Day 137, July 25th, Wednesday

Storm had taken a day to recover in her own way, flying around and fretting over Vanna. Vanna was too young of a dragon to understand more than basic needs, but it was cathartic to look after someone else and not fret over her own needs.

Still, she remembered the offer Stalwart had made to her about having Nightfall visit as well. She still hadn't quite forgiven his pigheadedness, but now after spending some time with Twilight and having a bit of fun to drown out her misery, she had to admit she missed him.

It didn't take much effort to fly over to his apartment and she took a deep breath and let it out slowly before giving it a knock. After a minute, she knocked again, fearing she might have come at a bad time, since he often had to work grave shifts.

Storm heard no answer, and she suspected that would be the case. She still had her keys and let herself in, looking at how bad the place had become. Hardly anything was getting put away anymore. He wasn’t messy before, but the stallion clearly didn’t know how to take care of himself without her it seemed. There was a mix of happiness that she meant so much to him mingling with the guilt that she left him so abruptly, and took it as a sign she really should make up, especially with what happened to Dawn and her heat hitting next week.

She went to the kitchen and began cooking, hoping he would be home for lunch like he often would try. She barely finished making up the spaghetti from the stock in the fridge, when the door opened and a sad but familiar face greeted her.

"Storm?" he asked, eyes heavy from the bags under his eyes.

"Yeah... hope you didn’t mind I let myself in." She asked quietly as she exited the kitchen and came to sight. He looked worse for wear, having baggy eyes and just exhausted all over.

"No, it’s fine… you came back?" He said, closing the front door and then just stared at her with his heavy eyes, trying to will himself not to cry at seeing her again.

“Yeah, I wanted to talk.” Storm said.

"So..." Nightfall said, standing awkwardly by a window, curtains still drawn.

"Look... I know we both said things that we regret." Storm said quietly, gathering her courage and adding, "In a way, I'm responsible too, cause I should have seen how much you were struggling and tried to help."

"No... No that's not right... you were right." Nightfall said, "I was being a damned fool and an ass, just like you said... and now... now this is all my fault."

"It's fine Nightfall, really." Storm said, going over to hug him.

"No, it's not... it's really not." Nightfall said, gently using a hoof to push Storm back. "That explosion? The one that hurt Dawn?"

"Yeah..." Storm said, an uneasy feeling settling in her chest.

"I... May have told Blue Star that Dawn was a changeling."

Storm hesitated, "Ok... What are you saying?"

"I think Blue Star might have told someone." He said, "A week after I let it slip in full, and Dawn's nearly killed? That can't be a coincidence."

Storm took a deep breath, and then let it out and hugged him again, "You really can be a stubborn mule. I need to report this in, and I'll get ready to move my stuff back in. By next week, you and I are going to have a talk about what it'll mean to keep each other happy and be a family. There will be some fun sprinkled in, but I am not about to just give up on you like that. that's not fair to either of us."

"I... I'd like that." He admitted, "I don't know how I can handle being alone again."

"I'll see you once my things are packed. If you need anything, call." She said, heading back to the door.

She knew he wanted her to stay, but this was big news. The commander would want to know. If things aren't too busy, she'd come back for the night. If they were, she'll just have to give him a call.

Storm went in to Twilight's room, fully expecting to be asked how her visit with her mule went. Her face was moderately grim as she steeled herself for what was to come. Twilight, and nearly everyone in the castle for that matter, was ready to go after whoever was responsible as soon as allowed and the tone of the place was like the country was on the brink of war.

Twilight was at her desk looking over paper, a large map of Ponyville and the surrounding areas up on a board with colored pins in it.

When Storm entered, her ear swiveled around to pinpoint the noise, turning and spotting Storm. "Ah, Storm. It’s good to see you, how are things?"

"My visit with Nightfall went better than expected." She said as she went in, double checking the door was still closed. "He apologized in his own way without any prompting and even gave us something to work with as a possible lead for the attack on Dawn."

"What? How does he have a lead?" She asked sitting straight up and giving Storm her full attention.

"He thinks his patrol partner, Blue Star, might’ve heard from him that Dawn is part changeling, when he was ranting about the attention she kept getting, especially after I left him." Storm said seriously.

Twilight frowned, asking flatly, "What?"

"Yeah, he’s worried they might be the leak. No idea if they are, but it’s worth looking into." Storm said, still returning the serious air of the place.

