Cozy smiled at the woman across the table from her. Women were not her specialty. Tricky humans, she couldn't just tell them what to do. Still, there she was, with the House of Representatives leader, who was a democrat, just like Cozy! She just had to get in a good word.

That senators and representatives could chat was news to her. Chrysalis was all too happy to burst that bubble. It was her 'assistant' that had arranged the meeting. "I'm so glad you could make time for me today. We both want what's best for the American people."

"Which is why I'm confused." The stern faced house leader tapped at the table between them. "Those satellites make America a lot of money every year, and you want to abandon the idea?"

"Not abandon, exactly." Cozy made a shooing motion. "Just kicking it down the field, as you put it. It's not like we're forgetting how to do it, golly. We can always take it up again when we have the money. Right now, they're not making us any."

"It's not enough money to get the big-ticket items in." She did not look convinced. "What do you even plan to get done?"

"Well, gee." Cozy had some research on that. "We had a big break with the foreign powers going away." She wriggled her fingers. "But this could go a nice way to balancing the books. Let's get back in the black."

Cozy leaned in, pressed against her arms. "Besides, I hear Mitch is against the idea, but we can get this through, girl to girl. I'm whispering—"

"Whatever you told him worked," cut off the speaker. "He's steaming mad that we held up 'his grand plan.'"

"Then get a favor out of him." Cozy smiled gently. "Give it to him, for a price. America has a lot of needs right now, and you could work towards that. Or we can just split the country apart farther, arguing about this little thing."

"A lot of needs..." That much was true. It was, alas, always true. "Hm."

"We can't allow this." The president was arguing into her phone. "She's a match. That's reason enough to inspect her."

"The first agent we sent came back negative." It was unfortunate that most of the CIA was male. "Is she doing something wrong?"

A thousand possibilities were in front of the president, but saying them would just make her look bad. "For sake of argument, look at a distance. Something comes up, right? We all have dirty laundry. Even ponies have some habit if you look hard enough."

"Except her. She's done nothing but exist, and barely even that." She could hear papers shuffling. "We can find where she's been to school, and what country she's from. Equestria, of course."

Wait. "Equestria? I thought she was a human hybrid?" Not a lot of other places had humans for that long. "What is she?!"

"You have mail." He wasn't joking, there was new mail. "That's the Intel we could gather."

She flipped it open. It was her papers for joining the States. It declared her not as a human-pony, but a minotaur-pony. She had every reason to be as old as she claimed. That explained the hands and the general biped shape... "Don't like this."

"We don't have other information to go from. Her time in the country was dead silent. Her time before that was spent in... not America. They don't track much. We aren't getting information out there." A finger drummed against a desktop. "Can I help you with anything else, Miss President?"

"That's really all you can get?"

"We can only dig so much." Arms folded over the line. "Unless it involves the national security, which so far it doesn't."

"Thank you." She hung up the phone with a weary sigh. They were a bust...

"We can, um, shoot down most things." Sunburst was facing the camera with an unsure smile. "Assuming we see them. This is... why the craft with this will have cameras that can see in all directions for quick friend or... foe detection." He adjusted the shirt he wasn't wearing. "So no more take two of this problem."

He smiled at the camera as best he could, clearly nervous. "Um, does that answer everything?"

"So what powers it?" They pushed a microphone into Sunburst's personal space. "It needs a lot of power, I imagine, right?"

"Oh, yes, certainly." He willed the model satellite closer to himself as he turned it around with his hooves. "Most of this is, um, as you'd call it, and so would we really, magic in origin." He set his hoof on a large crystal. "That's where this comes in. It holds the magic and the basic programming for the magic. It interfaces with the onboard computers, mind. Technology and magic, working together." He clapped his hooves. "Both are set to deactivate if they stop hearing from the other, so no rogue scenarios."

"Fascinating." The one asking the questions mostly stayed off the camera's view. "We heard that congress is on the edge of passing a law that may cancel your hard work. How does that make you feel, Mister Burst?"

"Well, in that ca... wait what?" Sunburst perked up, having heard not a bit of political news. "What are they doing?!"

"You haven't heard?" The screen behind Sunburst flickered to a feed of the House of Representatives. "A bill is going through again. If it passes the house, which seems more likely this time, its passing in the senate will be all but assured. This--"

Sunburst reeled at the high-speed human politics being thrown at him. "Uh, sorry, but can you break that down a little for me?"

"If this passes, America will outlaw satellite work for an undefined amount of time. How does this make you feel?"

"Oh..." All his work outlawed? Sunburst listed to the right in a boneless tilt without full muscle tone. "Oh... That's... bad... Did I do something wrong? Are they angry at me? I didn't know we'd face such a threat! I couldn't hope to plan for that..."

