Sunset strode down the hall towards the lab, eyes down towards the document Agent Lylis intercepted her with. One of many since her exposure. At least this one wasn’t like that ‘analysis’ of a suspected magical artifact; those pages were so redacted they may as well have just taken a paint roller to it.

She spotted a suit ahead in her peripheral, a now rather frequent sight since her exposure. With MIST having now become the most significant focal point of Equestrain involvement on Earth, Christine’s team had gone as far as just setting up shop in the station. If someone stopped to listen for a moment, they’d be able to hear them renovating what had been, until now, the completely unused third floor. She drifted to the side of the hall to allow the man to pass more easily without raising her head from the folder.

“Hey Sunset.”

“Hey Flash” she returned politely.

She halted.

“Wait.” she turned to see the familiar face beneath the short blue hair “Flash?”

“Ta-da.” he gave with an easy smile, spreading his arms to show off the typical agent attire.

“When did you become a fed?” she matched his grin.

“Shortly after our little episode with the Stinger actually” he answered with a brief grimace “Agent Armor felt I’d be a good fit and gave me a recommendation.”

“We were wondering where you disappeared to.” Sunset tilted her head as her smile turned more relieved “Honestly, I was worried that mess may have broken your worldview so badly you just quit. That or I scared you off with that whole… y’know… exploding thing.”

“Well, I’ll admit that did take some coming to terms with… but no; I’ve just been busting my ass off in Virginia this whole time” he chuckled. “Truth be told I still had a little time left up there but with everything that went down here, Agent Armor and Agent Lylis pulled some strings to get him some support a little early. Considering the position and being familiar with you guys, I was apparently an easy pick. So yeah, finishing the last little bit as ‘practical training’ under him.”

“Well, cool.” Sunset smirked, “Congrats.”

“Thanks,” he returned before gesturing with a folder of his own “I’d like to stay and chat but-”

“Duty calls” Sunset finished for him before letting him go, calling over her shoulder as she continued to the lab “Welcome to the team!”

She continued with a bit more pep in her step and reached the lab’s window to find another pleasant surprise through the glass; The rare sight of the younger Belle sister sitting next to Eve on the testing stools. She was laughing along with her fellow ‘Crusaders’, as the others called them, lighting up her already rather striking features further.

It hadn’t taken Sunset long after arriving to figure out that they were actually a rather handsome bunch at MIST. From the more simplistic, natural beauty of the Apple Sisters, to the carefully crafted vision that was Rarity, MIST was a pretty good looking group. Yet Sweetie managed to stand out among even most of them, right at the top with the likes of Aya, Eve and Adagio. In Sunset’s eyes at least.

“Sunset!” Twilight brightened as the redhead entered. While still coming to grips with the concept of magic being real, or at least the terminology to the point she still had trouble using the specific word itself, the doctor had thankfully pulled herself out of her funk after the second day. She pointed towards one of the empty stools “You know the drill.”

“Hey Sunny…” Eve gave as the pony girl saddled up next to her, voice just a little tight. Sunset turned to see not only her, but the three other women doing a very poor job hiding smiles. They looked positively tickled, in fact.

“Oh god” the young hunter’s head thumped against the counter “Shy’s already been here, hasn’t she?”

“I…” Sweetie gave, trying not to giggle “Really liked your mane?”

“Uuuugggghhhh...” Sunset groaned into the sterile metal. Fluttershy had taken the photos out of the journal before Sunset could burn them, and had since been ruining any chance of the pony girl maintaining a tough reputation. She snapped back up and frowned at Sweetie “How are you even allowed to know?!”

“I'm not.” the striking crusader returned with a laugh “But Rarity had to gush to Someone. There’s a reason she’s not here with me for once; Agent Lylis isn’t exactly pleased with her at the moment… Told me about Evie here too.”

“Yeah well I kind of saw that coming…” Eve gave dully at the reminder before brightening to “But hey, at least you have baby pictures, right?”

“Well geez…” the transformed unicorn murmured “Replace the embarrassment with a helping of guilt why don’t you?”

“I didn’t mean it like that. Not really.” the blonde corrected “I mean, as great as Dad’s been since I became part of the family, I get the feeling it’s not really the same as growing up with a normal parent. Even an adopted one.”

“Kinda make’n us all feel guilty with that one Eves” Applebloom quipped.

“Well excuse me for finally being a little more comfortable with my messed up origin now that we have a literal alien in the mix.” Eve gave breezily “Especially a Magic one from aworld filled with myths and cuteness.”

“Well you’ve caught up fast, haven’t you?” Sunset muttered. Eve has always been in the position to learn a lot, even not working for MIST; Harmony knew she was in the thick of things by a simple matter of fact. Still, it’d only been a few days and this was the first she’d seen her. But like Sweetie, she technically wasn’t supposed to know at all.

“Aya might not be a chatterbox at work, but she talks a lot at home. You’ve been a pretty common topic since you got here, even before all this magic stuff.” the blonde explained “And since she’s not scared of Lylis, she’s caught me up pretty well. It’s not like I can’t keep a secret anyway.”

“Aya talks about me?” Sunset tilted her head, trying to hide how touched she was by the implication.

“Don’t tell her I told you Sunny, but Aya doesn’t entirely hate the whole mentor thing.” Eve winked at her.

“Huh” was all the redhead managed in reply.

“So…” Sweetie gave after that moment “I’m sure you’ve gotten enough of it but… can we see some?”

Before Sunset could respond Twilight plopped an orange down in front of her.

“Y’know it doesn’t HAVE to be fruit, Twilight.” Sunset pointed out.

“My equipment and tests are geared toward organics” the doctor countered “Not that it’s really amounted to much yet, but still…”

The bespectacled woman shooed Applebloom to her station and the scientists switched on the cameras they’d been documenting all of the various ‘tricks’ with over the past few days. She gave the pony girl a thumbs up, prompting the redhead to simply give the orange a sharp tap. A brief flash strobed and the citrus was now an apple.

“Still a heck of a thing that,” the apple girl muttered. “Enough ta make me forgive that almost everything Ah’m learning with my degree is now wrong.”

“It’s not wrong, Applebloom.” Twilight corrected “These arcane energies aren’t a native variable, so it’s still important to figure out the natural world too.”

“And unnatural?” Scootaloo prompted “Not like you were dealing with normal science in the first place.”

