---

Night looked like she was about to cry. A very sorrowful, guilt-ridden expression was smitten across her features. That same guilt morphed its way onto mine as well. I knew then that what was happening shouldn't be happening. There was no right I had for her to relive her past traumas, and for her to live mine.

And yet, here I was, still trying to force her to do just that. What kind of a fool am I? What was even I thinking? For even trying to talk about this in the first place? To find some kind of closure? The shame of my selfish request was palpable.

I scooted closer and embraced her gently. She sniffles into my mane, just above my withers. “I am so sorry you had to through the pain that you did.” She whispered.

“No, don’t be sorry, I am sorry. I’m sorry I tried talking about this in the first place.” I softly apologized.

We just sat together, holding each other in silence, as if for dear life. I looked out towards the western horizon, thanking myself for being able to experience such a moment like this in the first place.

It was done. The war is over. And Harmony is here once again. It’s almost like nothing happened. I believe that’s what everyone is trying to hope for, at least. Like nothing ever happened over the past seven years. If only it was that simple. I looked to the west, finding the sun well below the horizon. It painted the sky with a mulberry hue.

“It’s late. Maybe we should call it a night. That sounds better, in my opinion.” I suggested.

Night light rubbed her eyes with her wings and sniffled softly. “Yeah, that… that does sound nice.”

Neither of us had ever let go of the other as we both settled into the sheets and pillows.

Cradling each other with our warmth, fatigue claimed us quickly. Soon, both of our eyes were heavy and our breathing getting lighter and lighter. It had taken a while as we both continued to bask the each other's embrace, but Night Light's eyes were the first to start to go heavy. Mine soon joined hers as well.

I was about to doze off when Night Light gently spoke up.

"Hey... Sunshine?"

"Mhm?"

"Can you promise me something?"

"... What is it?"

She grazes a tendon across my cheeks.

"Promise me... No matter what happens. No matter where we are. No matter who stands in our way... Promise that you won't give up on us. Please?"

"Yeah, of course."

"... I want to hear you say it. Say that you promise."

I gently cupped a hoof under her cheek. "I promise."

"Promise what?" She whispers, her eyes closing.

"I promise I won't give up on us."

She didn't reply after that. Her breathing was slow and steady. Her eyes drifted shut.

Gently pecking her on the forehead, I whispered softly, "Goodnight," before shutting off the lamp, and drifting off to slumber.

---

I woke up to the bright sun glaring directly at my eyes in my comfortable cloudy bed, shimmering through the small window slit at the most annoyingly accurate spot possible to where I was. I sat up with a groan and stretched my wings, basking in the comfortable warm feeling tingling down my spine. My frizzy mane fell down across my face.

I suddenly smelled toast.

It didn’t take me long to hover out of bed and make my way downstairs. I was greeted with the sights and sounds of Night Light cooking breakfast in the kitchen. I sat down in one of the dining room chairs, watching her cook.

“Good morning." She greeted without turning around. "You woke up just in time. You looked very peaceful, so I didn’t wanna bother you. Breakfast is almost ready.”

“I can’t remember the last time I had your famous buttered toast." I reminisced as I sat down at the table. "It feels like it’s been forever.”

Night Light giggled. “I figured the war had not been kind on you, at least in the aspect of how tasty your food was. Or rather, how tasteless it was.”

“It was rather bland. But it was filling at least. Hay and Veggies were not bad, nutritionally speaking.”

“Well, I have something even better; Homemade waffles with Buttermilk Syrup, accompanied by Orange slices, Buttered Toast, and some Milk.”

“Mm, definitely better. I forgot how great your cooking was.”

“Well then, how about I refresh your memory?”

Night hovered in the air and placed a plate of delicious-looking food on the cloud table in front of me. I savored the smell at first, until I couldn't resist any longer and began to eat.

... Perfect.

“This is… really good.” was all I said, as I continued to munch down.

“You think so?”

