She woke up with a jolt when she heard it. It was very soft yet forceful, knocking on her door. Standing up from her bed, she put on a robe to conceal her nude body and grabbed her phone that was on the bedside table.

Then she heard it again, the knocking. This time, it was more forceful than gentle.

In annoyance, she walked out of her bedroom and made her way to the front door of her small one-bedroom apartment. But before she opened it, she checked through the peephole to see who was there.

Surprise tickled her as she saw a man she’d never seen before. But he wasn’t alone, beside him was her partner Twilight Sparkle. They were both wearing protective gear over their arms and legs, but nothing over their faces.

Unsurely, she opened the door and let them in. They were alone from what she could tell, but from the look on Twilight’s face, it was urgent. Closing the door she turned to face them.

It was rather strange that Twilight was here with … whoever he was, in high gear, it’s almost like she is going somewhere dangerous on her first day on the job. Or well, the second month on the job.

She still couldn’t believe she had become a cop.

Before she could ask what was going on the man beat her to it.

“Are you miss Sunset Shimmer?” He asked in a gruff voice that told her that he was here on business and wasn’t fooling around.

“Yes, sir,” Sunset answered simply while her eyes slowly caught Twilight’s who made a motion that they’d talk later.

“Alright, now miss Shimmer, you have been with the police department for about,” the man had pulled out some papers that Sunset guessed were profiles of the newest recruits. “Roughly two months. How does it feel?”

“It feels good, sir.” She couldn't understand what this man wanted with her. But whoever he was, he had Twilight with him who didn’t seem shocked or surprised by the question.

The man had asked the same questions and turned up in the same fashion as they did now.

“Well, it’s not surprising considering that you two are rookies.” He mumbled loud enough for them to hear but he didn’t sound mean.

“Anyways,” He caught Sunset’s eyes. “Is it okay if we sit down? What I have for you might come as a surprise.”

Not knowing what to do or say, Sunset nodded and led them to the living room where there was a small coffee table, a sofa fit for two people, and a chair across from the sofa.

Sitting down on the chair, Sunset kept her eyes peeled on the man as Twilight went to make tea which she had asked Sunset before she came into the living room.

The man sat down on the sofa while he looked through some papers he had with him. Sunset only caught a few glimpses of profiles and words that didn’t make much sense to her but for now, that wasn’t important.

Coming out of the kitchen was Twilight with a tray of three mugs of hot tea that let out soft smoke into the warm summer air. Picking up her mug, Sunset enjoyed the warm feeling she received while Twilight and the man grabbed their cups of tea and began to shuffle the paper at a faster pace.

“How have you been, Sunset?” Asked Twilight while she looked through the papers, dropping one of them and picking up another just to do the same thing again.

“I’ve been good,” curtesy was something that Sunset was not normally known for being, but she did have her moments when she needed to.

Still shuffling the papers, the man decided to take a small break and have a chat with Sunset. The man had his military-grade gear on him as if he was going to war. His aqua blue skin tone had some white marks and lines stretching from one place of the body to the next.

Sunset was not exactly sure what that was, but if she would have to guess; it had to be old marks from either knives or bullets that hit him over the years. The man did look to be in his mid-forties, but he could either be older or potentially younger.

“So, miss Shimmer, as I stated earlier, two months on the job … have you had any exciting cases?” He had a small smile that graced his lips, but the toning of his words didn’t sound friendly.

“Nothing worth mentioning, but … we did solve two murder cases, albeit those were big crimes,” Sunset spoke with a neutral tone.

The man’s smile didn’t vanish, if possible, it widened slightly almost as if he heard excellent news.

“Good …” He muttered slightly. “Good, it means you have some experience in doing police work. You don’t happen to have had military training do you?”

Sunset was stunned by the question. Why would he ask that? After everything—

“Yes, she has,” Twilight responded folding some papers while placing the ones she found important on the table. “She has been to Afghanistan twice and she had a tour in Irak …”

Twilight trailed off when she saw the murderous look Sunset gave her. She looked down to the table, feeling her cheeks heating up. Sunset didn’t like to talk about her experience with the army and had only told Twilight the need-to-know basis because Sunset had suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. At first, Sunset had refused to speak about what happened until Twilight threatened with sending her to the doctors.

Sunset had told her what she could know as a civilian and nothing else which made Twilight slightly upset but understood the severity of her fire-haired friend telling her sensitive information.

Sunset was technically already in trouble for telling Twilight where she had been stationed.

The man could sense the tension rising from Sunset and decided to change the subject.

“Interesting, well, you might need those skills again. However, that is only if you accept the job offer I have for you.”

At first, Sunset felt a little offended by the change of subject, but let it slide as this was her first encounter with him and she did not know who he was. Knowing that she had to say something, she raised an eyebrow to let him know he had her attention.

“What kind of job?” She further pushed.

The man smiled and took a file from Twilight and handed it to Sunset. Upon grabbing it, the fire-haired girl felt as though she would regret it.