“Actually as far as we know, Neo-Mitochondria developed naturally too” the doctor pointed out. Her attention drifted as something occurred to her “In fact, with how some NMCs can seemingly break what we know about physics already, I suppose it’s possible this kind of science isn’t quite as exotic as we thought…”

Sunset gave a blink at the thought herself. Several mitochondrial powers did go against a lot of Earth’s ‘laws’ of nature. While there were some theories of how certain techniques could make sense, such as speeding up healing and enhancing the already present electric field in living things, the likes of telekinesis shouldn’t have been possible according to all but the most open minded sciences. Was it possible whatever Neo-mitochondria drew upon was just Earth’s equivalent to magic?

A loud crunch snapped the group from their thoughts, drawing all eyes to Sweetie. The younger Belle sister arched a brow at their incredulous looks darting between her and the apple in her hand.

“What?” she asked innocently, “I wanted to see how it tasted.”

“And?” Scoots queried.

“And it tastes like an apple.” her friend shrugged.

“No odd sensations?” Twilight gave her a look of concern.

“It’s perfectly safe Twilight” Sunset assured her “Even screwing up the spell would just result in a probably odd looking, but still perfectly edible hybrid.”

“So like an apple that tastes like an orange?” Eve inquired “Or like an apple or orange with the other’s insides?”

“Yes,” Sunset answered simply, “I actually used to change orange rinds to apple skins because it was easier to peel them. ”

Several more oranges dropped onto the table as Twilight emptied the bag, prompting Sunset to giggle.

“Didn’t mean to divert from your tests” she offered her fellow NMHs.

“Are you kidding?” Eve quipped “This may be old hat to you Sunny but this is, well MAGIC to us!”

With the confirmed captive audience, she proceeded to change some of the oranges’ rinds like she said. One of the now red, round spheres was picked up by Scootaloo, who then handed it to the lab’s own Apple intern. The former farm girl eyed it suspiciously but tentatively took a bite, flinching at the copious juices that escaped. The young Apple, also related to the Orange family, frowned at fruit.

“Now that’s just some heresy right there” she grumbled before the rest burst into laughter.

“So I’m dead.”

“Your counterpart is dead Sunset. YOU’RE very much still alive.” the Cadence corrected “I know you were just being funny but the princess and you yourself have been quite adamant in insisting that we not start that kind of existential thinking.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just…” the redhead shrugged, “Weird to think about it. I mean, why was I the one to survive?”

“Why did she get to keep her parents until she was fourteen while you only had yours until you were six?” Cadence returned “While I can’t even fathom how things could have worked out to have parallels like this at all, it’s pretty clear we’re not all fated to live perfectly parallel lives. I’m now pregnant after several years of happy marriage while my own counterpart is still in her honeymoon phase.”

“She is still married to Shiny though.” the redhead countered “The ‘Canterlot Five’ are together in both, with Twilight joining in later too. Equestria even has the OC. AJ's parents in both are... Just makes me wonder if there’s something coming I have no chance of avoiding, y’know?”

“I never thought you so taken with fate, Sunset.” the counselor commented “If anything, you’ve always seemed rather irritated at the idea.”

“Fate sure, but Destiny?” the unicorn turned human answered “That’s kind of hard to avoid believing in as a pony. What with cutie marks and all.”

“Cutie… marks?” Cadence repeated slowly, her smile growing more amused. Sunset rolled her eyes but soldiered on.

“They’re marks that appear when a pony discovers their natural talent or calling in life, what they’re meant to do with their lives. Usually at least.” she explained “So yeah, destiny is kind of a big thing for us.”

“And ponies can’t defy their marks?”

“Well, it’s not like they’re the only things we can do, but it’s rare for a pony to ignore theirs. Not unless they’re one of those that don’t have very useful marks.” she shrugged “Or don’t know what theirs means… Like me.”

“May I ask what yours is?”

“You’ve seen it actually; it’s on the cover of my journal. It’s the Sun with a sort of ying-yang swirl.” the pony girl explained before sighing “I used to think it meant I was supposed to be the next princess… Clearly that wasn’t it.”

“Well if it makes you feel better, us mere humans have to figure it out the hard way too.” Cadence quipped, though made a mental note to return to the topic in the future. “But back to the original matter; Your counterpart didn’t have magic. She didn’t awaken as an NMH. I also very much doubt she crossed interdimensional barriers. You’re not doomed to the same fate Sunset.”

“Everything ends Doc.” Sunset pointed out.

“Not always before its time.” Cadence countered “You have advantages she didn’t. An organization of super powered monster hunters having each others' backs chief among them, as you yourself reminded me not too long ago. Like Aya said; You’re not getting rid of us that easy.”

“Guess I’ll just have it make my life count for the both of us then, huh?” Sunset relented with a shrug.

“No, Sunset.” Cadence returned firmly “You live for you. As unfortunately as hers ended, this life is still yours. You’ve no responsibility for her life, only yours.”

“What about all those I’m supposed to protect from NMCs?” The redhead shot back. The counselor leveled her a blunt look before rolling her eyes at the girl’s sly smirk.

“Have you spoken with your mother yet?” Cadence moved on “As in a real conversion?”

“Sort of…” her patient shrugged again. “We still haven’t really had what feels like ‘the big talk’ but we had a bit longer of an exchange yesterday. More than just the touching bases at least.”

“There doesn’t necessarily have to be a ‘big talk’,” the older woman pointed out. “That implies there has to be some immediate change or shift in your dynamic. From the way you described it yourself; it’s basically been the case for some time, just without official titles attached to it, yes?”

“Kind of? There was always this... distance she wanted to keep, that last step that I eventually learned she just didn't want to take until... well, until I saw her again... so it still feels like it needs…” Sunset searched for how to express her thoughts “to be acknowledged at least.”

“Then acknowledge it.” Cadence stated simply “These things don’t need to be so convoluted. You have the time and luxury in this situation to have it happen at its own pace, to sort out that last step now that's it's been made. You don’t have to both ‘officially declare yourselves mother and daughter and that means all these things’. The acknowledgement doesn’t have to be big or even obvious.”

“Even something small still feels like it’d be awkward.”

