Skeeter straightened up and arched his back, wincing as it popped several times, then looked down to scrutinize his handiwork. When he’d started work on Black Beauty yesterday, he’d marveled at the fact that Allen had managed to get her all the way back to his garage. There were bullets in every place he could think of, including various nooks and crannies in the engine. It had taken a good four hours to remove them all, and that was before he’d actually started repairs.

Allen and Arnold had naturally volunteered to help him with said repairs, but he had respectfully declined. Beauty was the culmination of his mechanical expertise, his very own ninth symphony. As soon as she entered the shop, she was officially his and his alone.

With nothing else to do the following morning, Allen had left with Twilight to go find something to eat, Arnold content to sleep the morning away. Skeeter was left completely alone with his masterpiece, and he couldn’t pretend he wasn’t pleased. No distractions, no one else in the room…just him, Black Beauty, and a full pint of razor-sharp focus.

Now, as he finally took a step back to admire his work, he couldn’t help but smile at the shiny eight-cylinder before him. Most of the pistons had needed replacing, along with a few other vital components such as the fuel lines and crankshaft. He’d gotten particularly frustrated at a few rounds that had somehow lodged themselves in the revolving mechanism and made it nigh-impossible to remove, halfway through deciding to work on the body and come back to it later. All in all, it was work on a level similar to when Allen had first brought her in two years ago, and the payoff was just as satisfying as before.

Allen and Twilight walked in just in time to see him close the hood. “Hey there gorgeous.” Allen said with a grin as he saw his car.

“Skeeter, are you sure you don’t have magic?” Twilight asked as she too marveled at the newly refurbished Mach 1.

“What kinda question’s that? Course Ah got magic!”

Allen rolled his eyes. “Oh lord…”

“Whaddya think the grease is for?” the mechanic continued, grinning as he gestured to the filth covering every square inch of his body. “Ya think Ah git covered in this stuff as Ah work? Naw ma’am. This here’s mah magic grease. Ah rub it all over mahself and mah clothes before Ah git to work. Gives me super mechanic powers.”

“Oh really?” she replied, amused.

“You betcha.” he replied. “Bailey trade secret.”

“I take it the wrench is your magic wand, then?” Allen asked.

Skeeter scoffed in response. “Wands r’ fer noobs. Ain’t that right Twi?”

“Oh, yes.” she replied smugly, sharing a fist-bump with him.

Allen rolled his eyes again. “Whatever. Test-drive?”

“Shotgun.” the mechanic replied simply as he opened the door, then abruptly stopped and looked down at his greasy attire. “Maybe Ah should change first.”

“What, are you worried about getting your ‘magic’ all over the seat?” Allen asked impatiently, then sighed regretfully.

Skeeter grinned his biggest and stupidest grin, one he reserved for whenever Allen screwed up as royally as he just had. Even Twilight hid her face in her hands as she tried not to openly laugh at his poor choice of words.

“Oh, sure!” he said in annoyance. “You don’t know what porn is, but you know exactly what that sounds like!”

Twilight tried and failed to respond to that, instead turning away to continue laughing. Allen shook his head and turned back to the mechanic, who had also begun to crack up.

“Get your head out of the oil pan and get in the damn car, jackass.” he ordered, ducking into the driver’s side. Skeeter snorted in barely contained laughter as he did as he was bidden, and the two backed out and took off down the street. Twilight shook her head, still chuckling quietly, and walked back into the garage toward the waiting area, sat down, and picked up a magazine.

Upon arriving back in Vegas, she’d quickly burned through the garage’s limited supply of reading material. She’d tried pestering her new friends for information, but Skeeter and Arnold barely had any knowledge of anything that didn’t have to do with cars, and what they did know she’d already found out from Allen, who admitted that at this point he was pretty much useless without his laptop.

With her main (and possibly only) form of entertainment out of the question, it had gotten to the point where she was constantly relying on the three of them to break the monotony of what had become daily life in the garage. When they weren’t around, she was forced to default to reading whatever she could get her hands on…even if it was an automobile enthusiast magazine that she’d practically memorized already.

