The Command Center was quiet after the screen went black.

Next to Bradford, Sunset had collapsed on her knees, arms slack and staring at the screen blankly. "I-this is my fault. This is all my fault!" she whispered in horror, her face going deathly pale. "Celestia… her brother… her family and friends… they all entrusted her to me… and I let this happen."

"Evacuating Rookie Acevedo," the Skyranger called in.

"Sunset," Bradford whispered, worriedly looking from her to the screen. The team's still active biometrics slowly went flat except for one: Alejandra's. "Sunset, there's nothin—"

"Yes there was!" Sunset snapped, face flushing with anger. "I should have ordered her to stay!" Her fist, enveloped in magical flames, slammed on the console, cracking the monitor and making two engineers scramble back, eyes wide. "What the hell was I thinking?! Of all the stupid, idiotic, cretinous things I could do, I had to give in to her stupid sense of loyalty! It was objectively stupid to do this! And I did it anyway!"

"Get a hold of yourself, Lieutenant!" Bradford snapped.

Sunset looked up, staring at her flaming fist. It wasn't hot enough to melt anything, but it was starting to stain the metal and maybe soften a few buttons. "Sorry." She opened her hand and the flames flashed away as if they never were. "Sorry," she whispered again.

Bradford offered her a hand, which she took and helped herself up. She glanced at the console with a grimace. She glanced at the engineers, who looked at her warily. "I'm… so sorry… she—"

One of the engineers shook his head and patted her on the shoulder. The whole room was quiet, giving her understanding looks.

Sunset turned around, shaking her head and unable to face their pity, just as Chrysalis' voice cut through the silence. "Central. Lt. Shimmer. My quarters. Now."

The pair made their way upstairs and into the commander's quarters in complete silence. Even after Sunset's display, the engineers and staff's eyes were not on the scorch marks or the cracked monitor, but still on the black screen.

"What the hell happened out there, Bradford?" Chrysalis asked the moment the door hissed closed behind them. "This wasn't supposed to be the type of mission that would even register in some bureaucrat's desk, much less the Chosen's radar!

"The VIP was as low as you can get while still being somewhat useful. The official ranking for this mission—with a Colonel attached to it—was supposed to equal "random bunny encounter in the forest"! So, tell me, how the fuck exactly did we go from fluff and rainbows to bloody massacre?!"

Bradford tightened his jaw before responding. "Everything checked out, Commander. The VIP didn't make any contact after the initial agreement of time and location.

"Colonel Galahad kept track of all known radio frequencies belonging to ADVENT in that city. Initial scans of the area didn't indicate any heavier movement of ADVENT troops… in fact, as stated previously, the city was at an all-time low.

"We've scouted the situation for over a month. Today was the time that the VIP would be under the least surveillance, in the least secure location in the continent. There was no reason for a Chosen to be involved—"

"Unless something clued them in," Tygan interrupted, pondering the situation. "My initial suspicion was that Twilight's presence would have alerted them of our mission, as the Chosen seem to be aware of Sunset's Thaumic Energy, but that wouldn't explain the expediency of the ambush that the Chosen prepared so effectively, or why they haven't simply found us, if they were able to do such a thing."

"Well, it was almost a complete wipeout," Chrysalis growled. "So we'd better find out where they got their information!"

"But if that's not it—" Shen's eyes went wide. "One moment, commander!" She ran out of the room, her GREMLIN quickly following in her wake.

Chrysalis massaged her forehead. "Stupid. Stupid." She looked up at Sunset with such intensity that Sunset couldn't help but stand straighter. "We will get her back. I won't rest until we do that, Sunset."

"The Assassin did indicate that she was interested in keeping Twilight alive," Tygan said, and only a glance at his tightly clenched fists gave any indication as to his anger at the situation. "That means that she will be taken to one of their secure locations."

The sound of someone running outside reached them and soon the door opened and Shen ran back in. "One of the rookies quit earlier today… Michael, I think. I checked the logs and it seems there was a signal piggybacking on ours just before he abandoned ship!"

"A traitor?" Chrysalis hissed. "Where was he dropped off?"

"There's a settlement a few hours away, he went with the away team and was dropped off there," Shen said, scanning the pad. "That was a few hours ago. He could have moved from there with any number of caravans."

"Not quick enough," Bradford spoke up. "We're in Reaper territory."

"Commander," a message came through. "The Skyranger has returned. They're in a landing vector now.

Chrysalis locked eyes with Bradford. "Go there and get a report."

"I'll join you," Sunset said tightly.

The pair walked hastily out of the room, as Chrysalis turned to face the computer. "Get me Volk, now," she ordered. She didn't turn around. "Tygan. Shen… evaluate any possible data breaches that might have come from Michael Cruz's access. Track his movements. Find out who he had contact with."