“Sorry to break it to you Sunny but it’s gonna be awkward no matter what. Relationships are built off uncertain steps, and you can’t always avoid stumbling. But it’s the same for the other side too, so it balances out. Whatever you think of, I’m sure it’ll go over far better than you may fear.” the counselor leveled with her, studying the uncomfortable acceptance. She kept her smile in check as she recognized the expression Sunset makes whenever reaching a conclusion, even if she seemed a bit nervous about it. With whatever idea Sunset came up with now reached, she moved on again “I hear you spoke with another princess as well…”

“Oh! Uh… So Twilight mentioned that, did she?” Sunset murmured, scratching behind her ear with a slight blush.

“Try not to blame her, she was just happy you wanted to reach out.” Cadence smiled warmly before tapping her pen on her lips “So how’d reconnecting with my counterpart go?”

“Surprisingly well, actually…” the pony girl admitted. Her blush grew slightly as the counselor’s questioning expression “I… didn’t actually get along that well with Cadence. Truth be told, I was almost always a total bitch towards her…”

“Oh… Twilight failed to mention that part.” The older woman was put a little off step for a moment, but regathered herself quickly enough “Despite your early resistance to the therapy itself, you never seemed to have that much of a problem with me personally. Not that I ever observed at least.”

“I knew you weren’t the same person and deliberately kept that in mind. That and the fact you’re a lot more accomplished and mature than the Cadenza I knew helped too.” the redhead wrung her hands between her thighs as she continued “Of course in retrospect, I never really gave her a chance...”

“Because she became a princess while you hadn’t.” Sunset nodded abashedly to the deduction.

“I would have never admitted it but I was jealous. Without even meaning to, she accomplished what I had been striving for from the moment I started my apprenticeship. Mix in her not knowing the first thing about magic and what I saw as her detracting from my own lessons all the more because of it…”

“You were, while maybe not justifiably, at least understandably frustrated and took it out on the perceived cause.” Sunset mutely nodded again at the counselor's conclusion “But considering those admitted sentiments, I’m assuming you felt the need to reach out?”

“Not… exactly. Twilight was talking with her through the journal and all I asked was if she’d be willing to pass something along before she dragged me into the seat to talk with her. I’m not even sure if Twilight knows there was bad blood between us at all…” Sunset frowned with a brief contemplation. “So yeah, I was kind of forced to just mare up and apologize myself after that.”

“It’s better that way Sunset, really.” Sunset made a face but not one of disagreement, so Cadance continued “And based on the ‘at least three pages’ of correspondence our visiting princess mentioned, it seems to have worked out okay.”

“Yeah, she accepted my apology. I’m not really That surprised… though she also wasn’t nearly as much of a doormat as I remember. Oh! Uh, no offense…” Cadence just rolled her eyes. She honestly hadn’t been the most confident girl growing up herself, but she found her stride eventually. She suspected her counterpart had during the time gap as well. She dismissed the thought as Sunset continued “I’d still say we’re a ways from ‘manicures and slumber parties’ but…”

“You reconciled.” A small, if still uncomfortable smile crossed Sunset’s face at the statement “And all it took was an apology. A simple, awkward apology.”

“Um, yeah…” Sunset muttered and Cadence’s smile grew just a little as she briefly saw that earlier expression back again.

“Though for not being at ‘manicures and slumber parties’, three pages sounds like more than just getting and giving some closure” She noted, curious as a small blush creeped up in Sunset’s cheeks.

“It was just small talk.” the redhead said, gaze pointedly averted. When the counselor didn’t continue she sighed “I wrote some… more 'private' entries in the old journal. But since they were private, she hadn’t been allowed to see them. And being the Princess of Love, she of course concluded that private must mean romantic.”

“Ahh” Cadence returned with a coy smirk “And I’m sure you were just correcting her clearly false assumptions.”

The smirk didn’t falter at the scowl Sunset shot her, particularly because of how fiercely the pony girl’s blush grew. If there was one area she still hadn’t managed to successfully broach with the redhead, it was her love life. Yes, it may not be anything to be concerned about and not necessarily any of her business, but it was still an important factor when it came to most people’s mental health. She felt it safe to assume the same for Equestrians.

“It’s perfectly healthy for a girl your age to-” Cadence tried to continue.

“I’m not having this conversation again.”

“Again?”

Despite all her professional instincts, the older woman couldn’t help a small giggle escaping at her young patient’s, her young friend’s furiously red face falling into her hands with a groan.

Nearly the whole of MIST was gathered in the small ‘office’ on top of the station, staring out to the open area of the roof’s expanse. The converted police station that served as their headquarters actually wasn’t that big, and they didn’t really use the entirety of it, but they did have a landing pad. One which was currently being buffeted by winds strong enough they were in the office for more safety than comfort.

Sunset teetered slightly when Pinkie’s hands landed on her shoulders as she excitedly saddled up behind her to look out the same window. She received a small squeeze and shake as the rangemaster let out an ecstatic squee. Not that Sunset could exactly blame her, given why they were all gathered.

A few whoops rang out when a helicopter descended into view, closing on the great black square bordered with lights distinct from the others along the roof. Lights that Sunset was glad to see still working, considering she had been tapped to help replace many of them. More cheers rang out and applause erupted as the craft touched down at the guidance of the two young women at its controls. Sunset chuckled as she could just barely see them gesturing triumphantly inside.

They group stood by as the blades slowed, waiting until they stopped completely (as they had been adamantly instructed to) before pouring out to meet the two. Dash leapt out only to then immediately leap back up into the air with a swinging punch to the sky.

“FUCK YEAH!” the pilot cried out over the applause. “I FINALLY GOT MY BIRD!”

“OUR BIRD!” Scootaloo shouted from the cockpit, still finishing her procedures.

“Just give me this, Ok?!” Dash shot back with a mock scowl. Scootaloo just laughed.

It was far from the prettiest ‘bird’ around, even when not counting for the small amount of wear and tear on the hull’s paint job, but she was efficient and effective. Or at least that’s what the pair of pilots had told Sunset after the purchase. It had good range and economy, and enough capacity for a small team for rapid response. Also with the Feds’ support in costs, they could actually use it without bankrupting the station. While maybe not as often as the pair of pilots probably would’ve liked, they’d still be flying.

As much as they may have wanted to celebrate right then and there, the pilots still kept their heads and shooed the group off roof while they secured everything. It didn’t take them too long before they were done with their after flight checks and security though, and soon the majority of the station was off on their way to celebrate.