Twilight frowned and in a flash of magic, her phone appeared and she dialed a number. It barely rang once before it was answered, “I have a lead on the bombing. Pick up Guard Nightfall in the Manehatten Guard for questioning… Yes, the one that came with us… Thank you."

"What about Blue Star?" Storm asked once Twilight hung up.

"After talking to Night." Twilight answered.

"All right." Storm said, going over to their side, "I'll be moving back in with them in time for my heat by next week."

Twilight nodded before asking, "So… How was the visit?"

"It was short, but I’m glad he's come to his senses." Storm said.

Twilight nodded.

Storm sighed, going over to them and getting more off her chest, "Kinda didn't give him much time like I had planned. Made him food but when he dropped how he might have leaked, I had to let you know right away."

"You did the right thing,” Twilight nodded, “this attack has caused a lot of shockwaves. Not only was this a bombing of a foreign dignitary in our soil, this was a direct attack on my friend."

"And Chrysalis cause of Dawn being in their hive ‘n whatever… Whoever did this must be really dumb, even if they were smart enough to pull this off."

"Oh, most definitely." Twilight nodded darkly.

Storm sighed, "Well, if there's one good thing that came of this, Nightfall got to see how bad he became because of the harm Dawn got even if he’s not the source of the leak… Try not to be too hard on him, ok?"

"I promise not to cause any bodily harm if it turns out he was the leak."

"That’s… oddly specific." Storm frowned, "but I'll take it."

Twilight simply smiled at Storm and Storm smiled slightly back before continuing.

"And if he was… I’d say showing him pictures of the surgery or the initial injuries will make it sink in if the news feeds somehow hadn’t… I think it did though, he looked like a broken stallion."

She nodded and put a wing over Storm. "How you holding up? I know you and Dawn had a rough start, but you two had been getting close recently."

"I … kinda had some second thoughts about her." Storm answered. "Sure, she planted some memories of hers that one time and I'm still questioning if she should have, but at the same time, I don’t think she's as bad as she came across before. Bucking naive, but not bad."

Twilight nodded. "But are you okay after what happened?"

Storm sighed and thought about it, giving a small shrug. "I'll live. Just wanting to see her come out ok… Nopony deserves that."

Twilight nodded again, then hugged Storm. Storm hugged back and when they parted, she gave a shrug.

“Figure I'll see how she and Stalwart are doing when I can. Maybe I can see if we can get on the right hoof again when she's up."

"Yeah. I’m sure she’d like that."

"I know she's not normally my kind a mare,” Storm gave a half nod of recognition, “but if she still comes out as her cheerful oblivious self… Well, that takes a certain kind of toughness, ya know?"

Twilight smiled and ruffled Storm's mane. "My, my, did my little Lapdog mature while I wasn’t looking?"

"Heeyyy!" Storm protested, hitting Twilight on the shoulder, "Dawn isn't the only one who's matured…" When Twilight wouldn’t stop chuckling, she protested further, frowning mildly, “Heyyyy. You know I'm not that bad."

"I know. You are way better than when we met." She said smiling at her.

Storm frowned and looked away, grumbling without meaning it, "Let's not talk about that…"

Twilight smiled and stroked her mane. "You sure you’re doing okay?"

Storm shrugged and continued to avoid eye contact, "Ask Dawn that. I'll live."

"Not what she asked, Lapdog." Meadow reminded her.

Storm sighed before saying, "I don’t know… I should be fine, but…"

"Someone you have known for a long time is fighting for their life in a battle none of us can really help her with." Twilight finished.

"I suppose…" Storm nodded. "Haven't been on good terms with her till you though. That’s what, a year now?

"Give or take… Still, when it’s someone you personally know, and not just a stranger… It hits harder."

"Yeah. Seeing the look on Stalwart's face and what he must be going through… I can barely imagine." Storm said, thinking about it. Twilight simply nodded back and Storm let out a sigh, looking at the desk and table of reports, “We are gonna get those guys commander… we are gonna get them and make them pay."

"Either us or the Changelings. Personally, it makes no difference to me." Twilight shrugged.

"Yeah… What have the councilmembers said about this?"

"Honestly? Eerily quiet." She said. "Which means they are pissed."

"Oh damn… So everyone's unhappy about this… Oh, did you hear how one couple said with the discovery of Dawn being a hybrid, they hope they might be able to have children too?"

"I figured that could happen.” Twilight nodded slightly, then looked to the reports, “But yes, I have no idea what the council is doing, but I know they are making moves and rapidly. They only grow quiet when focused on other things."

