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XCOM: Ranger

by Wanderer D

Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Ghosts

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Ranger

Chapter 29: Ghosts

By Wanderer D

Princess Celestia,

So, here I am, writing again. I'm not entirely sure why I'm even doing this, to be honest. I think, in a way, being back in Equestria, even for such a short time has made me nostalgic for a lot of things I took for granted, or really wanted, but never got.

But this is not about that. I'm leaving for a while… maybe a week or so, possibly longer. Twilight will stay safe in the Avenger while I go hunt information about a very dangerous individual who almost killed me once.

I can't fault the Commander's logic in sending me… for several reasons. But I must face the reality that I just might not come back at all. Regular missions always have this risk, of course, but I am usually backed by several competent, trustworthy friends… this time around, it's only two of us, and while I trust Jane with my life, it does shorten our avenues of rescue if help is needed.

I guess… I just wanted to say goodbye, just in case. This time around, I didn't want to go and… not say anything. Anyway, as I said earlier, you don't need to worry, Twilight is a non-combatant, so she'll be safe here and she should be able to head home as soon as she figures out the mirror's activation, which I'm sure she will do soon. She's smart that way. XCOM will destroy the statue once that happens to prevent probable future incursions.

-Sunset

"She sounds so… lonely," Fluttershy said, wings and ears drooping down.

"I must say, the tone is rather despondent," Rarity added, looking at the pages with a bit conflicting feelings. "It's like she wants to say more, but… just chooses to remain formal."

"It seems like your former student doesn't expect much warmth back, sister." Luna looked at Celestia over her shoulder from where she stood on the balcony of Celestia's chambers. She had been contemplating the horizon while listening to Celestia read, not making any comment at all.

Celestia flinched. "I… admit I'm not sure how to treat her, Luna. She's made a completely new life there, after I failed her—"

"Whoa, hold on… hold on, how exactly did you fail her?" Rainbow Dash asked. "No offense, Princess, but Sunset's the one that ran away because you didn't alicorn-y-fy her."

"Ah think Rainbow's right," Applejack added. "Y'all didn't do anything wrong by not giving her somethin' she just wasn't prepared to have. Ah'd say that's downright responsible."

Celestia nodded, smiling. "Thank you, my little ponies, but I did not mean my choice to not give her the power she wanted. My regret is with the way I handled it, and how I didn't communicate to Sunset that I was here for her… my reactions were rash, and I learned a lot from that, but it did cost me a student."

"Perhaps more than just a student," Luna suggested softly, "from Sunset's perspective."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Sympathy for "the enemy", Luna?"

Luna huffed, and turned to stare back at the horizon. "Your student is going away for a greater cause… she feels this specific mission merited a letter to you, despite the risks constantly inherent in her regular battles. She considers the danger this time around more likely to cost her her life, don't you think?"

Celestia looked down. "What should I tell her? What can I tell her?"

Luna sighed. "Truly, sister? How did you feel when you found out that your student, who you considered lost, both physically and morally, returned and you discovered she had found a worthy cause? How did you feel when she took care of Twilight? When she owned up to her mistakes in her own way? That she managed to thrive in that new, almost magic-less world and learn the value of friendship, trust and loyalty to quell the fires of ambition and temper her spirit? When you found she had discovered humility on her own?"

"Well… I felt proud, of course, and concerned about the effect the blood magic might have on her, and wished I could have—"

"Peace, sister," Luna said, lifting her hoof. "Mayhaps it's not I you should be saying this to?"

Celestia sighed. "Perhaps."

Luna shook her head. "I hope sister, that you make up your mind before it finally is too late."

Jane Kelly walked out of the archives and leaned against the wall, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Hey, I've been looking for you."

She snapped her head to look at Sunset, looking for all the world like she had just seen a ghost.

"Jane? Are you okay?" Sunset asked, tilting her head and frowning with obvious worry. "You look pale. Do you need to go to the infirmary? I can talk to Bradford—"

"No. No…" Jane waved her away. "I'm fine. Just…" she glanced at Sunset, as if trying to figure her out. "Found out something… it's just, old history." She cleared her throat. "What was that about Central?"

Sunset motioned for them to walk, and Jane fell in beside her. "I just had a meeting with him… we're undertaking a Covert Action with the Skirmishers to find out information about the Assassin's stronghold."

Jane shook her head. "Why us? Why not the Skirmishers?"

"They already have done some work. They even got Volk to help them, which should tell you something. They have a lead, but they can't infiltrate the cities."

"Great, you know this means no armor. We're dressing up as civilians."

Sunset smirked. "I can still take my sword and gun though, and I happen to look great with my leather jacket."

Jane seemed like she was about to say something, but caught herself, her attitude deflating a little and becoming slightly more guarded. "Well, orders are orders, I guess. I'll grab my things."

Sunset nodded. "Yeah, I'll meet you at the hangar bay, I need to finish up a couple of things and make sure we are all set with our contact."

"Do we have a name and description?"

"Yep, it's all in the pad," Sunset said, passing one over to Jane. "You go ahead, alright?"

"Yeah, uh…" Jane hesitated.

"What?"

"Nothing," the specialist said, sighing. "Well, nothing that can't wait… probably best to discuss it later."

Sunset pressed her lips, but nodded, watching her friend walk away.

