“I’m back,” Sunset called out weakly as she entered her new residence and closed the door.

Luna appeared a moment later in the doorway to the kitchen, looking concerned. “Are you alright? What did the doctor say?”

“He gave me some meds,” Sunset replied quietly. Faint colors swirled in the corner of her vision every time she moved her eyes, and every inch of her skin felt as if it was covered in popping candy. “I’m supposed to take the rest of the day to rest and let my brain acclimatize to them.” She started to climb the stairs to the bedroom, letting whatever Luna was saying drift into one ear and out of the other. Every step sent an odd crackling sensation through her knees and thighs.

Once she was in her bedroom, Sunset methodically went about storing her weapons and equipment, then stripping off her armor and uniform before pulling on some simple Enclave pajamas, trying to ignore every unfamiliar tingle and spasm that the movements caused in her body. When she was done, she carefully pulled her blanket back and sat on the edge of the bed. Only then did Sunset realize that Luna had followed her upstairs. “How are you feeling? Is the medication helping at all yet?”

Sunset took a deep breath and looked down at herself. Her sense of touch was in overdrive, but her head felt strangely clear. It was as if every thought she had was passing through at a remove, like a fish calmly swimming along behind glass, though there was definitely something lurking down in the dark corners of her mind. “I... don’t know. I think so?”

Luna stepped over and squatted down to peek into Sunset’s eyes. “Your pupils are huge. Did the doctor tell you what sort of side effects the medication has?”

“He gave me a leaflet.” Sunset waved vaguely towards her discarded uniform. “It’s in one of the pockets. I’m going to try and get some sleep.”

“Of course.” Luna dutifully checked the pockets until she found the little slip of paper. “Alright, get some rest and we’ll see you when you get up.”

---

Luna anxiously read through the details of Sunset’s medication as she walked back downstairs. She thought she recognized some of the medications in the concoction as being antidepressants she’d encountered before, but most of them were completely alien to her. Some of them had what appeared to be brand names in brackets next to them, such as “Mentats”, “Sertrazine”, and “Psycho”, but even that didn’t really help much.

Concern for her student warred with anger at the Enclave leadership for putting said student through enough trauma to need such an unsettling mixture in the first place. The fact that Sunset’s input would be invaluable when dealing with magic, not to mention that Sunset herself would flat-out refuse to sit on the sidelines when her friends were in danger, didn’t make the situation any easier to deal with.

With a conflicted huff, Luna stuffed the leaflet in her pocket and retreated into the lounge. Trixie and Sonata were already sitting on the sofa waiting for her. “Is she alright?” Trixie asked.

“The doctors gave Sunset some medicine. I’m sure that it’ll help,” Luna said evasively. She didn’t entirely believe that, given just how many pills Sunset had been given, but she wasn’t about to vent her concerns to the girls. She quickly sat on one of the other chairs to address them properly, eager to deflect their attention. “What about you two? How are you feeling?”

“Worried that a certain someone is going to try and kill me,” Sonata said bluntly.

A pit formed in Luna’s stomach at those words, especially as Trixie looked away nervously. No high school student should ever have to have such a visceral problem right at the forefront of their mind. Still, Luna kept her expression neutral and gave a slow nod. “That’s understandable, given what we’ve learned, but we’re safe here. The President herself said that keeping us out of harm’s way is one of her top priorities.”

“What about the Rainbooms?” Trixie countered weakly. “If even they aren’t safe, then how safe can we be here?”

Luna barely managed to keep herself from wincing. “The Enclave is going to get the girls back safe and sound.” She was mildly impressed at how confident she managed to make herself found. “As soon as they’re back here with us, I’m going to make sure that they stay out of trouble until the portal back home has been fixed. I won’t have anyone sending them on dangerous errands across the wasteland, and I certainly won’t let anything happen to the two of you, no matter what it takes. I promise.”

Neither of the pair looked particularly convinced, but they both nodded anyway.

“What are we going to do now?” Trixie asked.

“That is a very good question.” Luna stood up and stretched. “For now, I think it would be best if the two of you stay here. I’m going to go and see if there’s anything we need to do while we’re here, and find out if there’s any amenities like a grocery store or something. While I’m at it, I’m going to see if there’s anything I can do to help.”

Trixie looked up at her anxiously. “Isn’t it dangerous out there?”

“I’m just going to go to the checkpoint down the road. I’m not going anywhere near the outskirts of the base, and this zone is all residential buildings, so it should be perfectly safe,” Luna assured her. “Will you both be alright here on your own?” The two nodded again. “Good. I hope I won’t be long, but I can’t guarantee that. If anyone from the Enclave comes to collect you for any reason, please leave a message saying where you’ve gone.”

After making sure that the two were as secure and settled as was possible under the circumstances, Luna fetched the thick boots and heavy coat the Enclave had given her and ventured out into the cold.

The snow had piled even higher overnight. The roads and a few footpaths were still clear thanks to plenty of grit and constant maintenance, but the drifts everywhere else reached up to Luna’s chest. Pulling her hood up against the still-heavy snowfall, Luna glanced around to get her bearings, making a note of the street layout, then headed in the direction of the nearest checkpoint.