Storm nodded, thinking. "Ya know… Dawn became part changeling last time she was cocooned right? What if she comes out as a full changeling or something?"

"Hmmm… then she gets treated like Dawn."

"Sooo you're saying nothing changes?" Storm asked skeptically.

"Should it?"

"I... maybe?" Storm asked, blinking, "I mean, if Dawn herself isn't the same-"

"Well I don’t see why she wouldn’t be herself."

"You..." Storm facehooved and tried again, "I mean what if Dawn is different cause of this, like her personality is different? You know how ponies act different when they get close to dying."

"I mean, I’d be concerned if she wasn’t a bit affected."

"... I'm pulling a Dawn with worry, aren't I?" Storm asked flatly.

"Quite." Twilight said and patted her head. "And it’s adorable how you both are rubbing off on each other."

Storm let out an annoyed groan, mildly blushing before shrugging it off, "Fine. I'll just stop worrying about it then. Locked it out and threw away the key."

Twilight chuckled and hugged Storm. "Is okay to worry… Truthfully, I am as well."

"What things are you worried about commander?" Storm asked.

"That she does come out different… not herself at all, but some stranger… that everything that was Dawn is lost as the cocoon repairs her because the damage was so extensive she was effectively dead, so it replaced the damage… that she never comes out."

"Shit... I hadn’t even thought of that." Storm blinked, now worried about that idea as well.

Twilight sighed as she stroked the mare's mane. "Sorry… I shouldn’t have said anything…"

"No... you should. Wouldn’t do to go visit a friend without any idea what they're going through, right?"

"But all I did was make you worry more."

"I mean, I’ll think about it, but what I have to remind myself is I can't do anything about it. Sure, it sucks, but all we can do is wait for her to come out."

"But I could have… I could have done something…" She said.

"How?" Storm said critically.

"A guard, increased security… something."

"Are you seriously telling me that you think you weren’t already doing all you could to help her?" Storm asked with a brow raised.

"I knew there were dangerous elements, those who would be a threat to her… I shouldn’t have let her go out alone." Twilight said.

Storm sighed, pulled a hoof back, and hit Twilight on the shoulder. "Stop."

She blinked, looking at Storm.

"Stop blaming yourself when it was outside your control." Storm said sternly. "If you knew at all they were gonna make an utterly stupid move like this, you would have stopped it. This much I know. Now all we can do is make sure she's safe, which she is, and go after the bastards who did that to her."

Twilight said nothing, just looking at her. Storm stared her friend down, not wanting to back down, and the pair stared at each other for a couple minutes before Storm frowned.

Storm frowned, "What!"

"Nothing… anyway, I have some work to attend to." Twilight said as she grabbed some papers. "Can you take this down to sublevel three, the server room?"

"Why do i get the feeling you're sending me away so you can keep blaming yourself?" Storm asked with a raised brow.

"I am not. I have work to do."

"All right… and I’m coming back to make sure you de-stress. Can’t have you burning out in getting those idiots back right?" Storm said, taking the papers.

Twilight nodded, giving a small if sad smile. Storm delivered the papers, then came back a half hour later and seeing Twilight still working on paperwork.

Storm walked over and waved to Twilight, looking at what held their attention as a clue of what they might be up to, but it was fairly standard paperwork.

"I was thinking on my way back from your errand." Storm said, "Kinda ironic we have a royal egg being laid by your mate and then another member of royalty ends up being put in one a couple weeks later…"

"I suppose so… universe works in a weird way."

"Yeah..." Storm said, then sighed and moved over to Twilight and acted like her nickname would imply, rubbing her side on Twilight as if she were a cat to get their attention.

Twilight looked over at Storm. "Yes?"

"I think my owner needs a bit of time to relax." Storm said bluntly, rubbing herself on Twilight's other side.

"Oh?" Twilight asked.

==========

Nightfall woke up to get ready for his shift with the guard, feeling an ominous weight over his head that he couldn't get rid of, even as he finished his breakfast. He wanted his family back, yet he couldn’t help but think that what happened to Dawn was linked directly to him and knew he would never let himself live that down.

There was a knock on the door, soft and polite. Nightfall blinked, he wasn't expecting any visitors.

"Hello? Who is it?"

"Mr. Nightfall please open the door." An authoritative voice said calmly.

Nightfall gulped, internally bracing himself as he wondered why his instincts had to be right. He went to the door and opened it carefully, keeping an eye on his surroundings. The only ones he saw outside were two ponies, a mare unicorn and a stallion pegasi in business casual clothing.

