The whole room sat in stunned silence. Luna sagged, Laetitia's hands on the Commander's shoulders being the only thing holding her in place in the verge of collapse.

"You watched all of that happen when you were under?" Bradford asked in a low voice.

Chrysalis nodded. "Most of it… I never got to say goodbye until now."

Shen's eyes were wide. "Which means… that the whole vision we watched was not just from your memories!" She brought up her tablet and pressed a few buttons, sagging in relief when a beeping confirmation appeared on the screen. "Good. I set ROV-R to auto-record and trace any surprise interference in case we got blindsided by something like Julian." She stood up. "Which means I have to go and get Apple Bloom on board with this. We need to trace this ASAP."

Chrysalis nodded tiredly and waved a hand, dismissing Shen.

"I can't believe it was her all this time," Annette said, getting their attention.

"You used to know the Sirens before they became the Chosen," Bradford realized. "I thought Adagio was always on their side."

"She was," Annette said, shuddering. "And she was vicious. But… it was her. There's something about her that… when you see her, or hear her, you know it's her."

"Doesn't make sense." Chrysalis groaned when Luna finally released her shoulders to walk stiffly and sit down on the couch. "Sunset had… her guest… for most of her life. It was a constant presence that helped her build up her mind, and…" she shook her head. "Just how long has Adagio been manipulating the whole thing? How long was she manipulating Sunset?"

Tygan sighed. "Sunset said twenty seven years."

"But that's impossible," Annette insisted, "Adagio was right there with EXALT. She went to missions, trained me. She argued, fought and had fun with her sisters. How could she be in two places at once?"

"It might be a long shot, as they say," Luna spoke up. "But it seems that she suffered a similar situation to what our Sunset Shimmer went through… a conscious temporal displacement of some sort."

"Well," Dr. Luna spoke up dryly. "That is something you science and magic types will need to discuss on your own for now. Right now, you are all dismissed, I'll stay here with Chrysalis and talk."

"Doctor, I can deal—"

"No," Dr. Luna interrupted, "forgive me commander, but to be blunt, you can't. This has been torturing you subconsciously for years, and ever since you were revived, it has affected your day-to-day work and disposition. You've avoided all our appointments, and now I am declaring us in session. So if you guys would be so kind…"

Princess Luna was the first one up, wobbling a little before Central took her arm. "I should contact my sister and Twilight."

"And I have a lot to think about..." Annette muttered, following suit alongside Tygan, who added his own muttering about seeing Shen and the lab.

Chrysalis watched the others slowly file out, with Bradford helping Laetitia's body out of the room, then turned to glare at her former teacher.

"Really, Luna?"

"Really." The counselor sat on the couch again once everyone was out of the room. "Chrysalis, child… you've been torturing yourself all this time. You need to let go of that iron grip you have on your emotions from time to time. The stress alone will kill you."

Chrysalis looked away. "It's not easy."

"No, it's not. But we all saw what happened and this is not something that you can shrug and dismiss. You need to talk about it." She hesitated. "Did you and Sunset… were you—"

"No." Chrysalis took a deep breath, looking down at her lap. "We… flirted. And gods I've wanted to kiss her. She'd bite my ear sometimes but we never… I never—" She bit her lip. "I think, deep down we both knew but we never acted on it. I never said 'I love you' to her. She never said it to me. We were… comfortable with that internal knowledge.

"But now… Adagio was right there, sure but… Sunset's last words were for me. And they were those words. The vision would always end when she pulled herself up to the sphere. It was a well known fact that the ship had exploded… it was the first thing I looked up in the archives."

"I knew you two loved each other," Luna said gently. "So did Celestia. Everyone that knew you at the time, knew. We thought you'd be married soon after school."

"Yeah, well, the world wasn't that willing to take that at the time," Chrysalis smirked. "Besides, no one bothered pointing out the obvious to us, and by the time we got to XCOM… work got in the way."

"True."

"And I lost all those years…"

"None of that," Luna said with a smile. "You had her with you, all along."

"Yes, well, all I'm saying is that we could have saved some space and rooms in the base and shared a bed."

Luna's smile grew, and she shook her head as Chrysalis chuckled.

"You know, Luna, I realize you were never a traditional counselor, but I do know that sessions like these are not normal procedure."

"Oh, I agree, but there was never a book on how to deal with secret organization soldiers organizing a global resistance against their alien overlords. Let's just say that traditional counseling methods are not always the best approach." Luna shrugged. "Besides, this is less about a professional intervention and more about a friend with some knowledge on how to deal with things like this, being there for another." She arched her eyebrow. "I hear 'Friendship is Magic' from some of your alien recruits. So I decided to use my own brand of magic."

"Speaking of which, it must be weird seeing an inter-dimensional counterpart in Laetitia's body."

"This is about you, Chryssy, not me."

"Fair enough. Let's hope Shen has something soon… besides helping our new Sunset, I have a lot of questions for that Siren." Chrysalis tapped her fingers on the table. "'How' and 'why' being at the top."

"Sunset seemed to really care for her," Luna said. "She called her sister."

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "These days I'm left wondering how many people I know are half fish."

"I'm just saying, Chrysalis… whatever the experience Annette had with her, whatever you expect from her manipulation-wise—and I know you expect her to be evil—I think you should really look at things with an open mind…" She shook her head slowly. "I still barely understand what I saw. The sacrifices… the alien's intent at the time… Sunset… my student's death and her apparent communication with someone her whole life who we never knew about.

"I have a lot to re-examine about my own interactions with her back in Canterlot City and also a lot of things to think about. You should do the same, and maybe—"she placed her hand on top of Chrysalis'—"you can start a real healing process and let go."

"Hard to do with a daily reminder," Chrysalis said with a soft sigh, but she patted Luna's hand. "But thank you."

o.0.o End Chapter 212 o.0.o

Author's Note:

Late! :raritycry: but trudging on.

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