Sunset tried not to let Rainbow’s excited regaling of the copter’s intricacies in the passenger seat distract her attention from the road too much. Good practice for later, considering she’d be the designated driver for her housemates by night's end. She pulled into a lot crowded with the familiar vehicles of her coworkers, with Dash leaping out to rejoin Scootaloo before the engine was even completely off. Following the colorfully haired pilot, the trio made their way to the building’s entrance.

“‘Spiked Punch’ …charming.” Adagio murmured in a less than impressed tone at the stylized letters above the entrance. Sunset rolled her eyes but kept quiet as they entered, the sound of a crowd and music without lyrics meeting them. That second part was what Sunset suspected to be the main reason Adagio had agreed to join them. Spiked Punch wasn’t just a bar owned by an old friend of Redheart’s, it had the extra feature of a stage and expensive sound system.

Yeah, it was a karaoke bar.

And it was one that was all theirs for the night. She wasn’t sure who actually arranged it but their celebration was a full on private event. Add in that, while not infected themselves, Ms. Punch and her daughter had unfortunately been involved in an incident with NMCs (And a fairly significant one based on what little Sunset heard of it) so they didn’t even have to worry about exposure, or worry as much at least. Well, other than about magic of course. That point was immediately driven home by the sight of Agent Lylis pointedly staring at a booth tucked into a corner where a pair of scientists were bombarding the two Twilights with questions.

It had taken some convincing- okay it had taken A LOT of convincing- but Christine finally relented to the other leads needing to be informed about at least some of the recent ‘revelations’. So Doctors Chambers and Maeda, along with their branch directors had been flown in the previous morning and since entangled in the tidal wave of briefings, clearances and red tape that knowledge came with. Having just recently gone through an arguably worse version of it herself, and even still going through the maintenance of it, Sunset sympathized with the two visiting directors looking very tired and just a little lost as they sat with Rupert and Aya.

It did give her a chance to finally meet the director of the Manhattan branch though. Another dark skinned man like Rupert, Daniel was rather tall and large, though in a more round way compared to Mr. Burton's more sturdy build. Also like Rupert, he happened to be a former partner of Aya’s as well, from when she was with the NYPD. The redhead couldn’t help but notice Mr. Dollis was rather notably more… expressive than her branches’ own director however. He seemed like a nice man though, just a little rough around the edges.

“Sunny” her attention was brought to the station’s secondary medic approaching with a beer in one hand and a glass of coke in the other. Redheart passed the latter to the hunter “Got yer designated stamp right?”

Sunset held up hand to show the mark the bouncer had stamped on her way in.

“Good. Spot may have been a dick but Berry and I go way back, so I’d prefer us not risk getting her in that kind of trouble. Especially when she only just got the place.” the medic warned lightly with a smirk. Sunset returned a confirming nod, which seemed good enough for the nurse as the latter returned to the bar with a last word over there shoulder “You’re being waved down by the way.”

The redhead turned with a suppressed grimace to see who it was, surprised and not a little glad it wasn’t yet the visiting science leads. While certain her fellow Equestrian could use some support, Sunset had the distinct feeling that once she joined that table, it would be no small task leaving it again. It was Eve, Applebloom and Sweetie calling her over at the moment though. Happy for the excuse to put off another interrogation, as well meaning as it may be, she was resolved to enjoy as much of the night as she could before it. A pair of jubilant shouts came from behind her as she sat; The last ‘crusader’ was at the bar with Dash, both cheering about getting shots.

“They’re starting early” Eve chuckled.

“Yeah and I have to drive one of them home” Sunset gave as she took a seat.

“Yeah me too” Sweetie gumbled “Welcome to the designated table.”

The girls raised their glasses in a mock toast, showing the same stamp clear on the back of their hands as well. Though at the sight of Eve’s, something occurred to Sunset. She opened her mouth but thought better of it before anything escaped. The blonde didn’t fail to notice however.

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s… it’s nothing.”

“Noooo, you were gonna say something,” the younger Brea pushed “I’d rather you just ask whatever you were going to than be awkward about it all night.”

“It’s really not important. I just realized…” Sunset pressed her lips tight for a moment “How old are you?”

Eve blinked, a response shared by the rest of the table. A small blush creeped up on the younger Brea’s face.

“You don’t have to answer-”

“No, it’s fine,” Eve interrupted. She briefly considered answering that she was in fact developmentally as old as she appeared. While missing much of an actual childhood before her ‘teens’, most confirmed she was as mature as could be reasonably expected of someone matching her physical state should be. But she knew that wasn’t really the question being asked. Making sure her voice wouldn’t carry beyond the table, as not everyone was in the know about her yet, she took a deep breath before letting it out in a huff.

“I’m… Eight.”

…

“And you’re already in college. Here I thought Twilight was a prodigy.” a pair of snorts escaped the present crusaders at the hunter’s comment.

“Oh she’s had that pointed out to her, don’t worry.” Eve smirked back before shrugging the whole thing off “So you singing? Some of the girls say you have as nice a voice as Sweetie here.”

“I… don’t know yet.” the equestrian immigrant shrugged, happily accepting the change of subject. “Depends if they have any of the songs I’ve actually learned here.”

“Well I’m sure there’s bound to be something” Sweetie gave before rising from her chair “I’ll go grab one of those binders of what’s available.”

Sunset watched the younger Belle make her way to a stack of thin three-ring binders, not failing to see one already in front of her partner. The redhead frowned as she watched the siren flip through the lists. Adagio said she’d avoid completely enrapturing the party, but she pointedly avoided actually saying she wouldn’t use any magic.

Any further concern was cut short by the music changing though. The crowd looked up to the stage to see both Scootaloo and Rainbow clutching microphones. All lights save the stage’s dimmed and the music started back up, a lighter rock than she was used to hearing from either of her housemates.

~“Revvin' up your engine, Listen to her howlin' roar”~

“Oh god…” Applebloom rolled her eyes as she and Eve gave a pair of scoffs, shaking their heads. Sunset looked around to see they were far the only ones with such expressions. “Should’a seen that comin’.”

“What? I don’t get it.” Sunset asked, though any answer wouldn’t have been able to be heard of the pair of pilots now belting out the song’s chorus

~“HIGHWAY TO THE DANGER ZONE!”~

And so starting with an air of light hearted exasperation, the night was off. Rarity slowed things down a little with what felt like more of a lounge song, followed by her sister, singing something poppy Sunset didn’t recognize. Then it was Adagio’s turn…

The entire bar simply stopped.