Sunset walked into the lab, dodging around equipment, and stopping to let a pair of scientists push a cart with the body of the ADVENT Priest past her. She then made her way to the back.

It was unusual to see soldiers in the lab, even if the scientists mixed and mingled with everyone else in the ship during their downtime, but Sunset had become a regular visitor, and after the second day, figured out the best places to get out of the way when the scientists were working. She moved fast in between areas, not wanting to interrupt or get caught in an experiment.

Finally, she reached the back of the lab, where Twilight's setup was analyzing the input from Twilight's scans.

"Hey," Sunset spoke up, making the young princess jump and turn, her hand on her chest. "Sorry, I seem to be scaring everyone lately. Must be those extra lessons in sneaking from Galahad and Elena kicking in."

"Must be," Twilight replied, shaking her head with a weak chuckle.

"Yeah, so," Sunset smile strained a little. "I just wanted to let you know… I'll be gone for a while."

"Oh… you're on a mission?" Twilight asked.

Sunset nodded. "Covert Ops. I'll need to infiltrate the city… I'll be out of touch for a week or so." She fished out her diary and passed it onto Twilight. "I wrote the Princess… the bookmark should let you skip to the next page if you need to talk to her."

Twilight nodded silently.

"I talked to Bradford, and he'll make sure you get anything you need… and the Commander did promise to send you back if you figure out how to do it, so you should be all set. I already told the Princess about the situation, so she knows you're safe."

"What about you?" Twilight asked.

"Hm? Oh, I'm sure I'll be fine, it's supposed to be less combat an—"

"No," Twilight interrupted, looking down at the diary in her hands. "How will she know you're safe?"

"Oh," Sunset rubbed the back of her head. "I'm not—my relationship with her is not like yours, I'm sure she doesn't want to deal with ghosts from the past when the future is trapped in another world, right?"

"Sunset…"

"And I already told her I was going to be away, so she knows what's going on. No need to worry."

"Did she write you back?"

Sunset looked away.

"Oh."

"Don't feel bad, Twilight… the way I left, the way I came back, and what I did… I don't blame her."

"It's just sad," Twilight replied with a sigh. "I'm surprised she didn't write back."

Sunset placed a hand on the young princess' shoulder. "It's different, so don't worry about it. Anyway, I should get going. Take care of yourself, okay? If you need anything ask anyone from my team… or Tygan I guess."

"Be careful, okay?" Twilight said, giving the older girl a hug.

"Sure," Sunset laughed, hugging her back. "You know I always am…"

"...not. Just make an exception this time and try to not… you know..." Twilight sighed and let her go. "Just be careful."

"I will," Sunset said, smiling.

"So," Dash asked. "Is Sunset coming or what?"

"Yeah, she's on her way…" Jane gave Dash a look. "She just needed to drop some stuff off. Probably with Twilight."

"Alright. I hope she doesn't take too long," Dash replied, sitting down on the ramp to the Skyranger. "Central already sent me the coordinates. It's a quick trip there, I guess you're meeting your contact there and they're driving you to the city."

"Sounds simple enough," Jane sighed. She gave Dash a look. "I found the video."

Dash looked away. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"How is it possible?" Jane asked. "It doesn't make any sense, are you telling me she's her daughter? They look identical!"

"Do you have a better explanation?" Dash asked. "Not that I know what the hell you're talking about, for the record, but, if say, Central said that was the case, who are we to question it?"

"Does she know?" Jane asked.

"Without knowing what the actual hell you're talking about, I could only guess that probably not, whatever it is whoever it is that might or might not know."

Jane blinked. "That's pushing it."

"Look, all I know, is that you somehow got it in your mind that shit was going on behind your back, which there totally is. There's a metric-ton of shit going behind our backs. As I know I mentioned before, XCOM is a secret organization. Sure, the aliens know we exist, and sure, the Speaker makes us sound like we want to burn the world… but military doesn't tell you shit above your paygrade."

"But—"

"And that was made above your paygrade by Central."

Jane closed her mouth.

"The thing is… you guys risk your lives for each other and you were getting so suspicious you might as well see it yourself… but for the record, you're the only one that's that suspicious. Oh. And the Commander knows."

"What?! Bu—"

"Sorry I'm late, girls!" Sunset called, running into the hangar bay, knapsack bouncing against her back. "I've got everything, we're ready to go, Dash."

"Great!" The pilot stood up and stretched. "Like I told Jane, it's a short flight to meet your contact."

"Feeling any better, Jane?" Sunset asked.

"Not really," Jane growled, glaring at Dash. "But I'll get there, come on, let's get going. I just hope this engineer is trustworthy."

"I guess we'll find out," Sunset said, taking a seat across from Jane. The engines started and the Skyranger hummed as it slowly started to hover. "But you have to admit, it takes a lot of courage to be willing to work with us from the inside. If you get caught and there's no XCOM team around to help you, you're pretty much dead."

"Just like we'll be if we screw this one up," Jane pointed out.

"True," Sunset chuckled. "But we won't. We'll have to make do and put our trust in this Apple Bloom person we're meeting."

Neither was prepared for the Skyranger to lurch sideways.

But it did anyway.

o.0.o End Chapter 29 o.0.o

Next Chapter: Chapter 30: Parallels Estimated time remaining: 24 Hours, 43 Minutes
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