"Mr. Nightfall could you please step out of the apartment?" The mare asked in the same voice as before.

"What's this about?" He asked, still staying inside, trying to look them over to tell what they might be after or who they might be with. He couldn’t get a read on them and their clothing didn’t make them stand out.

"We need to speak to you on a certain matter. Please step out of the apartment. Are you armed?"

"I’m not going anywhere till you tell me who you are." Nightfall said.

They reached into their jackets and pulled out ID jackets.

"Operative Cherry." The mare said, showing her picture on the ID along with the crest of the MID. "This is Operative Cloud Cover, Military Intelligence Division."

Nightfall sighed internally, deflating as he knew what was coming. He complied with their instructions, knowing how dangerous it was to not. He had to release all of his weapons to their care before being permitted to continue further.

They took a tinted windowed SUV and spent an awkward silent trip to the industrial part of town. Nightfall raised a brow at being taken to an abandoned factory after being told who they were, but all he could do was wait.

When they pulled in, they came to a stop and the side door was opened. Nightfall could only see a table and three chairs in the middle of a wide space. Their only light came from dirt covered windows. He barely stepped out with both of the agents before the SUV stepped on the gas and shot off out of the place.

The two agents paid it little mind, taking the two seats opposite the table, leaving one seat open on the opposite side.

“Please, have a seat.” The stallion said, gesturing to the seat

Nightfall slowly took the implied seat meant for him, feeling trepidation but planned to cooperate to his fullest.

The mare pulled a tape recorder out and turned it on while the stallion set up the camera.

“This is operative Cherry.” She said into the tape recorder.

“Operative Cloud Cover.” The stallion said as he powered on the camera before the mare spoke again.

"Equestrian Defense Force Military Intelligence Division interviewing one ‘Nightfall’ in connection with incident Sierra-Indigo-Two-Three-Seven as possible lead. The date is July 30th, 1667 Celestial Calendar at 0956 hours. Commencing interview." She said and placed the recorder on the table. "Please state your name and current occupation."

"Nightfall, Royal Guard." He answered.

"Thank you. Now then, please describe your relationship with one Legate Princess Meadow Dawn of the Ridgeback Hive and Equestria."

"Fellow ex-human from a similar world, a pony also from the same Equestria. We were loosely friends for the first half a year we were there." He answered briefly.

"Thank you." She said. "Now then, we received intel that you have possible intel about Incident Sierra-Inigo-Two-Three-Seven, the recent bombing in Ponyville's main street."

"Maybe." Nightfall agreed quietly, "I hope I'm wrong."

"Please state what this information is."

"I believe my partner for our patrol routes had found out Dawn was part changeling. There was a point during our talks when her interview happened where it probably was mentioned… by me." He said, tone indicating his shame in doing so.

"I see.....and who is this partner?"

"Blue Star." Nightfall said.

"Is that all the intel you have?"

"Yes. Nothing concrete, other than the last time I saw him was shortly after the explosives went off and the first responders were no longer needed. He's called in sick the last couple of days."

"Hm… Very well. Thank you for your time." She said. "Anything to close with?"

"Only that if Dawn did get hurt because of my indiscretion… I deeply regret it." Nightfall said, quiet, yet meaning every word in that moment.

The recording equipment was shut off and stowed away.

"Follow us:" The stallion said, clicking a button near his wrist twice and the SUV pulled back into the warehouse.

Nightfall nodded and approached the vehicle, getting back in and being driven to his apartment before being let back out. His equipment was returned to him.

"We spoke to your supervisor already, you will not be reprimanded for being late." The mare informed him. "Have a good day at work."

Once that had been said, they returned to the SUV and it pulled away.

Nightfall watched them go away with a heavy heart, hoping that he was wrong, or this would be the second time that he had almost allowed an evil to get into the world. He had insisted on trying to fight off Svik and had to have the evil unicorn sealed inside his body before, and now he had caused Dawn to be hurt.

He returned to his shift, trying not to think of the harm that had fallen on Dawn and how that compared to his own pains. Part of him was wondering if it was karma getting back at Dawn, but he didn’t want to think that was right.

In the days that followed, they found Blue star, discovered that he was a member of a local Purists movement, but had stopped attending after Dawn's injuries. He had been readily eager to give up information about the charter, giving every name he had in exchange for some 'possible' lenience. he kept insisting he didn't know that would happen, but the MID scoffed and made sure he knew that he should have expected nothing less.

Author's Note

Scorch says 'boobs' when he writes his section as his header. So, boobs. That is all.