“Oh yes! This is the best plate of food I’ve ever had in ages. Seriously, thank you Night.” Night blushed furiously, but she was obviously glad I liked it, because she embraced me warmly afterward.

“Oh, I thought you might like it. Didn’t think you would be this ecstatic about it though.”

“You kidding? All I ate regularly during my time out there were Hay, Veggies and an assortment of other bland, tasteless foods. This is, literally, the best plate of food I had in years!”

Night couldn't help but whinny in glee. It didn’t take her long to get her own plate of the same food, and it only took me about 5 minutes before I was finished with my plate first, leaving me immensely satisfied and full of food. I took on the chore of clearing the plate of scraps myself, as a way of thanking Night for her cooking. As I was continuing to wash my plate, Night trotted next to me, intent to do the same with hers.

“I figured I would have to reward you for your service.” Night smiled.

“My service? Well, I think serving me breakfast is a perfect way to come home from service.” I then caught her “it was a joke” look on her face, raising an eyebrow at me.

“I meant last night, Sunshine.” Night replied. "I... Wanted to thank you. Getting that off my chest... I-it helped a lot. That's all."

"Oh... Well, you're welcome. And I'm sorry for making you so anxious and uncomfortable last night."

She waved it off with a hoof. "Water under the bridge, right?"

"Yeah." I leaned for a quick kiss to wich she kindly returned. "I guess so."

She smiled warmly, nuzzling close to me as I finished my dishes.

"So... I have my day off today, what do you wanna do?" Night Light asks.

"Good question." I pondered aloud. "I think there was an airshow at the cloudiseum today. You wanna go see that?"

"Sounds like a date." she winks. "I'll go check the mail and-"

BOM! BOM! BOM!

Both of our heads turned towards the door.

“Um... Who is that?” I asked as Night Light trotted to answer the door.

"I don't know... Hold on." she replied. As she was walking there was another series of knocks.

“I’m coming, give me a moment.” Night light called out to the door. She reached a hoof out and opened the door. I trotted near Night to see who it was. 2 Ponies, both of them pegasi stallions, wearing a black tux-like suit and black aviator glasses, were standing at the door.

“Is this the residence of… “ One of the stallions reached into his suit pocket, pulling out a small piece of paper. “Night Light and Sunshine Tempest?”

“Yes, it is.” Night answered.

“Both of you are requested by Equestrian High Command to ride a chariot to Canterlot immediately. There are some ponies who wish to speak to you.”

Me and Night both gazed at each other, clearly confused by the sudden change of events.

“Uh, say what now?" I replied.

"Both of you are required to come to Canterlot with us."

"Why? Who would want to speak to us?” Night asked next.

“Somepony important. We are not required to answer all of your questions. We highly encourage you to ride the chariot at once.” They spoke in a calm and monotone manner.

“And what if we say no?” I asked. Night looked at me, worry etched on her face.

“That would be unwise. This is all we can tell you. You are required to follow our orders, or you will be forced into Canterlot. One way or another.”

I my brow furrowed at the distrustful individuals, my eyes scanning up and down. I managed to get a good look at one of their cutie marks; A parchment with incoherent writing on it, that was near a closed lock. they twisted their bodies away to hide them after seeing my inspect them.

“I can see why you wouldn’t comply with our orders.” One of the ponies spoke again. It was creepy how identical they sounded. “But if you refuse, we are authorized to place you under arrest to take you to Canterlot. However, we do not wish to perform such methods, and we encourage you to follow our instructions.”

Night Light stepped back and leaned into my ears.

“Maybe we should listen?” she whispered cautiously, "See what they want?"

I was getting massive red flags and tingles in my mane from these ponies. I couldn’t help but grimace. But, Night Light was willing to cooperate, so my disagreeing attitude probably wouldn’t be the best course of action.

“Alright, I’ll play along.” I finally answered. One of the ponies looked at Night, waiting for her answer.

“I’ll come too.”

“Excellent.” One of the ponies blankly spoke. “Please follow us. The chariot is waiting outside.”