She sighed resignedly as she flipped the pages to a semi-interesting debate concerning the balance between power and economy in the automotive industry, just as Arnold came downstairs with a yawn and looked around. “Where’d everybody go?”

“They’re out testing the Mach 1.” she replied flatly.

He looked over at her. “Ya’ll sound bored as hell.”

“I really am.” she admitted. “There isn’t much for me to do around here.”

“Ah. Sorry ‘bout that.” he said sympathetically, just now realizing the predicament the scholar probably faced here.

“It’s not your fault.” she said with a smile, then a grin. “Besides, now that the Mach 1’s fixed, Allen and I can go home and I can use his computer to do research! I think I’ll do international relations next…well, provided I don’t encounter the same issues as I did last time.”

“Issues?” Arnold repeated, an eyebrow raised curiously.

Twilight hesitated, then shook her head. “I’d…rather not talk about it.”

He squinted at her for a moment, then shrugged and went over to the fridge to find something to drink. “Backtrackin’ a little, why do ya’ll wanna study international relations of all things? Sounds kinda borin’.”

“Well, I’ve never thought of war as more than a once in a lifetime experience. Humanity, however, seems to get in one every couple of years. The first World War, the Vietnam War, the second World War, the Cold War, and now one overseas? I just want to know why you keep fighting.”

“Religion, greed, and people takin’ shit too personally.” the marine said under his breath as he shut the fridge, soda in hand. “Hey, if yer so bored, why didn’t ya’ll go with ’em?”

“Do you remember when Skeeter said that garage repair was sort of a…‘you guys’…activity?”

“Yeah.” he said with a nod, already knowing where she was going with this.

“I feel like the Mach 1 is in similar territory, except specific to just Allen and Skeeter.”

Arnold nodded as he took a swig from the bottle. “Well, she is kinda theirs. Al fell in love with ‘er soon as he saw ‘er two years ago, and Ah’m sure Skeets’ already told ya ‘bout the blood, sweat, and tears he’s put into her well-bein’. Honestly, they treat that car like a kid they had together.”

“That makes me wonder for whatever reason: have any of you ever had a marefriend?”

Arnold raised an eyebrow at her odd word choice. “Marefriend?”

“Girlfriend, sorry.” Twilight corrected herself. She tried to keep up with the native lingo as much as she could to avoid confusion, but the occasional slipup was unavoidable.

Arnold grinned mischievously at her. “Why, interested in someone?”

She raised an eyebrow at him, smirking. “No, it’s just that I can’t imagine how three boys can love one car so much.”

“Ooh, good one.” he remarked, genuinely amused.

She nodded appreciatively. “Thank you.”

Both of them turned towards the garage entrance as the sound of an engine met their ears, the source suddenly sliding into the cracked driveway and fishtailing until it faced the street at an angle. Twilight smiled as Skeeter and Allen exited the Mach 1, both grinning like schoolchildren.

“Hey, bein' scared's one thing, mistrust is somethin' else.” Skeeter explained, smiling devilishly. "Scared woulda meant not comin', but mistrust means shoot them fuckers first."

"That makes sense." Allen replied before looking at the original occupants of the garage. “Morning everyone. What’s up?

“Ya’ll ever had a girlfriend Al?” Arnold asked.

“Uhhhh…why?”

“Twi was wonderin’.”

“If any of you have had a girlfriend.” Twilight quickly added, glaring at Arnold as he smirked at her.

“I get it, don’t worry.” Allen assured her. “I haven’t, but uh…Skeeter had a really short fling with this chick in eighth grade. Can’t really remember what happened…”

“She stood me up at that dance n’ went with some rich fucker instead.” Skeeter reminded him, no longer smiling.

“Oh yeah. Fucking tramp…”

“…and Ah was flirtin’ with this chick over in San Fran for a few months, but…” Arnold trailed off briefly. “…well, I’d actually prefer not to talk about it.”