If she kept her head down and just focused on the path ahead, Luna could almost make herself feel like she was going for a wintry walk along one of Canterlot City’s promenades. Unfortunately, the illusion was broken every time she had to step out of the way of a power-armored maintenance worker; bulkier and more cumbersome than the military types, with red warning lights on the shoulders and bright yellow patches adorned with reflective strips, and carrying huge handheld grit-dispensers or heated shovels and plows.

After ten minutes of trudging along the slush-laden paths, Luna finally came to the security checkpoint. It was little more than a blocky steel hut next to a simple swing gate. As Luna approached, a young boy who couldn’t have been older than sixteen stepped out of the hut and greeted her. To his credit, he didn’t so much as bat an eyelid at her skin, which most of the people in this world found particularly interesting. “Good morning, Miss. Do you need something?”

Luna nodded. “Actually, I was wondering what exactly myself and my students are supposed to do while we’re here. Also, I wanted to know how we go about picking up groceries and essentials.”

“Groceries are easy, just speak to the Quartermaster’s office. The phone in your residence should have a button to call them on.” The boy scrunched his face up thoughtfully as he pondered her other question. “I don’t know what the higher ups want you to do, though. I’ll have to contact my superior. We’re all just cadets here.”

Luna tried not to think about what sort of state the Enclave was in if they were using young cadets to man their security checkpoints, and instead took a deep breath to gather enough courage to make her next request. “While you’re at it, I realize that this may be a foolish question, but I was hoping I could have someone teach me how to use a gun.”

---

Silence filled the Diviner room, broken only by the sound of Micro Chips typing away as he meticulously pored through vast quantities of data.

Princess Twilight stared up at the Geode Diviner as Micro worked. She had mixed feelings, if she was going to be honest with herself. The fact that the portal had opened again, from the other side instead of due to sabotage this time, must mean that Sunset and the others were working hard to find their own way back home, but losing Trixie and Vice-Principal Luna soured her excitement somewhat, and explaining Sonata’s disappearance to Adagio wasn’t likely to be pleasant. Still, Twilight supposed that she was lucky. If Wallflower hadn’t been lurking in the Diviner room, then they wouldn’t have learned that the portal had opened again anywhere near as quickly.

“Um, Princess?” Micro glanced over his shoulder at her. “I think we have a problem.”

“What is it?” Twilight asked anxiously as she hurried over to him.

“I’ve been going over the magical signatures the Diviner picked up, trying to identify the signature of the world the Rainbooms were sent to as you suggested,” Micro explained. “Unfortunately, I’ve come across a complication. There’s a lot more than just one magical frequency.”

Princess Twilight frowned thoughtfully, but she wasn’t perturbed for long. “Actually, that might be a good thing. If the world they were sent to has magic, then it should have a background magical field for it to draw from, just like Equestria. All magic in Equestria is slightly different, but it is all supported by the background magical field, meaning there are slight similarities in the magical frequencies. Discord’s is different, but I think he does that deliberately just to be contrary. In theory, we just have to compare the frequencies the Diviner picked up, then we can use the similarities to triangulate the exact metaphysical coordinates for the worlds the girls were sent to!”

Micro adjusted his glasses and looked back at the screen. “I have no idea who Discord is, but I suspected that your theory about the background magical field may be correct after my conversations with Starswirl. As such, I altered the algorithm the Diviner uses to detect magical frequencies, then ran a simple macro to collate all of the vaguely similar frequencies. It should have gathered them into two or three groups.”

“Equestria’s, the other world’s, and possibly this world’s if the introduced Equestrian magic triggered the creation of a background magical field here as well,” Twilight noted.

Micro nodded. “Exactly. However, that is where we have the problem.” He frowned and stared at the screen. “The Diviner didn’t detect merely two or three worlds, it detected over two hundred.”

“What?!” Twilight exclaimed. “How are there so many?!”

“I don’t know. I was hoping you and Starswirl might have some ideas,” Micro said flatly.

Twilight sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “First we’ll have to check the frequencies manually to make sure that the computer is right, then-”

A knock at the door interrupted the pair. They both glanced back just as Muffins opened the door and poked her head in. “Hey, Twilight! Principal Celestia says she wants to speak to you in her office if that’s okay?”

“Alright, I’ll go there now,” Twilight replied reluctantly before turning back to Micro. “Sorry, we’ll have to figure something out when Starswirl gets back with more crystals. See if you can get started on checking the frequencies.”

Leaving Micro Chips to the enviable task of rooting through reams of similar magical frequencies, Twilight quickly made her way through the halls of Canterlot High. It had been a while since she had been to the office, but it didn’t take her long to find it.

When she knocked and opened the door, Twilight was stunned to see Tempest Shadow sitting comfortably in a seat opposite Celestia. “You!” Twilight snarled.

“Wait! She’s not the one you’re thinking of!” Celestia cut in sharply.

Twilight hesitated, confused, then tensed up as Tempest got out of her seat. The woman was wearing an impeccably tailored black suit. It took Twilight a moment to notice that Tempest was also missing her left arm below the elbow, as the sewn-up sleeve attested.

“Princess Twilight, it is an honour to finally meet you. I’m Agent Berrytwist, here on behalf of the government.” The Agent bowed formally, then gestured to an empty seat next to her. “Please, sit down. There is much we need to discuss.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 137 - Plausible Deniability Estimated time remaining: 13 Hours, 21 Minutes