We walked outside of our home and found a royal Chariot, clearly from Canterlot, waiting for us parked in front of our house. I was still anxious, but they didn’t seem to be threatening. Just… Creepy.

We embarked on the Chariot, and it instantly began to take off, the pegasi visitors flying close behind us. The chariot turned Eastbound, intent for Canterlot.

“Who are these ponies?” Night whispered.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s happening.” I unfurled a wing, and draped it over her back, intent on comforting her.

Something tells me that this was only the beginning of our troubles.

---

The ride to Canterlot didn’t last long, less than an hour at least. We arrived at the sight of the beautiful castle city on the mountain face, the tall spire of the princess’s castle clearly visible. The Agent Ponies following behind us maintained their distance between us, as they continued to escort.

When we arrived, we slowly descended downward. I remember myself being in the Ruby Mountains and remembering how gracefully Princess Luna’s Skywagon descended. This chariot was no different, except it looked clearly different. Instead of dark night-themed colors, it had golden engravings on the side of the alabaster railings. It boasted the Sun Princess's Cutie Mark on the side.

We touched down, and the side doors opened. The Agent Ponies landed softly beside us as one of them spoke.

“Night Light, you will follow Agent #2 here. He will guide you to your next location. Sunshine, you will follow me.”

Both of us stepped back.

“Wait wait, what? We never agreed to be separated!” I grabbed Night’s hoof, assuring my point.

“We ordered you to board the chariot to Canterlot, where High Command Ponies will speak to you. We never said you would do it together. And you have no choice. You already complied with our first order. If you fail to comply again, we can still arrest you as we’ve mentioned earlier.”

“Forget it, I’m not being separated from Night again, not after 7 years of Tartarus on earth!” I yelled.

“Sunshine, please. Just listen. It’s okay.” Night attempted to calm me down.

“No, it’s not okay! I just got you back, now I have to be separated from you again?!”

“No harm will come to Night Light, or you, Sunshine Tempest. The ponies in question who want to speak to you want to do just that: Talk. This is your last chance. Will you comply?” the agent spoke cooly.

I so badly wanted to rage out and say 'Fuck no!', flying away with Night Light instead.

"Sunshine... Remember my promise?"

I gazed back at her.

"I'll be okay. Just don't make it worse. Alright?"

Looking at Night Light's face, which begged me to follow the agent’s orders, I couldn’t bring myself to say no. I sighed heavily and groaned.

“I hate this. You know that." I spoke lowly. "But fine.”

“Then please, follow me. Night Light, please follow Agent #2.” I treaded behind the agent in question, looking back at Night Light as she began to lag behind Agent 2. I lost sight of her when we entered through the Main Gates, and Night was gone.

This was wrong. Everything about this felt wrong. I knew I wasn't technically a prisoner, but I couldn't help but feel like one. I looked around me, admiring the Canterlot Architecture to try to keep my mind off of it all. Ponies were trotting all around us, performing their daily chores, doing their jobs, going shopping, and socializing with one another.

Some gave us idle glances before moving on. There were so many conversations happening at once, I couldn’t make out a single one. We continued to trot towards-

... A large, black pyramid near Canterlot castle.

That wasn’t there before... I saw a sign written in bold above the entrance:

S.M.I.L.E. Agency

We entered inside, and the door shut behind us, silencing the conversations outside. I was greeted with blank, grey walls and bright lighting hanging from the ceiling, along with a very long and narrow hall with several doorways off to the side.

“We’re almost there. Follow me.” The agent ordered. I continued to trot behind.

“Where are you taking Night Light?”

“To a private location. She will still be in Canterlot.” That was all he answered.

We passed by multiple doorways, each secured with a metal door. Each of the doors had a tiny window slit you could peek through, though I didn’t have a good enough look at each of them as we continued to walk by to see what was on the other side.

Eventually, we stopped at the end of the hall, in front of a much larger door compared to the rest.

It opened automatically, and inside was a dimly lit room, with a single table and 2 chairs on each side.