“She turned out to be a dude.” Skeeter finished for him, grinning evilly as he received the finger.

“That’s…wow.” Twilight said, torn between shock and sympathy.

“That’s internet datin’ fer ya.” Skeeter said with a shrug, walking over to the fridge and extracting a familiar brown bottle.

Allen cocked a brow at him. “Skeeter…”

“Oh, come on!” the mechanic growled in annoyance. “Sixteen hours to get Beauty back on her feet! Sixteen! Ah’ve earned this!”

The other three occupants of the garage sighed collectively as he popped the cap off on the fridge and took a long draft. He smacked his lips dramatically before addressing them again.

“Besides, it’s just one. What could one possibly do to me at this point?”

“Besides shut down your liver?” Twilight offered.

Allen opened his mouth to comment, only to be cut off by a bright flash above the worktable.

Everyone in the garage stared at said table in silence for a few seconds before Allen decided to try talking again.

“What the hell was that?” he asked.

“Didn’t have nothin’ combustible over there.” Skeeter replied, just as confused.

The air flashed twice more, shimmering slightly afterwards.

Twilight suddenly leaned forward in her seat. “Wait a minute…”

“What?” Allen asked.

“I think-”

Suddenly, all four of them were blinded as the worktable exploded in a third, giant flash.

“FLASHBANG!!” Arnold yelled.

“Then where’s the ‘bang’!?” Skeeter snapped. “Also that was a pretty late callout!”

“Both of you cram it!” Allen yelled, his vision slowly returning. “What in the name of all that’s holy just happened?”

“I dunno, but it scared the crap outta me!” Arnold replied, his voice slightly higher in pitch.

Twilight suddenly gasped, drawing Allen’s attention.

“What?” Allen asked, looking in the direction of the worktable and promptly let his jaw drop. “Oh. Hi.”

The area above the worktable was now dominated by what he could only describe as a four-foot wide hole in the air. Beyond said hole was a room with a second landing, large window, and many packed bookshelves. And inside the room, eyes scanning the garage, was-

“PRINCESS CELESTIA!” Twilight screamed happily, sprinting over to the table.

“Twilight! Thank goodness!” replied the princess, relief evident in her expression but quickly replaced with confusion. “Um…Twilight? What happened to you?”

“What? Oh!” Twilight said, suddenly remembering that she’d been a pony the last time she’d talked to her mentor. “It’s a part of the Breach’s equilibrium mechanic. I’ll turn back once I cross back over.”

“I see. Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” she answered, smile suddenly replaced with a worried expression. “How’s Spike? Shining? Mom and Dad?”

“They’re…alright…but we’ve all been worried about you.” she said seriously, making Twilight wince guiltily. The alicorn princess suddenly turned to her left. “Speaking of which…Moondancer, could you go get Twilight’s family?”

“Right away, princess!” replied a voice just out of view, the clicking of hooves against stone marking the owner’s departure.

The sound of receding hoofsteps was suddenly replaced by the pitter-patter of small feet approaching the Breach opening. Suddenly, the top half of Spike’s head appeared, his eyes going wide as he saw her. “Twilight!” he exclaimed.

“Hi Spike.” she said, smiling again. “How are you?”

“Oh, you know: happy to see you again, angry at you for not listening to me when I said this was an accident waiting to happen.” he replied crisply as he reached towards the portal, only to be stopped by Celestia.

“It’s not stable enough to use yet.” she said. “I’m surprised we’re even able to talk to her.”

“Drat.” the drake replied in annoyance, before turning back to Twilight and raising an eyebrow.

Twilight sighed regretfully. She had a lot to apologize for, not the least of which was writing off Spike’s warning. “I’m sorry Spike. You knew from the start that this was a bad idea and I should’ve listened to you.”

Spike glared at her for a moment longer before allowing his expression to soften. “Just…hurry up and get back here, will you? We’ve missed you.”