"Yes, Commander!"

Chrysalis snarled once they were out of the room.

A moment later the screen fizzled and Volk appeared on the screen. "Commander?"

"I'm sending you a dossier," Chrysalis hissed. "He was dropped off at… Hearthsbreath…"

Volk frowned. "That's just down from my camp."

"I know. We need him alive… and we need him now."

Volk gave her a steady look, but simply nodded. "I'll get my people on it, Commander."

Alejandra gazed at the empty seats in the Skyranger, trying to wrap her mind around what she had seen. At the silence. At the lack of people.

Each place seemed to hold the ghost of someone she had just seen that morning. But she couldn't meet their gazes. She couldn't look up at Monique's ghost and see the melted face. Or Kevin's and notice his arm had been completely burned away.

She couldn't stare long at the gaping wound that had almost cut Galahad in half, or Ndlovu's headless body. She couldn't look at Twilight's seat, where the nerdy rookie was fidgeting and talking herself into doing the mission just hours earlier.

She remembered Twilight's argument with Lt. Shimmer earlier. She should have listened. She shouldn't have gone with them. She should have stayed in the lab… they all should have stayed.

She felt the Skyranger land and heard shuffling from the cockpit.

"We're here kid, they're waiting for you."

Alejandra nodded, not trusting herself to speak yet. She carefully stood the moment the ramp started opening. She felt faint, but she was back in the Avenger. Alive. Alone.

She felt angry with herself. Disappointed that she didn't rush out. Save them.

The ramp extended completely with a metallic clang the moment it touched bottom. She had to hold on to the side before morosely making her way down the ramp, stumbling a little as she kept her eyes fixed on her feet.

Finally, after what felt like way too long, she set foot on the Avenger proper. A shuffling sound made her look up, and she felt like there was ice in her stomach. Central was there, but right next to him, looking like she'd been punched in the stomach was Lt. Shimmer.

There were rumors that Twilight was her sister. Or her best friend.

Regardless, Alejandra had survived and no one else had. She was here, living, being judged—hated right now. She felt sick, like the ground was wobbling. It felt like the room around her was becoming smaller and pressing all around her. Things looked weird, as if she were looking through binoculars, with shadows around her vision.

She felt like she was falling into a cliff.

"Acevedo!"

Alejandra felt ill, her vision was still weird, but she was able to breath now. She moved her legs, holding onto whoever was holding her up. "I-I'm sorry, I'm trying to—"

"Deep breaths, slow," the voice said. It was female. Familiar. "I've got you, get your feet straight, come on, I'll help you."

Grasping the arms holding her, she did as instructed, and the moment she could stand straight, she was pulled into a tight hug. Gold and red hair blurred in her vision, and she slowly understood who was holding her up.

"It's not your fault," Sunset Shimmer whispered.

Alejandra couldn't help it. She broke down right there, crying and sobbing and wailing in Sunset's embrace.

Sunset sat at the table at the end of the bar. It was the same one where Rainbow Dash and Twilight had spoken some time before, although she had no way of knowing it. All she knew was that she hadn't been able to stay in Alejandra's presence while the surviving rookie gave her report.

As it was, guilt was consuming her. Her diary rested on the table, closed. She had tried to write earlier, but the moment her hands made to open the book, she felt so sick and terrified, that she was unable to do so.

She understood, in some way, that as the officer in charge of Menace, if any of her team died, she'd be the one responsible to fill out the reports, and if possible, reach out to their loved ones.

And even then, she knew that Twilight might still be alive, based on the ramblings of a crazy monster-like assassin from space… but even then, just looking at the diary brought immediately to mind the kind faces of Princess Celestia and Luna and Cadance… even Shining Armor… and the thought of the grief that she would be putting them through, especially after her earlier note was… it tore her apart just thinking about that.

The way she had left Canterlot the last two times was bad enough, but this? How would she ever be able to look Celestia in the eye? She had gone against her worry… against her gut instinct that shit would hit the fan, just because she had been really proud of Twilight's commitment.

The gods had dropped the idiot ball, and like an eager Icarus she'd gone ahead and caught it, bounced it around and worse, shared it. She grabbed her hair. "I'm so stupid! She's not me! She's better than me! She doesn't belong out there! What the hell have I done?! Not only have I doomed myself, I'm literally responsible for an interdimensional political incident!"

"She was bound to go out there eventually," Chrysalis said from the door of the bar. "If not now, later on. We have plenty of missions that would require scientist specialists or engineers to join our soldiers."