Sunset gratefully noted the siren’s jewel never went above a dim shimmer. Though considering the response she still got, not to mention the frequent requests for more afterwards, the pony girl wasn’t sure if she should still be concerned or not. It took a little longer, not to mention a bit more liquid courage, before anyone was willing to follow her performances. Sunset noticed that mostly because she ended up following one of the siren’s acts herself, and without that option of alcoholic encouragement. Daunting, but she felt she did okay, based on the applause.

She even caught Adagio herself giving her a mildly impressed look on her way off stage. Though whether it was because she sang well or just that she had the guts to follow her act sober, the unicorn girl wasn’t sure.

Though with her proper participation in festivities done, she gathered herself and made her way to finally back up the Princess. The identical pair had actually managed to break away for a duet together earlier (a curious thing to witness on its own), so they did end up having some fun away from the visiting geniuses, but had been almost immediately dragged back to the booth after.

“Sunset!” The visiting Twilight perked up at the sight of her approaching. While just as eager for intellectual discourse as her earthly counterpart, it seemed the princess was nevertheless a bit overwhelmed by the assuredly relentless queries from minds that could actually rival her own. A suspicion only confirmed by the princess mouthing a desperate ‘Help!’ as soon as the other three turned towards the other equestrian.

Resisting the urge to sigh, Sunset took her seat. Though she was slightly slowed by Dr. Maeda excitedly shaking her hands in greeting.

“Such a wondrous development Miss Shimmer, to not only finally discover the truth of the ‘extra layer’- we will have to think of a more scientifically appropriate designation- but to also learn our new Awakened come from an entirely different world-”

“And we can’t share a fucking ounce of it with the rest of our own.” Rebecca pointed out disgruntled.

“You really think Earth is ready for this?” Sunset countered.

“No.” Dr. Chambers answered easily. Bluntly, but easily “I understand it, but it’s still frustrating. It’s not like humanity is ready for the Neo-mitochondria endgame either.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight, the alicorn one, tilted her head at the brunette. It was Dr. Maeda that cut back in to answer though.

“She means modern society has no chance of dealing with everyone becoming an NMH. Or even the ability to reliably become one safely in any sense greater than MIST.” he explained, elaborating when the princess failed to connect the dots “Let’s take but a single aspect of NMH life: Neoteny. Earth is already desperately overburdening its resources and at real risk of overpopulation. Imagine how bad it could get if people started living several times longer AND needing more sustenance to survive. We’d run out of food, space and… and that’s just what’s obvious on a general scale.”

“And that’s just assuming it would even be allowed to get that far.” Rebecca jumped back in “Forget Ark Shadow; ANY sufficiently soulless organization wouldn’t even hesitate to do truly unspeakable thingsfor just the chance at the secrets to eternal youth. NMHs are kept secret for as much their ownprotection as the public’s. And that’s before we get into all the powers and potential super soldiers and- well, all the shit Ark Shadow and the cults are doing.”

“Ironic that what could be a ‘cure-all’ for a great many things would also most likely result in humanity destroying itself…” Dr. Sparkle gave with a heavy sigh. She looked to her disturbed counterpart with a consoling smile “It is something that’s thought about… a lot. There’s no right answer yet unfortunately, not with humanity as unenlightened as it is right now.”

Sunset herself had thought about these things too, also considering if they even had the right to keep such advancement from people. But even with that, she also reached the same conclusions. It was a regrettable, very regrettable, but harsh truth.

“I admit my ignorance in the subject but, well…” the transformed alicorn returned after a moment “Isn't it kind of inevitable anyway? With the rate this all seems to be continuing, you can’t keep this secret forever.”

The hunter at the table was about to share a piece of wisdom the station’s newest liaison had shared when the woman in question’s voice carried over the music.

“You’d be amazed how long you can keep massive secrets. The vast majority of people will rationalize, if not just straight ignore pretty much anything, even the outright impossible, in pursuit of keeping their world view stable.” Agent Lylis took the last open seat. She then shot a glance to a pair of her agents sitting nearby, who Sunset now realized were in perfect position to intercept anyone from coming close enough to hear the group. “On the note of magic however, don’t you think it’s about time to ask them about your little idea?”

“How did you…” Sunset began slowly, but her words trailed off at the bored look the agent was leveling back. Resisting the urge to face palm, she sighed “Right… I assume since you brought it up, that we’ll be allowed to try?”

“You’re allowed to ask. Clearance will come if you make a good enough argument that you five can pull it off without risk.” Lylis countered.

“Pull what off?” Dr. Maeda asked after a beat.

“We need your help” Dr. Sparkle answered, followed by her equestrian counterpart.

“We think we might have come up with a possible, if also probably limited method to track magic here on Earth.”

Sunset looked anxiously over the large map of the country taking up the center of the briefing room. Three small contraptions resembling chess rooks topped with quartz sat at three points on the surface. One sat atop Manhattan, another over LA, and the last over Canterlot nearer the middle, if not quite. At each of the table’s corners sat what most would have mistaken for small tesla coils, the most eye-catching part of their newest experiment. Even the jury rigged contraptions under the table weren’t so obscure.

“And you’re sure these won’t start spitting lightning everywhere?” A cautious voice came from one of the screens behind the equestrian.

It had been just over a week since the other branches’ leads returned home with the plan for this hailmary of an endeavor. On each screen stood the branch Directors and science leads, as well as the young woman that had voiced the concern.

“Yes Starlight,” Earth’s native Twilight assured. “Even if it was… conventional electricity it would be contained within the coil.”

“She wouldn't risk killing us with this Star,” Dr. Chambers added from her own screen “Sparks hasn't reached that level of mad scientist yet.”

The young woman on the other screen didn’t argue but didn’t stop warily eyeing the contraption she’d just finished setting up either. It wasn’t intended for her to know at all but it would seem while brilliant in his speciality, Dr. Meada was not that great with technologies outside of it. His assistant on the other hand took to it like a fish to water. Both Twilight and Sunset were genuinely amazed by how easily she managed not only the device’s complex machinations, but the magical attunements when finally brought in.

“At least you also won’t be holding on to anything attached to it” the MIST fashionista also in the room murmured with her own hint of worry.

