Dear Princess Celestia,

It's been three days since Sunset and Jane left for their mission. I've been learning a lot about this world, and its history since last we wrote each other, and even more since this world's Rainbow Dash and I became friends.

Sunset's team, or what's left of it here, has been doing different assignments. We had Mox teach us all a little about how Skirmishers fight, yesterday. It's very… physical. They like to get close to their opponents and… and I hope the girls are not around to hear this. But, anyway, Mox had some fond memories of Sunset, after class, when we had some time to talk. Did you know that he and his boss, Betos, were the ones that first took Sunset in?

Turns out that Sunset was really into close combat, when it came to it. From what Mox tells me, she was always eager to show the others how quickly she got better at it… it's a bit unsettling for me, to be honest. After the time I've been here, I haven't felt the need to seek battle or wanted to kill anyp-anyone, and yet Sunset took to it like a fish to water. She's a Ranger for XCOM which is, I guess, the closest thing to a close-combat specialist XCOM has.

Mox laughed a little about how Sunset would get sick a couple of times and even threw up once, but it never stopped her. In my case, I've had to walk out of a couple of autopsies that Dr. Tygan has performed. I'm getting better at it, though, and the science performed is never disrespectful, despite the natural hate some humans have for the aliens.

Today after Mox came over, we had Elena… she's a "Reaper", and she's the one Galahad mentioned ate aliens. She taught us to sneak better and talked about how to be patient and careful. To calculate what you are going to do before you do it… it's very different from the Skirmishers. She also later on told me some stories about Sunset and Bradford spending some time at their camp.

She said that Sunset was utterly unable to keep in place and was horrible at sniping, even if she wasn't a bad shot. That patience was alien to her, and that she had been unable to comprehend that to the extent of a direct confrontation with an Elk.

Tomorrow we're having Laetitia talk about psionics, which is going to be interesting, but I'll have to make sure she knows not to try them with me. Overall, even if I'm not going to be out there fighting, it is a really good way to understand what the soldiers are going through.

I should get going, it's late and tonight's session looking into the theoretical applications of thaumatic-psionic collision has left me mostly exhausted. But there is one thing I have to ask, Princess.

I have respected Sunset's wishes to not read her diary. But we haven't heard from her in days, and even though everyone keeps telling me we'll know if anything bad happens, I can see all of them worry, from Commander Chrysalis, to Central, to Sunset's team. I know she wrote something to you.

So, my question is… why haven't you written her back?

-Twilight

The day had gone really slow at first. Sunset had found the hub Apple Bloom had mentioned. It was two floors up, through several maintenance tunnels, although thankfully a very straight route from her initial location.

Apple Bloom knew the place inside out, that's for sure. The hub was little more than a small central room where several pipes, cable-clusters and even ventilation systems crossed. It was far away enough from the active areas of the factory as to be completely isolated, and afforded her a good centralized point to explore.

She had even taken a nap at one point, only to be woken up by the image of the Assassin, grinning as she tore Sunset's still-beating heart out of her chest and bit down on it. There had been no interruption this time either, no gentle voice of the night assuring her it would all be okay.

After that, she had been restless, and so had taken to explore the area. She had spied on MEC after MEC being constructed right in front of her. She watched programmers working furiously on projects, guards guarding the hallways and eventually, roughly nine hours or so after she had arrived there, people had started walking out of the factory, leaving only the automated processes working.

'Dammit, if this mission wasn't about secrecy, I would've brought plenty of X4 to blow this place sky-high.'

She even saw Apple Bloom discussing something with other engineers. She had to hand it to her, as well, the woman did not look stressed at all. Either she was used to getting into trouble, or she was one hell of an actress.

When the last person left, Sunset started to dare to venture further into the factory, now taking note more carefully of where cameras and other security systems were, and soon had a very clear idea of where everything was.

She made her way up the tunnels to the third floor and sat down to wait. There wasn't much of anything there. Her position was where the tunnels ended, although the cables continued through inaccessible ducts. There was a grate, then a few more meters of tunnel with red-led lights, and a drop to the floor below.

Straight ahead, a small drop down, was a hallway with every conceivable automated defense system known to ADVENT, and no way to deactivate it or even send a GREMLIN flying across without activating every single alarm in the area.

Now it just fell onto Jane's shoulders. Sunset checked her clock and grimaced.

Two more hours to go.

"Dude, could you really just stop?"

Jane glared at Scootaloo, but grunted and sat down on the sofa. At that moment, it was just the two of them: Apple Bloom hadn't arrived yet, although she had called that she was on her way, and Sweetie was currently at the local ADVENT News Network, recording several "news" segments.

"I only have about half an hour total," she deadpanned. "In that time, I need to infiltrate the most guarded building in the city... get to the control room; hack the thing, then hack the security system of the second most secure building in the city from there, for a short span of time that my superior officer is going to use to hack her way into the system, with a hacking program I gave her. I think I have a right to be slightly freaked out."

Scootaloo shrugged. "It's your job."

Jane shook her head. "Easy for you to say."

"Hey, do I really need to remind you that you two put us all in danger just by being near us?"

"Fine, fine.... it's just… we should get going as it is," Jane said. She hesitated. "Have you figured what you'll say to Dash if you see her again?"

Scootaloo looked away. "Look… I admitted already that… I justified a lot of crap, okay? But Dash… it's still a bit too raw from seeing her again like that."

"If you say so."

"I do," Scootaloo affirmed with a nod. She looked down at her phone when it bleeped. "And there we go. Time to pick up Sweetie, Apple Bloom is just downstairs."