“I’ll try.” she said, smiling warmly at him. His face moved, and she could only assume that he was smiling back at her.

“By the way,” he continued. “what happened to your-”

“YOUNG LADY, YOU ARE GROUNDED UNTIL YOU DIE!!”

Twilight winced again as her mother suddenly charged into view, the anger on her face making it evident that she’d done nothing but worry for the past week and a half. “NOT A SINGLE WORD TO ANYPONY AND YOU JUST CASUALLY WALTZ THROUGH A SWIRLING VORTEX TO PARTS UNKNOWN!? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED SICK WE’VE ALL BEEN!?”

Night Light calmly walked into view and stood a good distance away, obviously content to wait out the fury being directed at Twilight rather than get involved.

Velvet noticed this and turned to glare at him. “Aren’t you going to yell at her!?”

“You seem to be yelling enough for the both of us.” he replied calmly.

She rolled her eyes and gave him a bemused look. “At least say something.”

He turned to look at Twilight, who could already feel how disappointed he was in her and shrank under his gaze. “We can’t legally ground you anymore; you’re too old for that. However…” he added as his wife opened her mouth to argue. “…as your parents, we have other ways of making you suffer.”

Twilight shrank even further at that.

“Twily!?” called Shining Armor as he darted in, Cadence close behind. Moondancer had obviously elected to stay outside, deciding this was a family matter and that she could speak to Twilight later. “Are you alright!? Please say you’re alright!”

“Shining!” Twilight said, smiling once more as her big brother came into view. “Yes, I’m fine!”

He breathed a sigh of relief, then stared blankly at her for a moment. “Uh…what happened to-”

“It’s just something that happens when you go through the Breach. I’ll turn back to normal when I go back through.”

“Ooh.” everypony but Celestia responded in unison.

“Twilight, you had everypony worried out of their minds!” Cadence said miserably. Twilight guiltily noticed how thin she looked.

“I know! I’m sorry, everpony! I really am!” Twilight replied with equal misery. “The Breach opened, and I charged straight in without a second thought. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“But why didn’t you come back through? What happened?”

Twilight hesitated before answering. “I was attacked shortly after arriving here. I…they…”

She trailed off as memories of that fateful night came back to haunt her. The terrifying psychopath with the knife, what he’d been about to do to her, her family never seeing her again, and pain…so much pain…

“Twilight? Are you okay?” Spike asked, noticing how quiet she was getting.

She heard him and tried to respond, only to choke back a sob as more of the memories surfaced. Her family stared wide-eyed at the tears that had begun rolling down her face.

“Twilight, honey, what’s wrong?” asked her mother, anger completely forgotten.

Twilight started as she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Allen staring at her. She stared back for a moment, then took a deep shaky breath. He took that as his cue to continue the story and turned to face the ponies on the other side of the portal. “They almost killed her.”

The group in the study collectively gasped. Allen continued, ignoring them.

“I think it started with a simple mugging, then escalated when she used her magic to defend herself. When I found her, they were getting ready to finish her off.”

“Twilight…” Cadence whispered.

“I…I came so c-close to never seeing any of you ag-gain, all because of a s-silly mistake I made.” Twilight said, tears still flowing without restraint. “I am so, so sorry everypony.”

Velvet too began tearing up, wishing for nothing more than the ability to jump through the hole in space and hold her daughter close until she stopped crying. The rest of Twilight’s family appeared to be exercising more restraint, if only a little.

“You saved her?” Celestia asked, addressing Allen.

“Yes.”

“Thank you.” she replied with a smile, along with a majority of the ponies there. Shining Armor alone stared at him suspiciously, but didn’t say anything.

“Just…go easy on her, alright?” he said, removing his hand from her shoulder. “She’s gone through hell and back since she got here. Things are only just starting to calm down.”

They all looked back at Velvet and Night Light, who nodded simultaneously. “We’ll keep that in mind.” replied Night Light.