“It’ll be fine, Rarity.” the alicorn Twilight placed a hand on her arm before gesturing to the nurse standing quietly to the room’s side “We’ve got Flutteryshy here just in case. Even without the insulators though, it won’t be a big enough charge to be dangerous. Sunset and I will be taking the brunt of that as it is too.”

“And you’re sure you’ll be okay?” Rupert asked from across the table where he stood with Aya and Agent Lylis.

“We’ll be insulated by our own magic.” Sunset answered with a shrug “And we can take a little overcharge. This is the best we can do, Sir. At least until we can reconnect with Equestria.”

The director glanced at the other federal agents. Lylis had already given her blessing so long as no one else outside the station became aware of the effort, at least now beyond Starlight’s necessary inclusion. Shining had said he felt it was worth the risk already. Rupert and Aya shared a silent look for just a moment.

“I’ll go get everyone.” the blonde awakened said simply before stepping out of the room. Over the next several minutes, AJ, Dash, and Pinkie found their way to the room. AJ was brought in to support her partner while Dash was there to eliminate any possible fluctuations from her own budding magic and Pinkie… well she had just followed her friends up there.

Before they could ask any questions though, Aya returned with a confused Adagio. The siren paused at the sight of so many gathered and the odd configuration of a map they now surrounded. She only kept moving at the gentle push of the older awakened stepping in behind her. Brow furrowed, she stepped up to the table, gaze panning over the setup before speaking.

“You’re…” she began before the realization hit and her tone grew accusing “Why didn’t you tell me you were building a tracker?! I could have helped!”

“Because it’s not a tracker.” Sunset returned calmly before failing to resist a sigh “And… and we didn’t want to get your hopes up. We weren’t sure we’d get even this far with it.”

“Earth doesn’t have enough ambient mana for proper scrying.” the equestrian Twilight elaborated “So we thought maybe we could triangulate using the portal.”

“The portal’s broken,” Adagio pointed out.

“There’s still a massive amount of dormant mana in the statue base itself.” Sunset countered. There was actually already the consideration being made on secretly swapping the statue’s base as a result but Agent Lylis had thankfully allowed that effort to take a backseat to this one “We can still bounce a signature off of it.”

“Not to interrupt” Dash cut in “But how is all this not a tracker when still using words like signals and triangulation?”

“Because tracker implies continuous, clearly definable output” Twilight frowned “This is a flash scrying.”

“Uh, translation fer us magically ignorant?” AJ asked.

“It means they can only get a single burst out of it” Adagio answered in a low tone, a mild scowl on her face as she gestured to the map “And guessing on the size of this thing, not a very exact one.”

“No…” Sunset answered somberly before gesturing to a length of connected handles “That’s why Rarity, Twilight and I will be tapped in too. The princess and I have… admittedly limited scrying experience and Rarity… well, even magic would have a hard time matching her senses.”

“So what?” Shining piped in “Like, visions?”

“Basically yes.” Twilight answered. “Between those and any hopefully usable points that will appear on the map here, we might be able to narrow something down.”

“But isn’t Ark Shadow messing with magic too?” Pinkie asked “What if they have a lot more than we’re hoping they do?”

“We’re only looking for one kind of signature” Sunset answered, looking at Adagio. “Anything else might pop up yeah, but the targeted resonance should stand out.”

“Ark’s magic may be entirely from us.” Adagio pointed out.

“Still worth a shot though, right?” Dash returned. Adagio didn’t respond, only continuing to stare at the map. Some of the rest still seemed to have questions, but chose to hold them off. Sunset looked to the Twilights and the older of the two turning to the leads.

“You ready?” she asked, only to hear a scoff from the Manhattan director.

“Not until I get my ass behind the screens.” Daniel shot back before lumbering offscreen. The two scientists shook their heads and made to follow. Rebecca and Mr. Burton nodded before moving behind their own panels of safety glass.

“Should we step outside?” Shining asked cautiously, his sister gave him a shrug.

“If ours blows up then a single wall isn’t going to protect anyone” she answered before smirking “We… should be fine.”

“You ready?” Sunset asked the fashionable hunter.

“As I’ll ever be Darling” she sighed as she stepped up while her partner wove around to stand behind her. She gave the farmgirl an appreciative smile before gripping the bar set along the map’s edge. “I don’t suppose I’ll get my own magic out of this, will I?”

“Probably not…” the redhead returned, smiling apologetically at the disappointed face Rarity made as she and Twilight gripped the bar and either side of the fashionista and Fluttershy and Shining stepped up behind both respectively. She looked across the table to her own partner “That quartz in front of you is the feed point. It’ll be up to you to determine the signature.”

“Don’t worry about me” Adagio returned focused, hand already in place over the small crystal.

“Alright everyone, I’m getting the other team’s conventional signals” Dr. Sparkle turned back from the screens as she typed away on her tablet, each showing the jury rigged teslas radiating a subtle purple. She glanced at the markers on the map, seeing the small stones atop each glowing as she moved to a large red button on the map's unoccupied side “3… 2… 1…”

The instant she pressed the button the table’s miniature pylons burst to life, glowing the same bright red as the crystal beneath Adagio’s hand and the gem upon her neck. The three women holding the bar tensed with a shudder, but before anyone could react, the whole of the map erupted in a bright flash. It lasted only a second but it was enough to knock out the lights and the screens, plunging the room into darkness.

A flashlight clicked on, forcing everyone to turn away again.

“Well looks like we’re all still in one piece” Agent Lylis’s voice came from behind the light before it was pitched toward the ceiling to bathe the room in a dim illumination. “Doesn’t look like we can say the same for the table.”

“Y’alright there Sugarcube?” Applejacks asked as her partner stepped back from the table.

“Y-yes, I’m… I’m…” Rarity swayed on her feet “Oh my.”

“Whoa, alright!” the cowgirl quickly caught her friend mid collapse “Easy there Darl’n. I got’cha.”

The princess Twilight was quickly supported by Shining before she could fall herself and Sunset found herself gently guided down as she slumped to her knees by the nurse behind her.

“I’ll go see if it’s just the breaker” Pinkie announced before darting out of the room, several phone screens lighting up in her wake. One bobbed in Sunset's peripheral as Shy seemed satisfied she wasn’t in any immediate danger and moved to check the others.