"Let's get going," Jane said.

The pair went down into the garage, where Apple Bloom waited for them. "Are y'all ready?"

"To commit treason? Sure." Scootaloo muttered.

"Thanks for taking this risk for us," Jane said, following the others into Apple Bloom's van. "Are you sure that you won't get in trouble being out after curfew?"

Apple Bloom smirked, patting her van. "Ah'm allowed to drive around all night, one of them privileges of being a high-rankin' engineer. That and they know that Ah don't do much other than pick up Scootaloo or Sweetie from work. Our route won't even change."

Jane sighed as the garage doors opened and the group drove out into the night. "Fair enough, it just feels like I'm just putting more risk on your laps."

"Don't think too much about it," Apple Bloom said after a moment. "Ah feel…" She seemed to consider her words. "Ah feel like it's the least Ah could do… after all, my sister was one of y'all, and if anythin', we Apples take care of family."

Despite herself, Jane smiled at that one.

"Heads-up," Scootaloo said. "We'll be driving past the CSB in a moment, then it's a turn right and down straight to the station. Are you sure you can hack the security tower to not record our stop?"

Jane nodded. "It's not going to be too invasive, it's just changing the light for a second so that the security cameras don't catch you suddenly stopping. Sunset and I planted the code in last night. Just slow down close enough that I can jump out. Then we're out of your hair."

The two women nodded, and soon they were driving past the CSB, and as Scootaloo warned, taking the turn. The moment they did, Jane's GREMLIN flew out and ahead, reaching the security tower ahead of them, and sending the signal.

Like clockwork, the lights turned yellow, then red, and Apple Bloom slowed down to a stop. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Jane muttered, opening the side door and running into the darkness after sliding it closed.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom watched the XCOM agent disappear. Immediately after, the light turned green and they started moving forward.

"And there goes XCOM," Scootaloo said.

Apple Bloom nodded, keeping her eyes on the road. "Were they different than you thought they'd be?"

Scootaloo snorted. "I always expected them to be more… villainous."

"Well, you did have a very peculiar idea of who they were."

"Yeah, yeah."

The pair descended into silence. The silent streets of the city were empty except for the occasional vehicle, or ADVENT patrol.

"You know, after all the noise from Canterlot High… I always appreciated the silence and order of New Appaloosa," Scootaloo said, gazing out the window. "But now… it's kinda creepy."

"Ah guess it is," Apple Bloom said. "Ah grew up in a farm, and nights were mostly quiet, so I like it a little bit, Ah guess."

Scootaloo smirked. "So not everything ADVENT is bad then?"

"Of course not," Apple Bloom said, turning into the street where the entrance to the News Network was. Standing outside, Sweetie caught sight of them and waved. "It's just that Ah wish it wasn't a forced calm, at the cost of our freedom."

Jane made her way close to the wall, searching for the area she and Sunset had discovered the previous night. Soon enough, she was there: a part of the wall that was close enough to a sewer, to merit its own drain pipe.

She checked her watch and nodded: perfect time.

Grinning, she sent the GREMLIN to scan ahead, then climbed up the drain pipe, and onto the wall's top. One thing that she was definitely grateful for was that you could set your watch to ADVENT Patrol schedules, so the top of the wall itself didn't have any nearby soldiers at that time.

There were several patrols active, of course, and then there were guards at the entrance to each building, not to mention the occasional turret, in typical ADVENT base design-style. However, that meant that there were also several pipes and ladders that could be used to climb to the top floor, where the antenna was. And if she got to the antenna, she'd be able to send the signal to deactivate the security hall in the MEC Facility.

Easy.

Sunset tried not to look at her watch. There was no point. Jane should be at the CSB by now, and she should be getting set up. This was crunch time.

She had expected to hear a 'thuuum' sound or something, like in the movies, when the security was turned off, however, that didn't happen.

Instead, a sharp beep-beep was heard, followed by the click-clacks of deactivated gun turrets, and the cameras stopped moving. She couldn't see it, but she assumed that meant that the pressure plates were off too, and the scanners from the ceiling were off as well.

'Trust your teammate, Sunset, she'll also be dead if she screws up…' Taking a deep breath, she moved forward, quickly taking off the grate's screws, getting past it, pushing it back in just in case, and jumping down.

When she landed, nothing happened. The turrets didn't emerge from the side walls to destroy her, nor did MECS suddenly activate outside. Sure signs of the system being activated, according to Apple Bloom.

Regardless, it was best not to push her luck. She trotted up to the door and took out her pad, activating it and running the program that Jane had given her.

They had both done well in the programming training XCOM had offered, so she could follow most of the code and processes without needing additional fancy things like a GUI, but Sunset would be the first to admit that Jane was much better at it than she was.

Hence the lack of a GREMLIN, she supposed.

The program finished its job with a too-blip! and Sunset stepped back as the vault-like doors of the secure room opened for her. The lights behind it flickered into existence, illuminating a mostly empty room save for a large computer, and several servers.

In there, was the information she needed.

Sunset smirked. A short-lived smile, as the doors suddenly slowed down to a stop. Behind her, she heard the click-clacks of turrets being activated and tested. Behind the walls to either side of her, she thought she heard the sudden, familiar whirring of MECS.

That's when the doors started closing again.

Eyes widening in a panic, Sunset dove through, rolling on the floor of the secured room as the lights flickered out and the vault doors closed behind her, leaving her trapped in absolute darkness.