“By the way, I don’t believe we’ve heard your name, sir.” Celestia said.

“Allen Flynt. Nice to meet you.” he said with a smile.

“Princess Celestia. Pleasure.” She turned to the other ponies in the room. “This is Twilight Velvet, Night Light, Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and Spike.”

“Nice to meet you all.” Allen said, jerking a thumb at his compatriots in the waiting area. “The two in the back are Skeeter and Arnold Bailey. Skeeter’s the one covered in grease, Arnold’s the one in military fatigues.”

“They seem...distant.” Celestia remarked, noting their open-mouthed expressions as they stared through the large hole in reality.

“Your sudden appearance broke them, I think. Hold on.” He took a deep breath. “YO, BAILEY!”

Arnold jumped and grinned sheepishly at him and the ponies in the study. “H-hey! How ya’ll doin’? That’s good. Ah’m fine. Really.”

“That’s good to hear.” Celestia replied with a chuckle.

Allen rolled his eyes and glanced curiously at Skeeter, who was giving no indication that he’d even heard him scream his surname.

“Skeeter?”

The mechanic turned and stared blankly at him.

“You alright buddy?”

Again, Skeeter seemed not to hear him, instead continuing to stare blankly at him. Allen began to worry that he was actually broken.

He turned to Arnold, about to ask whether or not this had happened before, when the mechanic suddenly turned the still-fresh beer bottle upside down. All watched as its liquid content poured onto the floor and seeped into a nearby drain, then jumped in shock as it hit the floor and shattered. Allen looked up from the shattered glass at his friend’s still-blank expression.

Skeeter stared back at him for a moment, then turned and walked toward the front of the garage.

“Skeets, where ya goin’?” Arnold asked worriedly.

“Fuck this shit, Ah’m out.” was the mechanic’s only reply as he walked past the Mach 1 and crossed the street.

Allen exchanged a look with Arnold, then turned back to the Breach. “Uhh…so I’m sure you all have some catching up to do. You guys do that and…me and Arnold are going to go make sure that Skeeter is still…well…sane.”

“My apologies.” Celestia said guiltily. She had gotten tired of waiting for the clock to strike nine and had simply gone to the study to attempt activating the Breach herself. She hadn’t actually expected it to work, and she certainly hadn’t expected to startle these…beings…the way she had.

“No, no, it’s not your fault. There’s no way you could’ve known. We’ll be right back.” he said as he turned to leave. “Hey Arnold, where do you think he’s going?”

“Last time I saw him like this, he went to that ol’ playground and just sat on the swing.”

“A grown man covered in grease in a children’s play area? We better hurry before someone gets the wrong idea.”

With that, both men jogged after the mechanic, leaving Twilight alone with her family and friends. She cleared her throat uncomfortably, waiting for one of them to start the conversation. Finally, her brother spoke up.

“Twily, I know you were excited that you finally got the gate to work, but would it have killed you to tell Celestia you were going through? Or, at the very least, come find me so we could go together?”

Twilight looked away in shame. “I was worried you’d stop me from going through. I’d put so much effort into getting the Breach to open that I wouldn’t be able to stand not being able to see the other side. It had become something close to an obsession.”

“I understand that feeling perfectly.” Celestia said, much to the surprise of everypony else. “Still, while we may have been averse to the idea of marching into unknown lands, I cannot stress enough how foolish it was to go alone.”

“I know. It was no excuse for coming here unprepared, or without telling anypony. I’m very sorry.”

Everypony nodded, content to let the conversation rest there for now. They’d spent far too long worrying about Twilight’s well-being. There was no point ruining their reunion by constantly berating her for her mistake.

“I meant to ask, where exactly are you?” Velvet asked. “The way Mr. Flynt described your attack made it seem like muggings are almost commonplace where you are.”