“Sit down in one of the designated chairs, and wait here. Somepony else will arrive shortly.”

“Who?”

“You’ll see.”

I slowly entered the room, and the door shut behind me almost instantly. I looked around the room, finding nothing else worth noting. So I sat down, and I began waiting for whoever wished to speak to me.

A minute passed by. Two minutes. Three. I shuffled my hooves together, and stretched my wings, looking for some way to pass the time. Five minutes. Still nothing. I yawned from the silence and boredom.

The doors suddenly opened, revealing an entirely different pony. This one was an Earth Pony Mare, with a Beige coat and Azure mane. The latter had a pink strip near her right eye.

“Hello, Sunshine Tempest.” She spoke, more energized than the boring, monotone agents from earlier. “My name is Agent Bon Bon.”

---

I saw Sunshine disappear from my vision as I continued to walk with the Agent, who so… kindly encouraged us to separate like this. I followed close behind him, sparing about 5 feet or so of distance between us.

“Where are we going?”

“To somewhere where you can talk.” Was all he answered.

“Are you always this Vague and Cryptic?”

“Yes. Sometimes I’m not.”

“Do you ever get… mad, at your profession?”

“Only Slightly Annoyed. That’s the highest I can go.”

I didn’t bother asking any other questions. He was like an impregnable Stone Wall. Nothing could get past him.

We stopped at a very large, 2 Story Stone Building, with the same Canterlot Architecture that was in abundance in this city. No Inscriptions or Words were found, except for a Single Mural: It was a blank and pale pony face, Smiling with a very Wide Grin on her face. It looked like a happy Grin.

And yet, it disturbed me to my core.

We entered inside, and I was greeted with a Maze of Cubicles, and box offices. All around me, ponies were clicking and clacking away on their typewriters, while indistinct conversations were all around us.

“Stay close. We’re almost there.” The agent spoke. I treaded behind him, staying a little closer to the agent this time, as he guided us through the maze of Cubicles. He took a right, then another right, a left, left, right, forward, left, and a half turnaround, and later, we were outside of the maze, leaving my head dizzy and spinning. “We’re here.” The agent spoke.

There was an office door, with a small glazed window on the top portion of it. The Agent opened the door, and there was a room with a table and 2 chairs on each side. There was a Large Glass Window overlooking the cliff where this building was near, giving me a beautiful look over a good part of Equestria. I haven’t had a view like this since I was in the air.

The Door Shut behind me, and I heard a clicking noise. I looked at my hooves, not remembering moving them inside the room… when did that happen?

I looked back at one of the chairs, and instinctively chose the one facing the large window, to bask in the view. Almost immediately after I sat down, I heard the door open to my right, and a tall, brown-coated, muscle-bounded stallion walked through.

“Good Morning, Night Light. Or would you prefer if I call you Garuda 1 instead?”

... What?

How the f...

How did he know that name?!

How did-... Who is- I- What?!

“H-How?” I stuttered.

“We in the agency are very good at our job. My name is Grim Hooves.” He reached into his Suit Pocket, pulled out a silver tiny medallion, and dropped it onto the table in front of me.

I looked closer and my blood ran cold.

It was the Blue Pheonix; its wings and its claws unfurled as it was ready to pounce, it's beak open as if it let out a predatory screech before catching its prey.

Below the decal of the medallion was an inscription: Garuda

“You are Garuda 1, the Ace of the Blueblood... Right?”

I didn’t answer, I just kept staring at the medallion.

A few tense moments of incredulous staring passed before I hardened my features.

“... What do you want from me?”

“I want answers." He dropped the binder of documents he was carrying with a hefty 'thump' on the table.

"You know, quite a lot of your time spent was over the seas; a small part of Olenia here, Las Pegasus there, Mead Lake as well. And pretty much anywhere in the Equestria where your carrier can reach. You survived all of your duration as a pilot for the RAF - a very rare and astonishing feat all on its own.

