It had been a week since the tumultuous events of The Friendship Games and everything was returning to normal at Canterlot High School, or as normal as it got in a school where Magic --note the capital M, no parlor tricks here-- was common knowledge. Frankly it had all taken too long for Principal Celestia who found the aftermath both stressful and taxing on her, all she wanted now was a weekend off, a slice of cake and a tumbler of that ten-year old malt whiskey she'd been saving for a special occasion. To be slightly fair though it hadn't all been bad, they'd managed to foster stronger ties with the usually aloof Crystal Prep Academy, humiliate that horrible Abacus Finch and snag a prize student whom --whilst a lovely girl if their brief interactions had shown anything-- would be a massive boon to the school regarding its test scores and funding from the government.
Then he had to turn up.
It was was nearing the end of the school-day when several black SUVs mysteriously appeared around the school, a large number of pristinely dressed men and women calmly exiting them and taking up point around the building whilst others utilized hand-held devices to scan the area, paying particular attention towards the semi-repaired Wondercolt statue. The students of course were curious as anyone would be but rapidly found any attempt to leave the building failed, held back by the calm --if firm-- tones of the dark-suited individuals at the exits. The faculty found likewise with their few attempts at asserting authority going over with either a smile (if polite) or a cynical laugh (if not). She however tried relax in her office, let Luna deal with all the fuss of the students she knew who these G-men were and had a pretty good idea what was about to happen. It was inevitable really, sighing lightly she pulled open the bottom drawer of her desk finding a disappointingly low bottle of Vodka within, Luna had obviously been dipping into her stash.
"Can't let her finish this," she muttered unscrewing the cap and taking a deep swig.
"That's not very ladylike," a voice interrupted followed by a chuckle at the shocked splutterings of the Principal attempting to hide her Alcohol.
"Well most ladies don't have to deal with Government Agents turning up at their work-place and scaring them as well as a bunch of teenagers," she retorted trying to gain some manner of composure back. Celestia glared at the 'Government Agent' (she knew he was far more then that), male, mid forties, short brunette hair, nice suit, honest face. If she hadn't known better she would of thought he worked in some kind of office. Too bad she knew better.
"I wouldn't say we 'scare' them Celestia," he said taking a seat usually reserved for tardy students "Just let them know that they have options, you could follow them and be happy...or you don't and be unhappy" he smiled "How is that young man from last time, Fido was it ?"
Celestia frowned "He's fine thank you very much, the arm healed surprisingly well considering what your attack dog did to him."
The Agent wagged his finger "Now now Celestia Agent May isn't an attack dog, if anything she's a surprisingly compassionate women. Some of my more aggressive operatives would have put him in a pine box for attempting to assault them, I don't necessarily agree with it of course but I can't personally control everyone you must understand."
"He thought you were kidnapping me-" she slammed her fist on her desk "-he couldn't play the damn harpsichord for a month !"
A raised eyebrow and bemused silence was his only response.
"What is it Coulson ?" the Principal snarled.
"Well strapping young man like him, varsity jacket, had a football on him I remember correctly, looks more like a 'throw nerds in lockers' type then a harpsichord player" he chuckled "I will admit though we looked a tad suspect bundling you into the car like that but your quite a busy bee, home was out of the question after all your sister could interfere and we hate to disrupt your students so it was the car or nothing."
"Ladylike can go jump in a fire," she thought bringing out the Vodka again this time with two glasses, she proffered one to Coulson whom waved it away. Shrugging she poured herself the remnants into the glass filling it to the brim. "So what is it you want this time Coulson, you and your S.W.O.R.D guys-"
"S.H.I.E.L.D. actually," he interrupted "S.W.O.R.D. are our extraterrestrial branch whilst those fine individuals currently outside doing tests ?" he smiled "Those are W.A.N.D our magical branch, which is why I'm here."
"Scaring my students...even though you don't like to," she gulped down half of the glass enjoying the burn.
He frowned slightly "Desperate times call for desperate measures."
"So" Celestia leant back in her chair "What is it this time hmm, is it how the natural 'Thaumic Radiation' from the statue causes us all to perceive everyone with unusual skin colors...or how about our names, we get that a lot, if your brainaics are right there's some kind of magical subconscious suggestion to name our offspring with unusual titles ?"
Coulson stood up, leaning over the desk he looked the glib Principal in her eyes "I wouldn't be here if it was that trivial Celestia and you damn well know it."
"Your kinda cute when your angry," she giggled the alcohol destroying the 'dark and brooding' look she'd been going for. Why was she such a lightweight, Luna could always drink her under the table !