His worried looks worked quite well for the news program, but they had no news for him that'd settle his frazzled nerves.

"Mister Goldstein." Paul was wearing a BlueTooth headset, having learned from earlier mistakes. "We need to speak." And he knew who was talking. Her voice was hard to misplace.

"Misses President, you know we're talking on an unsecure line?" He made his way towards the bathroom, one of the more secure places in the immediate area. "How can I help?"

"This is between you and me." Something shuffled. Cloth, perhaps? "This is a random phone. This call didn't happen. If you don't like that, I will hang up. You can keep a secret, I know you can."

Paul tensed at the words. "This sounds serious. Is the country in danger?" His grip on his phone tightened with worry. "What's wrong?"

"Good answer. I had a feeling you were on our side. You remember the girl, that woman that might have brainwashed your agents?"

"Yes, curly hair?"

"Curly hair. You are not watching CSPAN, I assume. Democrat from California. Look into her. Minotaur-human hybrid, senator. Find something." The phone went dead.

"Hello? Misses President?" Paul pulled the phone away to see it was at its home screen, the call quite ended. "Damn it..." He had just received a mission from the president. There was no duty for him to see it done. He was a private citizen, and that call was about as unofficial as it got. He could just... pretend he never heard it and nothing could be done.

Nothing but his own conscious, of course, already nagging at him. "Damn it..." He had guests in the house he couldn't just shoo off, and a Secret Serviceman that suddenly fit in the same category. Even if he wanted to check in on the mystery lady, incognito, how... How...

Paul emerged from the bathroom with his phone securely tucked away in a pocket. He returned to the living room where he was stared at pointedly. "What's wrong?" He looked back at Swift Swim.

"You're upset." Why did she have to be so darned perceptive? "Can I help, Paul?"

"Calling adults by their first name is rude."

She was not impressed. "You are not 'Mister Goldstein.' You are Paul, I'm Swift. If we use the last name, that means things are serious. Welcome to being friends." She crossed her arms. "So, what's wrong? If I can help, I will."

"And if I say things are serious?" Paul did his best to keep his tone flat. His folded fingers were calmly pressed towards one another. "What then?"

"Then you have my undivided attention." She brushed her hair and cracked a smile. "You haven't lied to me yet. You've been pretty straight forward, and I appreciate that. You're letting us borrow your house and I'm pretty sure you could be using it for your stuff. If you want to share, I'm still up for helping... If not, I'll stop prying."

That she was a good kid in his book seemed certain, but that only made having her at all involved all the more... tricky. "I need to vanish for a while. I don't want to cause a panic, with him, or anyone. I just need to go away. Got any ideas on that?" If nothing else, he could use that sharp little teenaged mind to his advantage.

"Hum... That is complicated... You can be whatever you want, but only one thing at a time..." She tapped a finger against the opposing arm as she hissed in thought. "You could get away any time you want, but they would notice with you not being here. Are you allowed to just tell him you're leaving?"

He hadn't even considered the idea. A big part of him wanted to just deny the idea out of hand. Tell them to go away?! Surely that wouldn't work. He pulled out his phone and quickly Googled up the answer to that. "Huh..." Turned out only the acting president was actually stuck with the Secret Service. Anyone else could, in theory, send them away.

"Was that a good huh or a bad huh?" Swift was watching him intently. "Please be a good huh."

"A good huh." Paul tucked his phone away. "But, I wasn't lying. I will go away. Will you be alright by yourself until your mom gets here?"

"Leave one of your cards and I'll manage." She had quite the sly look on her face. "Somehow. Seriously, I won't wander away, but I'd rather help you."

"Thank you for offering." He stood to his full height. "But this is a Paul job. A teen girl isn't going to help a lot here. Tell them I headed out. I'll be back as soon as I can be, alright?"

Swift gave the best salute one should expect of a random teen that hadn't ever been around the armed forces. "You got it." She glanced away and back at him. "Is this a changeling thing? Are you gonna spy?!"

Why did girls have to be so clever... "Maybe. It'll be for America though, I promise that."

She burst into little giggles. "You just made my day! Good luck, and get back quick, alright?" She accepted the card that was dangled in her view. "I promise not to be super irresponsible with this."

"Your parents taught you well." He ruffled the top of her head. "But don't starve either." He started to go, but a question came up. "Where's your boyfriend?"

"He doesn't live with me," she noted flatly. "He had to go home eventually." She threw up one hand. "Surprised his folks let him stay as long as they did. Now I'm down two cool guys. Be safe, alright?"

"The safest thing would be staying right here." Which is what he didn't do. He dismissed his Secret Agent, a surprisingly frank exchange, and was free to start his mission.

Author's Note

I had to Google myself for some of that. Things are happening!

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