The whole room went silent at Luna's statement.

Jane had backed away as much as possible. Her own fledgling magical abilities, limited as they were, still allowed her to perceive magic. While she had been unable to sense the bullets before, now that she had them in front of her, it was another story.

In a way, looking at the objects themselves would have made her uneasy, just because they seemed to dull everything around them, and the bullets themselves just… she felt a shiver run down her back. What she had said initially, that it was like staring at a black hole remained true… there was another layer there, an aura—or lack of aura—that seemed to suck the life and energy of everything around it.

The Commander was giving her a look, and Jane cringed a little. She hadn't really told anyone outside of Menace that she could see magic now, nor that she was a parseltongue, as Elena called it.

The scientists, Estella and Tygan were giving her considering looks, while Shen was smirking a little and shaking her head.

Still. Things were going a little fast for her to process, and she knew it. Something was going to break, soon. The moment she was out of here, she was going to request Tygan give her something for panic attacks… and-and she had a lot to think about.

What Sunset had done to her was too fresh to process, to alien a concept, but she knew what to compare it to. That feeling of helplessness, of being unable to control what was happening to her body, what she was doing… being used as a doll no matter what she thought, wanted, or felt… it was a violation of everything that made her herself. She had been deprived of a choice, her body had been an instrument of sex and murder. Had Luna not been there, she-she was going to—

"Sunset did not explain to me what these did," the Commander spoke up, unwittingly dragging Jane from her dark thoughts. Chrysalis was looking at the bullets with a blank expression. "But she gave them to me in case this happened. It is possible, as horrible as it sounds, that this might well be the only way to stop her now."

She looked at everyone in the room steadily, even Laetitia/Luna. "We should remember that for better or worse, she was the expert on this field of magic, and if she's fallen… she's become our enemy." She looked over at the others. "Unless anyone here has any ideas on how to deal with that?"

"There might be some ways," Luna said, drawing their attention. "The Elements of Harmony have been used before to cleanse… evil. But we run the risk of turning Sunset into stone, or exiling her for a thousand years."

"So, you don't know what these Elements would do, just that they would do something," Chrysalis said.

Luna nodded, biting Laetitia's lip. "However, many issues stand in our way, even if we were to follow that path: the Elements have been re-absorbed by the Tree of Harmony, the Element Bearers are in an entirely different dimension, and lastly we have no reliable means of opening the portal."

"So… basically useless?" Shen sighed.

"Not… necessarily," Estella said, cringing when they all looked at her. "I mean, if we treat magic as a science, then it's not a matter of using the precise magical artifacts, but replicating the wavelength of energy they produce, right?"

Tygan adjusted his glasses. "That might be correct, but the chances of us finding it without even having the Elements here…"

"No, no," Estella insisted, "Sorry, I'm saying things as I'm thinking them, what I mean is, even if the Elements are not here, there still exists a specific frequency that we might use… we just need to replicate it."

Tygan hummed. "And where would we get the sample, or parameters?"

"Sunset's diary…" Luna said, "We can use it to contact Twilight Sparkle, Celestia and the others… they could produce a similar spell, and with the diary and your help, we could make a device that might free Sunset from the Blood Magic's control."

Chrysalis put the bullets back in the box and closed it with a sigh. "Understood. We have many things to do. Tygan, Shen. For now, return to your current projects.

"Lae-Luna, you and Estella will go over Sunset's equipment, notes, books and items. I want all magical artifacts and related to be contained and access restricted. No one else is allowed in there. I want you to work on contacting Princess Twilight.

"I want to know how my Templar is doing. I want to know when we can expect a follow-up. Make sure they understand that we are on a very tight schedule, and that we cannot predict Sunset's actions at this time. We don't know if she'll attack civilian settlements or ADVENT bases, we don't know anything." She paused. "After you've sent the initial communication, I want you Luna to come back here. There is much we need to discuss."

She turned to Central. "You, on the other hand, have an appointment to keep."