"I don’t know if you noticed, but veteran pilots from the Great War are not in abundance here in Equestria. You survived the entirety of that said war. Not a lot of ponies can say that.”

“Don’t remind me.” I tersely replied.

Grim hooves lips twitched ever so slightly at that. "See, that's the thing: I need to remind you. There is something else you know about your time overseas, isn't there?"

I remained silent.

"Something that is a closely guarded secret. A secret you would have otherwise taken with you to the grave."

“What are you talking about?” I feigned ignorance.

Then he asked, slowly, the million-bit question. “Does the name ‘Aigaion’ or ‘Strigon’ sound familiar to you?”

I felt an icy cold shiver travel down my spine.

He was very precise with his choice of words. I haven’t heard those names in a very long time.

“Huh... that thing, huh?” I asked bitterly.

“So you do know them, then." Grim assessed. "You saw it first hoof then, with your own eyes."

"What of it?" I asked carefully.

"We need intel on them. And we need you to be honest with us about them.”

"Why?" I simply asked, bitterness creeping into my voice. Grim Hooves proceeded to sit down in the chair in front of me. "Aren't they dead?"

"Yes, but S.M.I.L.E. Agency is dedicated and devoted to one thing and one thing only: Containment. Right at this moment, there have only been sketchy reports and rumors arising from all across Equestria about various acts of criminal activities that violate the integrity of our government. Weapon shipments are being stolen, Aircraft are mysteriously disappearing, and various vehicles from mothball compounds all around the continent are scrapped and stolen with no record or trace.

"Now, normally, we wouldn't get involved with this sort of thing and let the respective Police and Detectives sort this problem out. Heck, if even the government wanted to intervene, they wouldn't send us.

"But there was something else attached to this mystery that just so happens to be related to you. Something that we have desperately been wanting information on. And that is 'Strigon' and 'Aigaion.'"

“Why does it matter anymore? The war is over! It’s done! I saw the Aigaion blow apart with my own eyes! The Strigons are dead and gone! Why does any of this matter now?” I stood up and shouted.

Grim looked at me squarely in the eye. “Because, If we ever have a chance for another ‘Eternal Peace’, we need to learn from our mistakes. And make sure that such a horrible, destructive event, or in this case ‘weapon’, will never occur again.

"And right now, there are things happening all across Equestria behind the scenes. Thing correlating to you, and Sunshine. Things that both of you know that we need to assess so we can take action.

"We need you to tell us everything you know.”

I couldn’t help but feel sorrow from this whole ordeal, as the emotional whiplash settling down on me.

One moment I was the happiest mare alive with Sunshine, and now I am here reliving a terrible awful tragedy that has inflicted our world with so much pain and misery.

I just wanted it all to end.

I just wanted everything to go back to the way it was. Before the war, and make it stay that way.

If only I could.

“Look. I can let you and Sunshine go later today when this is done. When you and Sunshine tell us everything you two know, we will let you go and you won’t be bothered by us again. You have my word.”

I sat there, staring out into space through the large window. I saw a formation of planes flying together in the distance.

"And if you are honest with us, we can piece the rest together on our own and we can save both of us valuable time. What do you say?"

The clouds were casting shadows on the ground as they slowly drifted across the landscape. My thoughts churned and bubbled until only one question remained.

“Answer me this question, then I will help you: I can understand the Agency wanting me, but why do they want Sunshine just as badly?”

Grim pulled off his sunglasses, neatly folding them and clipping them in his pocket. “That's for her to confess and for them to figure out. Something you two seem to have in common.”

I shuddered.

"Fine. What now?"

“I want you to start from your first sortie, all the way to your last. Every major one, at least. I don’t need the details of minor skirmishes. I need to know the Big ones - the ones involving Strigon mainly.”

“Well… Where do I start?”

“From the Beginning.”

“What do you want to know?

“Everything."

I took a deep breath. I had no choice.

Down the rabbit hole of memory lane.

Next Chapter: (A2) - Prologue: Recognition [Revised] Estimated time remaining: 17 Hours, 9 Minutes