“You have no idea.” Twilight began, thankful for the slight change of subject. “I’m in a city called Las Vegas. It’s startlingly similar to Las Pegasus in that its economy is mainly driven by casinos and high-class hotels, but it’s also a center for gang violence and cartel exchanges. People are always fighting for more control of Vegas’ economy, so the streets are practically battlefields. It isn’t just Las Vegas, either. According to Allen, things like this are quite common in this world.”

“Speaking of which, who is he?” Shining said, his lack of trust plain to everypony. “Not that I’m complaining, but that was pretty convenient when he just showed up out of nowhere and saved you from certain doom. Has he asked you for anything in exchange for keeping you safe?”

“Only that I keep my head down and don’t make a scene. The less attention we attract, the better.”

“Huh.” Shining replied, slightly surprised. “Living in a city like that, I’d expect him to have at least wanted something in return.”

“He and his friends aren’t like everyone else here. They’re good people just trying to survive.”

“That’s another thing that’s been bugging me. What’s with these words you keep using? ‘Everyone’, ‘people’…”

“It’s just how they say things here. Ponies became people, everypony became everyone…it’s just the native language.”

“Ah.” she said with a nod. “And what about hell?”

“It’s the…human version of Tartarus, I believe.”

Both sides of the portal fell silent for a moment, then Cadence spoke up.

“So…when he said you’d been through hell and back…”

Twilight looked toward the garage entrance where her newest friends had disappeared. “It’s an expression he used to convey how hectic our situation has been this past week.”

“Define ‘hectic’.” her father said, concern mixed with curiosity.

Twilight launched into a lengthy recap of the events of last week. Her friends and family made for an excellent audience, asking questions only when necessary. She, for her part, told the story as best as she could: how she woke up on Allen’s couch and began interrogating him, discovering that the federal government was after her, meeting Skeeter. When she reached the part about discovering that Allen was a fixer, however, she faltered.

“What? What did he do?” Spike asked, practically hanging on her every word at this point. Shining stared intently at her, determined to learn as much as he could about the shady figure in the fedora. Twilight hesitated for a moment longer before answering.

“I don’t think it’s my place to say.” she said finally. “If he wants to tell you, he will. For now, let’s just say that life in this city isn’t fair.”

There was a moment’s pause while she let that information sink in, finally broken by her father. “So…you found out what he did for a living, then what?”

“I…went for a walk to try and wrap my head around it.” Twilight said sheepishly. “That was the second time in a week my common sense had deserted me, and also the second time he’s saved me.”

Spike’s jaw dropped as she recounted the incident at the construction site, followed by everypony else’s as she told them about the falling crane. She told them about the car chase, all too eager to tell them about her first (and most likely only) time driving. She conveniently left out the conversation she’d had with Flynt while they’d been “hiding”, instead skipping straight to her capture and subsequent rescue.

“He’s retired now?” Shining asked when she finally finished.

“Yes, and thank goodness.” she replied. “He’s become so much more cheerful since his last meeting with his boss.”

“Do you like him?” asked Velvet.

Twilight blushed slightly, the question catching her completely off-guard and causing everypony to turn and cock an eyebrow at her. She looked around and backed up defensively. “What!? It’s a perfectly honest question!”

Shining facehoofed. “Geez, Mom…”

“Hey, sorry about that.” Allen said as he reentered the garage, Skeeter and Arnold close behind. Skeeter looked over at the portal in his garage, he and the ponies inside it staring blankly at each other for a moment before he shrugged and took a seat in his lawn chair.

“Sorry for startling you, sir.” Celestia said sympathetically.

“Don’t be. In fact, thank you.” Allen said with a grin, causing everyone and everypony to look at him in confusion. “Your majesty, my good friend here had a bit of a drinking problem before you showed up and shocked him into sobriety. He won’t even touch the stuff now.”

“Really!?” Twilight asked, beaming at the mechanic.

“Ya’ll done yet?” Skeeter said irritably.