Bradford groaned. "With all due respect, Commander—"

"That's an order, Central," Chrysalis hissed. "We still have to interrogate our prisoner, and I want you to take care of this now. Understood?"

"Yes, Commander."

"Good." Chrysalis said standing up and walking back to her safe.She didn't turn around, simply closing the safe door slowly. "You are all dismissed."

Later

Counselor Luna, formerly Vice-Principal (retired) of Canterlot High School, leaned back on her seat. She made sure she had no further appointments for now, then tapped her pad, playing the audio from earlier.

"I can't help but blame myself for what happened to Sunset."

"Why do you feel this way, John?"

"It's stupid."

"It's not."

"I-well, you know I've been addicted to alcohol ever since the end of the war. Sure, I was clean and active for the first three years but after that… anyway. I know what addiction can do to a person. It drives you away from others, makes you defensive… you're in denial most of the time, thinking you can control it. You quit cold-turkey. Last a month at best, then you think, 'a small one'. More often than not, you eventually end up out-cold in a bar in some settlement. If you're lucky, it's the same one you went to in the first place.

"I faced this, every year. Every year. I looked at myself in the mirror, and I'd see it; that my resolve to not take a drink wasn't worth it. I told myself that I wasn't hurting anyone other than myself, that there was no point… you know how many times I was approached by old acquaintances and told them to shove it because I was busy?

"I was drinking. My 'business' was at the bottom of a glass of whiskey. I told them to fuck off and leave me alone. That the Commander was dead. That XCOM was gone. That there was no point in fighting any fight, good or bad.

"I was a mess for most of it. When I managed to stay sober I'd do some good, but I always fell back into it. And then I met Sunset. She dragged my sorry, drunk ass back to the mess that was my home at the time. She had seen something in me… something I thought I had lost a long time ago, and she goddamned stayed.

"People joke around about Sunset being my daughter. If only I could be that lucky. If only I could have deserved a daughter that would help me out in that situation… I saw in her, once I was more sober… something that reminded me a bit of the Commander as well, not to mention her obvious similarity from name to appearance to my old friend… this one… she was devious, ambitious and sometimes ruthless.

"I saw in her an obsession and I thought… I thought I could help. Sunset-she was just… a blast from the past… only rough and unpolished. I could see where she would end up if her ambition wasn't guided. I have no doubt she might have ended up taking control of a small army—she has the charisma and force of will to pull it off—and who knows what would have happened to her.

"So yeah. I guess I sort of adopted her in a way. And all this time, I saw her struggling with her obsessions. I saw her grow over her need to control. I saw her learn the value of proving her merit over assuming she had it. I've been proud, very proud of her for all this time. From the woman she became, to the soldier who'd have a bunch of Purple Hearts by now.

"I thought I was keeping enough of an eye on her. Especially after Twilight Sparkle explained what blood magic did to people. But I thought Sunset was safe. She didn't have enough ambient magic or something or other. That she barely used it… it was right in front of me."

"John, that's not true—"

"Dammit counselor, she might not be my daughter but she was my charge! And I failed her and myself and the Commander and her mother and her friends. She didn't fall in battle! She was consumed by her own addictions! And I watched it happen! And I didn't do anything!

"I was so blind to it I didn't even see how desperate she was that she would create a weapon to basically erase her forever! How desperate must you be to even consider that as an option?"

Luna sighed and tapped the pad, stopping the recording. There was little more than that after his self-recrimination. Bradford had pretty much withdrawn and refused to talk after that. He carried too many demons of his own. He blamed himself for many things that were outside of his control, and that in turn affected the things that he could.

She had made some progress into helping him deal with and identify that, but she feared that this latest self-recrimination might drag him back to an even worse place.

She massaged the bridge of her nose, then, taking a deep breath called in her next patient, pressing the user interface on her pad. "Elena, this is Counselor Luna, just reminding you that your appointment is in twenty minutes."