She walked into the room, closing the door behind her. She grabbed the first bottle she saw, two shot glasses and sat down across from Sunset, serving them up. She picked hers up and slammed it back, making a face. "Cinnamon Whiskey…"

Sunset followed suit, grimacing as the alcohol burned its way down. "If either that or the drink were supposed to make me feel better, it didn't work."

Chrysalis snorted. "Of course not. We just watched a bunch of kids and their teacher get wiped out in seconds. Anyone that feels okay with that is a soulless asshole that has no place in my ship."

Sunset sighed, looking down. "What am I going to do, Commander?"

"You? You're picking up Michael when Volk finds him, and then you, Annette, and I will teach the bastard very painful lessons. Then he'll either tell us or we'll figure out where Twilight's being held captive, then we're slaughtering our way in and getting her out."

Sunset shivered. "I still should've—"

"Should have. Would have. If I had. If I hadn't. Maybe this, maybe that." Chrysalis refilled both shot glasses. "It's all BS. We did, and that's that. Now either we do, or we don't."

"That doesn't excuse my stupidity."

"No, it doesn't, but your stupidity doesn't end with you. Galahad could have put his foot down. Bradford. Me." Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. "Don't take all the credit."

Sunset looked down, biting her lip.

"Geeze you two are the same," Chrysalis muttered. "Yes, you could argue that the idiot ball was passed around. We all partook. Well, except Tygan—" she conceded, "but the bottom line is that Twilight was part of the graduating team. We found, literally, the least offensive, most tame, least violent, most controlled mission we had ever found and sent them there to pick up someone.

"The VIP was just a goddamned nurse from a center. There was absolutely nothing that could have been less… memorable about this mission. Except that Twilight was there. If she had stayed she'd have felt that she could have done something more. Just like Acevedo is feeling right now."

"Except that she'd be here, we wouldn't have sent our only Thaumic expert out to the field, and let's not forget, she's a goddamned Princess from a realm where two of them can play beach ball with heavenly bodies."

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "Drama queens, the both of you. First, she's not the only Thaumic expert we have; Second, as I have said, scientists and engineers will start going on some field missions. Sending Twilight out there was also a bit of a calculated risk to show the others that it could go well—"

"Yeah, how did those calculations work out for you?" Sunset interrupted, downing the second shot glass.

"...and, third," Chrysalis continued as if she hadn't been interrupted, "I'm not too concerned about war with Equestria at this time. Objectively speaking, even if they managed to send magic items with unicorns that could use them, they'd all be useless for about an hour, minimum, and the time it would take them to figure out how to use the magic items here renders them all but harmless for quite some time. If it came to a fight, their losses would be… exorbitant. All we would need is a couple of snipers and enough ammo."

Sunset gave her a glare.

"What?" Chrysalis said, giving her an innocent look. "It's true. And I'm not stupid enough to send my troops across the portal to attempt an invasion. I have no interest in that. The roles would be immediately reversed and all they would need would be a cage big enough to catch us one by one as we jump through a magic mirror. No, I doubt your Princesses would want to go to war over this."

"That is assuming they don't tear a hole in reality to get here in their natural forms."

"Should have. Would have. If I had. If I hadn't. Maybe this, maybe that." Chrysalis downed her own glass. "It sucks, Sunny. It really does… to have to deal with this shit. You know that the problem could have been caused by your own negligence, but this wasn't a random miscalculation. We were betrayed… again." She narrowed her eyes, standing up and sitting next to Sunset.

"The bottom line is, we didn't anticipate something stupid like this happening, because it wouldn't have otherwise. Clearly Vigilo Confido needs more practice."

Sunset took another drink. "I'll toast to that."

An hour later, Bradford walked in. He took the scene in front of him and scowled a little, before saluting. "Commander, Volk just sent a communication. They've found Michael. He was about to be extracted by an ADVENT team, but they took them all out. Michael is under their custody."

Chrysalis continued petting Sunset's hair. The younger woman was asleep on her lap, and occasionally would frown slightly, only for Chrysalis to sooth her with gentle swipes down her scalp.

"She's not her," Bradford stated.

Chrysalis sighed. "I know."

"Commander—"

"Please, John," Chrysalis snorted. "Right now there's no need for those formalities. And yes, I know… but… she just acted the same way. Said the things she would say."

Bradford sighed. "I know… she reminds me of her too, but she really isn't the same Sunset Shimmer."

"Again," Chrysalis said softly, "I know, but she is our Sunset regardless… just a bit newer… it feels like I'm taking care of my Sunset's legacy."

Bradford nodded.

"Anyway," Chrysalis said, shaking Sunset's shoulder with a hint of regret at waking the sleeping soldier, "let's go make sure Michael Cruz regrets having ever been born."