"Dammit women this is serious !" he hissed, his tone snapping the women back to her sense. The few times she'd met 'Agent Coulson' he'd been polite and genial if occasionally serious. This was a new one for her.
"When you first contacted S.H.IE.L.D. regarding and I quote 'Some weird talking magic horse version of me' we investigated, found a minor stable wormhole in your schools statue, worked like clockwork and nothing was coming through so we let it slide, same with the 'Sunset Shimmer' girl," he rolled his eyes, he could never get used to these people and their naming policies even the Asgardians weren't this bad "Then we suddenly get massive spikes of magical energy coming from this place, reports of a demon flying around, property damage and a large amount of memory loss, we warned you then keep things on the down-low, don't make waves there are bigger things out ther-"
"We tried !" squeaked Celestia unused to being on the receiving end of such a vicious rant, was this how her students felt when she went on the offensive ?
"Well you didn't try hard enough did you !" Coulson snarled "After that it was another massive spike, this time with reports of more memory loss --yourself included-- and a giant 'glowing horse' in the sky that gave off enough juju it fried half of W.A.N.D.S. recording apparatus, I managed to cover for you then Celestia because to be frank I like you, your a women saddled with the supernatural and you certainly didn't sign up for it, but recent events have come to a head and something has to be done."
The rainbow haired women sighed into her drink "Your referring to The Friendship Games I suppose ?"
"I don't know Celestia, you can call it whatever the hell you want but all I know is your little stunt almost killed three of my monitoring mages, created a rift in reality that was getting dangerously unstable and caused several Asgardians to get so jumpy they were considering 'Wiping the Earth clean lest the horrors from R'yleth step through', " at the mention of potential genocide the women began to tear up causing Phil no end of pain, he'd come here to teach her a lesson not to scar her. He reached out and placed a friendly hand on her shoulder.
"D-dont worry, we just gave them some crates of beer and a excuse, it seemed to keep them happy," that seemed to do the trick though he subtly dumped the Vodka to make sure, 'accidentally' spilling it onto the carpet "Oh I'm so sorry!"
Ignoring the fresh stain on her carpet Celestia sniffled lightly "I...I tried to tell them to keep magic out of The Friendship Games, even put Sunset on it the...umm 'visitor' from Equestria or EQG4 as you call it, it all seemed like it was going alright and then the portals began opening and everything began spiraling out of cont-"
Coulson sighed as he sat back down "Look Celestia we know you weren't the one to cause this to happen, your not to blame. If anyone is to be blamed it was that 'Sparkle' girl though to be fair she was practically blackmailed into it by her Principal. Finch made the wrong move and tried to report it, we picked her up a day ago and our agents are giving her a 'warm' welcome."
"How warm ?" Celestia inquired with a dark smile, she truly did hate that women.
A grim look came over the Agents face "Lets just say she won't be a fan of water when she's released, W.A.N.D. doesn't like it when people use magic for selfish reasons like winning a minor school event, especially reality warping levels of magic."
A sudden worry came to Celestia "You wont do anything to Twilight Sparkle will you ?"
A belly laugh was his answer "Heck no, if anything they want to recruit her, they're calling her the 'Magi-tech Stark' considering she built such a impressive containment device out of vacuum cleaner parts. You know it takes three of my trained Agents two days and a dead goat to get the same kind of result ?"
Laughter broke out between the two of them lasting for a few moments, as the sudden silence overcame them however Celestia couldn't help but feel calm. Agent Phil Coulson had that effect on her she found, at least when he wasn't being a pain in her ass.
"So what now?" she asked a small smile betraying her feelings.
"Ostensibly ?" he stood up and brushed himself down, more habit then anything else "You've been given a very strong warning and will have several W.A.N.D. Agents placed in your staff. Realistically however you'll be left be, we're strung thin enough as it is thanks to this 'Dr Strange' guy popping up and causing trouble....just please try and keep things under control. If I have to come back it won't be anywhere near as friendly i'm afraid." He flashed her a sad smile, duty was duty after all. As he went to leave however he was stopped by a soft hand grabbing his.
"A-are you free this weekend ?" a blush crept across her face, she wasn't usually this forward preferring to let the men make the first move, perhaps it was the Vodka ?
"Well I've got a Latverian embassy to infiltrate but I can probably re-schedule that," he joked....at least she hoped he joked.
"How does Italian sound ?" she knew a great little restaurant.
"Well I do like a good Hotpocket" he replied flashing her a grin "I can pick you up at six, though I hope you don't mind a flying car" with a wink he slipped out as quietly as he entered.
Suddenly Celestia didn't feel stressed anymore.