“You alright there kiddo?” Aya’s voice filtered through the confusing haze of thoughts and images.

“Y-yeah” she returned before Twilight’s voice came from somewhere in the dim room.

“Yes Becca, we’re fine here” She turned to see the local Twilight on her phone “The feedback just knocked out the power, once it’s back and the router reboots and I’ll reestablish the connection.”

She could hear Rupert having a similar, if quieter conversation with who she could only assume was the Manhattan team. The redhead tried pulling herself up by the bar still in her grip. She wasn’t as successful as she hoped to be but Aya thankfully helped her the rest of the way. She was about to ask for a light on the table when the ones overhead clicked back on and forced her to flinch away, eyes shut tight as she teetered again.

“Well that doesn’t look good…” Pinkie’s voice sounded as Sunset blinked repeatedly to see what the reappearing range master was worried about. “I’m guessing the burn marks are a bad sign?”

Vision finally clearing, the unicorn saw what she meant. The corners and edges of the map were curled and cracked with soot while the rest had several large orange splotches across its surface, as if someone held a flame close enough to burn several areas without actually setting the paper alight. Most looked at the result sadly but Sunset brightened.

“No. No, that’s actually good.” She let out in a tired breath “Other than those along the edges, the burns show where we got a response… admittedly that’s more than we were hoping for though.”

Lots of little spots dotted the map, of varying sizes and burn intensity. Some of the most distinct looked like trails crossing about all over the country. Unfortunately those and several others were incredibly vague and the nature of the burns didn’t give much of focal points; Magic didn’t burn the same as normal flame unfortunately. They wouldn’t be using this to pinpoint anything.

“I’m hoping we’re burned through because of the portal…” Shining gestured to the large hole surrounding the chess piece over where Canterlot had been on the map. Sunset just nodded, attention focused on the other holes actually burned through the map. There weren’t many besides along the map edges which weren't a concern like she said, that was just a result of the method they used.

“I saw a plane…” Rarity spoke uneasily. Sunset turned to see her and Twilight in chairs, their heads in their hands. She should probably be sitting herself but was determined to find what she saw before it grew too muddled. “Like the inside of a military transport. There were golems, and a woman in a control helmet.”

“Aria” Adagio muttered, her scowl deepening “If she’s in the air then all this means jack shit.”

“There was more” The fashionable hunter continued “A lab? Or some kind of… research plant? It looked like it was for livestock though. There were NMCs and even more Golems.”

“A livestock research facility would be a good cover for an NMC breeding lab.” Mr. Burton’s voice came through the speakers as the screens at the back of the room came back on. It took a moment longer but the Manhattan team soon reappeared as well. “Though it doesn’t exactly narrow it down all that much. There are a lot of those kind of places in the states, from actual labs to just indoor dairy farms.”

“Did you see Sonata?” Adagio turned toward Rarity, letting out an aggravated sigh at the stylish hunter shaking her head.

“I did.” Sunset announced, still intensely scanning the remains of the map. “I didn’t see much, only a flash of a woman in another control helmet, bound to a chair hooked up to a multitude of computers and machinery. But it felt just like you, and unless they made things with magic a hell of a lot more stable and stronger than what we’ve seen, it was too distinct to not be her.”

Her eyes stopped scanning the map at the thought. Seeing the mark wasn’t the answer. She closed her eyes and tightened her grip on the bar, leaning against it. She banished the images and sensations the scrying gave, they were too distorted to be useful, but that feeling… she eyes snapped back open and immediately landed on a hole she panned over several times already.

“There.” She pointed at the burn. The leads stepped forward at the declaration, as the signaled blemish was only a single state away. It was still a less than precise location, but it was a hell of a lot more specific than what the rest of the map told them. Before any of the leads could confirm though, the last improvised seer spoke.

“Noah” the equestrian Twilight finally recovered enough to find her voice. “I saw a large building with a sign that said Noah… something.”

“Noah? As in Ark?” Applejack gawked before shaking her head with an irritated ‘tch’ “Bastards are just laughing at us now I swear…”

“Noah Labs, Bovine Science and Research. Sure enough.” Agent Lylis gave simply as she looked at her phone. The siren’s eye bulged at the calm declaration.

“The last time the feds requested data on an Ark facility-”

“It’s Google Dazzle, calm yourself” Christine turned her phone towards the siren “Just plugged in ‘Livestock Lab Noah’ and it popped right up.”

“And I take it they have a facility where that burn is?” Rupert asked, receiving a nod.

“The only one from what I can see. Bit outside the city limits but the map pics are recent enough that it's almost certainly still there.” she relayed in her typical bored tone “The lab's website's still running too. This the building you saw?”

Lylis brought the phone over to the three, flipping through several pictures of both the facility’s exterior and interior that the website provided.

“That’s it.” Rarity confirmed.

“Absolutely. Same logo and everything” the princess affirmed as well before her brow furrowed “Why would they make all that available if they’re doing horrible things there? You’d think they’d want to hide as much as they can.”

“Trying to hide only makes it look like you have something to hide in the first place.” Lylis answered “Making all this makes them look more legit. The more legit they look the less they’re looked at overall, let alone suspiciously.”

“Right under our noses that close too…” Shining added “But what’s the move though?”

“The fuck do you mean ‘What’s the move?’!?” Adagio snapped “We go get my sister back!”

To the agent's credit, he didn’t react to the sudden hostility.

“With what though? We might have lost her the first time because of nothing more than a satellite image request” he countered “Any resources I call in could have the same result.”

“Even if we could make that big of a move in house without tipping our hand, I’m not sure we can take the place even with every hunter on deck for it.” Aya put in “Just booking a flight for everyone could be risky with how closely they may be watching us.”

“We may not have to.” Rainbow suddenly announced looking up from her own phone. She flipped it around to show what looked like an app for air travel calculations “Boss that’s in range! Yeah it’s sort of pushing it even with the aux tank and we certainly won’t be able to get back here on it without refueling, but we can definitely get there with the copter.”

“It’d be even less a force though” Rupert frowned, hand to his chin. She looked to the agents “You’re sure you can’t get us anything?”