Ignoring the emotion, she opened the file and saw a picture of a pretty handsome dude. He had green spiky hair, he wore yellow sunglasses that reminded Sunset of those the hunters use during the warm summer days. In the picture, he wore no shirt, but he did have tattoos of different kinds.

She started reading over his profile.

“So,” muttered Sunset as she read through his profile. “You want me to take down a priest that pretty much runs a cult?”

The information she received from the profile was indeed interesting like what schools he’d gone to, and what he’d done with his life before he moved to Hope County where all of the cult activities were taking place.

She would be lying if she said that she’d never heard of him; the news a decade or so ago spoke always about that, a crazy cult leader taking over Hope County and speaks about the ‘Great Collapse’.

Everyone had been talking about it. But that was the time she had been stationed overseas. No one at the base had initially believed it but when their commander told them about it … she had never seen her friends there look so shocked before. The leader of her team, Rainbow Dash, could not believe what had happened. Never in their wildest dreams had they ever suspected something like that would happen back home.

And then the years went by, Sunset returned home and was then sent overseas again and then back home where she then got an early pension and she enlisted in the police academy.

The county was on the map, but it was never spoken about. The news very briefly would speak about the small county but otherwise, nothing was ever said or done about the matter. Most likely due to fear of revealing it to the rest of the world.

Now … the man and Twilight were showing her a profile of the man behind the whole ordeal; Spike Seed.

“Yes,” came the response from the man. Surprised, Sunset turned up to look at him. She was just a rookie, sure, she has military training and all, but even with her training, she is new to being a cop. The military and the police are two separate things like how they operate and do things while in the army, as long as your not doing things for fun they won’t bother you.

“No offense, but I have been with the—” Sunset was cut off by the man.

“Yes, you have only been with the police for two months. But you have the experience to take down a very bad man that has hurt a lot of people, families, pets, and anyone that stood in his way. He’s brainwashed his followers including his two brothers and sister.”

She had to admit, the argument he was making was quite enticing but she still felt that it was wrong to just use military-style arrest on a civilian.

“What makes him any different from all the other cult leaders?” She boredly asked, hoping that they would give her some kind of hint. This must be somewhat worse than they made it out to be.

Yes, a lot of cults do kill the ‘unbelievers’, as they would call them but it’s an easy arrest if they know what they’re doing. Then it hit her.

Being careful as to not show emotion, she started thinking about different questions as to why they would show the cult leader and ask her to use military-style arrest—which they were pretty much asking of her—on a religious fanatic.

Was there something unique about Spike Seed that made them afraid to fight against him?

Because of the questions raging inside her head, she never saw the look Twilight and the man shared before they glanced back at Sunset who still did not show any emotions on her features.

“What makes him different …” the man trailed off as if he couldn’t finish the sentence.

“Is because he has an army, not just other fanatics like him but an actual army that holds weapons, explosives, and vehicles ranging from trucks, cars, helicopters, and planes.” Twilight finished.
Admittingly, Sunset was shocked and unnerved by what she had heard. If that’s true, then the cult leader was the most dangerous terrorist and cultist group the world had seen yet.

“That can’t be true can it?” She tried to downplay it to see if this was some kind of sick joke. Twilight wasn’t prone to do such things, but you never knew.

Sadly, the response she received wasn’t pleasant.

“I’m truly sorry, miss Shimmer,” the man replied. “But it is indeed true. Which is why we came to you for help.”

They needed a mindless soldier to do their dirty work. Sunset came to that conclusion because she had been a brainwashed foot soldier like the others. It was easy to control someone who was below their rank, easier to boss around and do the work that would have the higher-ups in trouble.

“Okay, what do you need me to do, if I decide to join?” The emphasis was so clear that even someone with half a brain could sense and understand the danger behind her words.

Twilight and the man did not look surprised.

The man took a large gulp of his tea that had slowly over the time of their conversation, cooled down. He had a small, satisfied, smile on his face as if he hadn’t tasted anything that good in months.

“Well, we want you to take him down. We have an arrest warrant on him so by law, he cannot say ‘no’ to it. Not that I believe he’ll listen to it, if anything he will just sprout about how God will not let you take him or some gibberish like that,” The man rolled his eyes in such a fashion, that he gave Sunset the impression that he had arrested other cult leaders.

“I can understand that, but why precisely me?” At this, the man stiffened. “Do you expect resistance?”

She knew he was keeping something from her, and she did know that there would be resistance not just how much there’d be. She leaned forward from her chair and stared right into the man’s eyes.

“Yes, we do.” Sunset turned to Twilight who didn’t seem fazed by the ‘interrogation’ the amber girl had with the man. “They will most likely try to kill us which is not surprising, but they have weapons that we do not indicate to even understand. So, we arrest Spike Seed and try to take the cult out.”

It sounded simple, but it wouldn’t be.

“Weapons that we do not indicate to even understand?” Sunset asked with a frown.