“Yeah, c’mon man. Lay off.” Arnold said, his voice stern but his face grinning down at his twin.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m just so excited!” Allen said giddily. “I mean, it seems like a week for fresh starts, am I right? First my retirement, then Skeeter pledging sobriety…what’s next? More customers so that Arnold can quit the army? That would be freaking awesome…”

“Ah admire yer optimism, but that ain’t how it works.” Arnold said sadly. “There’s only two ways outta the army: in a wheelchair ‘r in a casket.”

“Still…one can dream…”

“They certainly can…” he agreed wistfully.

Allen stared off into space for a moment, then looked over at Twilight. “So what did you guys talk about?”

She shrugged lightly. “Oh you know…just telling them about all the fun things we’ve done together.”

“Define ‘fun’.” he said flatly.

“Getting shot at and staging daring rescue missions mostly.”

“Ah, yes. So much fun. Did you tell them about…that?”

“No. If you want to tell them, that’s up to you.”

“Much appreciated.” he said with a smile, which disappeared as his phone began ringing in his pocket.

“Who’s that?” Arnold asked as he pulled it out and checked the ID.

“No clue.” Allen said quietly. “Think I should answer it?”

“Could be Simmons.” the marine offered.

“Maybe.” he said, staring at the still ringing phone for another second before answering it and putting it to his ear. “Who is this?”

The garage was silent for about half a second as the caller identified themselves, Allen subsequently nodding in recognition and turning to them, covering the mic.

“It’s Avalon, Simmons' partner.” he said quietly before turning away and walking towards the back. “Yeah, what’s going on?”

Arnold watched him walk away, then turned back to the group. “Ah know they helped us ‘n all, but Ah still don’t trust ‘em.”

“You’re kidding.” Twilight said, slightly surprised.

“Ah agree.” Skeeter said, sitting up. “Feds are always workin' some kind of angle. Maybe Al trusts that snake, but Ah sure as hell don’t.”

“What angle could they possibly be trying to work by giving Twilight back to you?” Cadence asked, confused.

He shrugged in response. “Ah’ll be honest with ya, Ah usually leave questions like them fer Allen. He’s the brains of our outfit. Ah’m just the mechanic.”

“What was he like when you talked to him, Twilight?” Celestia asked.

“Simmons? Well…at first he thought I was some sort of interdimensional terrorist, so we weren’t exactly buddy-buddy during our first conversation. I think he was trying to determine whether he should trust his boss’ word or mine. Our next conversation was much more pleasant, though at first I thought he was just playing on my hopes when he said Allen was on his way. He said he planned to uncover his boss’ dirty little secrets and put him behind bars before he started hurting other people.”

“Do you believe him?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that makes one of us.” Arnold said skeptically.

Suddenly, Allen reentered the garage, drawing the attention of everyone on either side of the Breach. His conversation with Myles had become much more urgent, and they listened anxiously as he paced around them.

“Avalon…no, Avalon! Stop being angry for a second and listen to me! You don’t want anything to do with this, alright? You need to hole up somewhere and keep your head down. If what you’re telling me is true, then he’s probably already looking for you. You need to abandon your equipment...” He trailed off as the other man spoke. “I understand how that feels, believe me. I also understand that you won’t survive if you attempt this.”

Twilight looked over at Skeeter and Arnold, who looked at her with equal confusion. What had happened to make Simmons’ mysterious partner so angry?

They turned back to Allen as they heard him sigh. “If that’s what it takes to keep you away from this mess, then fine. I’ll do it. Just, leave all your tech and stuff where it is, pack the essentials, and run. Don’t even take your phone, got it?” There was a pause as the other man answered. “Alright, good luck. Thanks for the warning.”

He hung up and turned to face them all. “Sorry to interrupt the family reunion, but we’re about to be on the federal radar.”

Author's Note

Oh yeah. That, and a rift in space-time opens between Earth and Equestria. Nothing too interesting.
Be sure to leave a comment with your thoughts, and also give me a thumbs-up if you enjoyed. Also, make sure the folder that you have this story saved to has the "track unread" option enabled so that you don't miss new chapter notifications.
Peace.