“Well we’ve got more choppers. Four actually, granted one’s just a tiny gunship but two of the others are bigger transports than yours.” Lylis added simply “All ‘in-house’ and I’m sure I don’t have to point out how well we keep our shit to ourselves. I can also keep our flight path dark; the FAA knows better than to fuck around when it comes to our division’s kind of requests. Still might leak but the protocols would keep it from happening until it’s too late, and they’d still have no idea where it came from. The real problem is filling the copters themselves and finding at least one more pilot for one of them. My team is only so big now that the situation here has stabilized.”

“What happened to that mini army you swept us up in front of the school with?” Sunset asked.

“Oh they'll be mobilized Sunny,” Christiane answered “But since we can't risk calling in the regular Cavalry, they'll be best used to secure the parameter and the like. Their playbook is lock down and secure, not breach and eliminate... that's a different unit. One that I don't have the authority to call on myself, not without going through more channels and the like too. So we're back to the original issue of not knowing who we can trust outside our immediate teams.”

“Marini.” Mr. Burton’s voice came for the screens “I just talked to him a couple days ago; his strike team is still on standby in your area.”

“And he’d be willing to risk doing this off the books?” Shining asked.

“Well I’d damn well expect you two to step in after all this to keep it from falling on his head but yeah, he won’t turn away from doing the right thing just because it might get him into trouble. Especially if it’s his fellow ex-STARS asking.”

“And you trust his team?” Rupert asked next.

“Enrico keeps a tight ship, he wouldn’t pick people he couldn’t trust himself” Barry confirmed before Dr. Chambers added.

“Brad’s also a pilot. Maybe not the bravest fighter around but he can fly with the best of them.” Rebecca nodded confidently “Enrico was my own squad leader and I may not be here if it wasn't for him. If you count on us, you can count on him.”

Rupert stared at the resolute pair only a moment before returning a simple nod.

“I’ll go make the call” Barry finished before stepping off screen. Rupert turned to the recovering trio.

“You’re sure she’s still there now?”

“This kind of limited technique only shows things in the moment.” Sunset explained “Unless they moved her in the past few minutes, she’s there.”

The director nodded, hand to his mouth again as the plan came together in his head. It was crazy, and even with Agent Lylis to help run interference with the fallout, there would still be fallout for them. But this wasn't an opportunity they could ignore either, one that went beyond the recovery of Dazzle's sister even. It was an unfortunate matter of fact that by the simple nature of their work, MIST was primarily a reactionary force. NMCs would have to appear before they could put them down, Ark Shadow would make something awful they couldn't help to prevent and just clean it up. They were always on the backstep. Even when they thought they might have leads to follow, the organization always seemed one step ahead of them, one more facility away, one more traitorous leak heading them off...

But they finally slipped up. Ark was now the ones playing catch up, and even better; they didn't even know it. Sunset and their science lead's counterpart had been studying this force all their lives in a society that had been living with and studying it for literal millennia. Ark was like the caveman playing with fire to their new allies landing on the moon. As limited as they claimed this 'flash scrying' to be, the Equestrians felt confident the organization's reckless attempts so far proved they didn't know enough to have a chance of even knowing it was a possibility, let alone having any counter for it. For the first time in a long time, MIST had the chance to be on the offensive.

And Ark had no idea it was coming.

“He’s in Rup’. Barry's voice drew his focus back to the immediate steps as the LA director came back into frame "He said they’re not right next door but they should be there in no more than three hours.” Rupert nodded his thanks before turning to Lylis.

“That long enough for you?”

“Four would be better but I think Agent Armor and I can handle that.” she smirked back.

“We can push it to four. Marini’s team will need to be briefed when they arrive anyway.” Rupert returned. Another voice from the speakers drew attention to Dr. Maeda still on the line.

“That’s a comfortable enough time frame for some special munitions cultures too, wouldn’t you say Doctor Sparkle?” the Asian scientist pointed out to his colleague with a smile “And with so many awakened, not a paltry amount either.”

“Right, I’ll need you three for blood and if it’s not too much to ask Aya-”

“I’ll call Eve. She'd never let me hear the end of it if I didn't anyway…” The veteran hunter answered before her, and the rest of those gathered eyes turned to Rupert.

“Right. Dash, get Peters down here and get the copter ready as you coordinate with Lylis’s team.” Rupert turned to Pinkie next. “Pie, call Jodie and let her know we're going full Crimson.”

“Crimson?!”

“That’s right. If there’s something heavier someone could be using without compromising them, make sure they’re using it. I won't have a repeat of what happened in the desert.” he confirmed before turning to his hunters “The rest of you go with her and help with the prep, then get as much rest as you can. There won’t be any more until this is done.”

“Good luck everyone!” Starlight gave from the screens before she and the branch leads signed off to let them get to work.

“Let’s get started” Rupert concluded and led the group out. They just reached the stairs when a voice cried out.

“W-WAIT!”

Adagio stood in the middle of the hall behind them, just outside the now empty map room. A strong blush could be seen on her cheeks, noticeable even in the hall’s dim lighting. Her face tightened in a nervous grimace as she began to fidget, an inner conflict clearly playing out in front of them. The were about to leap into hell for her and her family without a second of hesistation and while an older part of her knew she didn't have to say anything, that annoying new part that had been creeping up more and more lately was now screaming that she still should.

“I just… I need to… You all… I…”

“Yeah yeah, we get it Seahorse.” Rainbow grinned back cheekily before the siren could fumble any further “No need to hurt yourself there.”

A few chuckles and knowing smiles were cast back as the group continued back down to the first floor, leaving the rather overwhelmed Dazzling to recover. She snapped out of it when a hand landed on her shoulder, eyes locking with those of her partner.

“Come on Dag,” Sunset gave confidently, a new fire burning behind that glittering cyan.

“Let’s go get your sister back.”

Author's Note

Are we back? I hope we're back! I'm not sure, I'm not as afraid of burning out again right away but while I can't be sure how long the next chapter will take I can say we're in for some definite action times!

Sorry for the long wait lovelies. For those that missed the blog post, I felt I was starting to flag into those wonderful old signs of burnout and didn't want to end up with ANOTHER possibly permanent hiatus story. Still didn't think it'd take this long to finish this but I get when you lose the momentum it really is that hard to get it back. IS is back? Hope so, but sorry again if the next one takes a bit too.

BUT instead of worrying too much more I think I'll just leave it like I always do. For those of you still coming back (and new readers too of course): Thanks for reading and I hope to see you for the next, hopefully not as far off chapter! Have a good one!