Twilight sighed. “We have seen them use some kind of chemical or toxin that makes them see things and even do things that no normal humans could do. Sort of like a drug but this one is permanent because it exists and is farmed all over Hope County.”

Sunset released her frown, giving a look of understanding spread across her features as the lavender woman explained the weapons.

“Okay, I can understand that,” Sunset confirmed with a nod. “I accept the job.”

Twilight and the man stared at her in shock. Did she just agree to the job? Why would she accept it so quickly?

“Sunset, didn’t you—” Twilight tried but was cut off.

“Twilight, you and the man over there wouldn’t have stopped until I said yes, so I decided to simply accept it and not live with the guilt that you may have died because I simply did not accept a job.” The voice had clear emotion that the amber woman usually tried to hide from the world, but today it was out in the open.

The lavender woman felt her heartache slightly but not painfully. It was something else that she couldn’t put her finger on.

Glancing over to the man that she still had not learned the name of which she probably wouldn’t for a long time, she asked the million-dollar question.

“When am I leaving?” At the question, the man sat up straight.

“We will be leaving in three days, I have prepared a helicopter that will take us to the county and I have also prepared the weapons and gear that we will use.” Abruptly, he stood up but he continued to look at Sunset. “If there is anything you need, just come by the station, I will be waiting there.”

Sunset gave a slight pout. “Oh, leaving already?” She knew that his only purpose was to get her to accept the job which would pay her fairly well because of the dangers she was bound to face.

She had to admit; that he didn’t need to entice her with money, she was already interested when she heard ‘Hope County’.

The man chuckled heartily.

“Sadly, my job was to make you accept the job by any means necessary and so my job is done.” He stated. “Well, at least the, get you to join part.”

Twilight chuckled at the two. She had been afraid that Sunset would turn down the offer immediately when she would need to use her military skills, but that didn’t happen. Sure, she had been alarmed. Understandable.

But she also should have known that Sunset would have maybe been interested in what the job would be. Sunset enjoyed the thrilling life no matter how much she tried to deny it; first as a soldier and now as a police officer. Both jobs had dark sides that many overlook. But Sunset either didn’t care or there was something she was trying to achieve with her career choices.

Now, she couldn’t deny the fact that she was relieved. She had mentally prepared for a well-thought-out argument that would last a few minutes or hours. Sunset after she returned the first time, had not been the same. She has—and still is—a shell of her former self.

It’s like her mind tells her that the enemy is somewhere inside a building or is following her.

The first time Sunset had returned, Twilight and her amber-skinned friends went to a café. That’s when Twilight noticed her friends’ paranoid behavior, always glancing at everyone as if they would attack at any moment.

She had tried to make Sunset tell her what happened, but she only got the need-to-know basis which her friend by military law isn’t allowed to disclose such information unless it was with other soldiers.

Besides that, Sunset refused to have anything to do with the military when she received her early pension.

Twilight finished her tea and also, stood up while she had grabbed the profiles and other important papers.

“Well, then I congratulate you on a job well done.” Sunset mockingly teased before standing up herself to show them out.

The man left and didn’t wait for Twilight outside the door. Before the lavender woman had left, Sunset held her back for a slight moment to talk.

“No offense Twilight, but why did you accept the job?” They were standing in the kitchen while Sunset was cleaning the mugs in the sink. She looked over her shoulder slightly to see her friend better

Baffled, Twilight replied; “What do you mean?”

“Well, I know you can handle this kind of job, but it seems to me that there is something more going on inside your pretty little head.” She might’ve sounded cruel, but she was curious to hear her friends’ responses.

“Oh,” Twilight’s voice was close to a whisper. “Well, originally I wasn’t supposed to. But, I wanted to … know what you experienced, or at the very least have a good understanding.”

Sunset sighed. She should have known it would be something like this. Now, she will be forced to take down a cult and make sure that Twilight doesn’t get herself killed because she wants ‘understand’ what she went through.
It wasn’t that Sunset hated the idea, it just made her slightly agitated. If what they had said earlier was true, then they were dealing with a terrorist-like cult and what Twilight was concerned about was experiencing what she felt when she was overseas …

Turning to face her friend, she sighed tiredly.

“Twilight, you do realise how bad that sounds, right?” Twilight looked down on the floor, knowing that it was bound to be said sooner or later.

“Yes, I know but that isn’t just why I accepted the job.” It wasn’t a lie, Twilight had indeed wanted to defeat the cult and accepted the job before she even realised that she would potentially understand better what Sunset experienced.

Sunset felt her mouth twitch into a smile. It was good that it wasn’t the only reason she accepted the job.

With that said, Twilight left the apartment and Sunset looked out the small window, watching the small figure become smaller and smaller until she couldn’t see her friend anymore.

Author's Note

Hey guys, I needed a slight break from writing Ghost Of Equestria so I came up with this story that I had planned on writing for quite some time but never got around to it. Now that I have, I decided to take the opportunity. Enjoy!