Luna adjusted the heavy weight of the plastic bags she was carrying, enough so she could press her elbow to the little doorbell outside the apartment door. She could hear the faint cheerful tune go off inside, and within seconds, the door was pulled open to reveal Cadence.

Her best friend, a woman who could usually manage to make a grungy, sweaty tank top and ratty cutoffs work and even seem flattering, looked as awful as Luna had ever seen her. Nose reddened and eyes puffy from crying, moving like she had a bad flu, there was none of the normally upbeat and bouncy soul that had dragged Luna forcefully from her sour and reclusive shell in college. She looked…exhausted and defeated in a way that seemed almost like a violation of the natural order of the universe. Luna’s concern spiked up about half a dozen notches, and she fought to keep that off her face.

To keep her composure, the dark skinned woman hefted the bags a few inches as a distraction for herself. “Let me in? I brought comfort food. And some stiff drinks. And enough chocolate to make Wonka jealous.”

Stepping in past the pink skinned woman, she brought her bounty to the big coffee table in the living room, sensing that this was one of those talks where she’d be forfeiting any right to personal space. “Chinese,” she informed her friend in a mild tone as she sorted through and began to stack containers. “All our favorites. And here. Ice cream for dessert, with whipped cream, strawberry, chocolate, and caramel syrups, and a bag of those crushed walnuts you love. And…” she retrieved a big bottle of rum. “…this, because I suspect we’re all going to need it before the night is over.”

She barely managed to put the bottle down before Cadence was sobbing into the ancient Metallica shirt she’d changed into before heading over. Luna tugged her down onto the couch into an embrace, rocking the woman slowly and giving her a chance to just bleed off the excess emotion before she burst. It was a strange turn of events, she mused absently, such a far cry from the years at college where it had often been Cadence who had been the rock in Luna’s emotional storms.

When the tears faded into sniffles, Luna squeezed her best friend in a tight hug and offered her a tissue from a nearby box. “It seems like we’ve both had a rough week,” she commented mildly. “Why don't I go stick the ice cream in the freezer and make us a couple of drinks while you get the food out of the bags. Then we can talk while we eat way too much unhealthy food that is going to go right to my waistline and mean I have to step up my evening yoga routine.”

“Thank you, Lu,” Cadence said, voice still far too subdued and quiet for the dark woman’s liking.

She rose, tugging at the other woman’s ponytail lightly. “Anytime,” she responded. “You were the one to buoy my tattered mental state once upon a time. I am always glad to be here when you need me.” Then she dipped into the familiar kitchen, fetching ice filled cups, plates and utensils, as well as a big bottle of soda to mix up with the rum.

By the time she got back, Cadence was a bit more put together, meaning Luna could ask the important question while she made them both some stiff drinks. “What happened? Between the call last week and this afternoon, it does not take a genius to know something is very wrong.”

Silence.

Instead of speaking, Cadence picked halfheartedly at a plate of food, staring at it as her fork pushed bits of it around in different patterns, as though she might divine some kind of answer in its shapes and sauce stains on the paper plate. Luna waited patiently, knowing Cadence would get it all out soon enough…

She was jolted from her thoughts when her friend jumped up and bolted for the bathroom, and part of her winced in sympathy as she set her drink down and moved to follow. Dark fingers made sure the other woman’s hair was held out of the way as she retched, her whole body shaking with shiver-like spasms.

“…sorry, Lu…” came the weak whisper. “Neither of us have really been able to keep much down since…”

The dark skinned woman helped her clean up a bit, then guided her back to the couch. “Given your implications that both of you are suffering, I am assuming the obvious possibility has been eliminated?” There was a hint of dry humor in her tone.

The response she got was somewhere between a laugh and a sob, making her heart clench. “Yes…and I’m glad for that…wouldn’t that be the ultimate irony? All the advocacy I do for safe, smart, and informed sexual health? No. It's not that…and it doesn’t feel like any virus I’ve ever had either.” She took a shaky sip of the drink Luna offered her.

“Not too much of that on an empty stomach. Eat some of the plain rice too.” Luna tucked a blanket around her shoulders and hugged Cadence again, something tickling the back of her mind amidst the worry. “And do cut me some slack—I oversee close to a thousand teenagers, and inevitably I have one each year who requires the facts of life explained to them…well after that horse has left the stable, as they say.”

Cadence gave a faint smile. “I’m pretty sure we figured out a long time ago that I know most of those kinds of facts backwards and sideways, Lu…” The faintest sparkle comes back to her eyes. “In fact, I seem to remember that I had to teach some of them to you…”

Luna felt her ears heat, but the sight of that light coming back to Cadence’s eyes was worth the embarrassment. “I do not remember you complaining,” she sniffed, trying to sound more offended than she really was.

“Why would I?” Pink digits curled around a dark blue wrist, squeezing slightly. “Those are some of my favorite memories, you know.”

Rolling her eyes, Luna snorted. “Especially the part where Shining and I could not even manage coherent conversation for a week, I’m sure.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she could have kicked herself. Cadence’s smile fell away and she trembled in the hug. “Cady,” Luna said in a soft voice, “what happened? I cannot help if I do not know what occurred.”

“It's…it's complicated and confusing, and it just doesn't make sense…” Cadence, with a little coaxing, nibbled at a forkful of fried rice. “You're probably going to think I’m nuts.”

Thinking briefly back over her year so far, Luna laughed. “Cady, I assure you, I will think nothing of the sort. Tell me?”

“…in all the years we’ve been friends, can you think of a time when you actually saw Shining lose his temper?”

She didn't even have to think. “When he rescued me from that party, after that slime-ball from the basketball team put something in my drink.”

A slow shake of the head. “Not like that. I mean really lose it. Out of control…violent…”

Luna frowned, searching her memories. “Never. He’s not the type—he gets angry just like anyone, but he is too much of a boy scout, Cadence. Losing it like that just…is not him. His anger is the quiet fury, the kind that drives him to act when he perceives an injustice. You said his dad is the same way, if I recall.”

The nod that served as an initial answer was jerky and uncoordinated, and the DJ knocked back her drink, draining the rest of the glass. Luna took it from her and refilled it with just plain soda—the goal wasn’t to get Cadence plastered. “…before…last week…I’d have sworn to you…on anything you wanted…that he would never…”

Something dark and angry started to stir inside Luna. “Did he hit you?” she asked in a low, deadly voice.

“No…” Her best friend’s voice broke. “No…he didn't hit anyone…but…I thought he might…” She let out a whimpering sound. “Lu…he was so vicious…threatening…yelling…I…”

Luna hugged her tighter around the shoulders, frowning. She was hearing the words and she believed her, but it just felt so bizarre and alien to even consider. Shining…his nature was the opposite of cruel and nasty. “What was he yelling about?”

Cadence didn't even seem to hear her, the words already coming in fits and starts, disjointed thoughts spilling forth. “I feel so ashamed…he was yelling at her…saying ugly things he knew would hurt…but I didn't move. I didn't try to stop him at all—I just…sat there…” The tears had started again, making tracks down her cheeks and dripping onto Luna’s shirt. “It was like he wasn't even my Shiny anymore, like a stranger was looking out of his eyes…”

“Who did he hurt, Cadence?”

Still no sign that Cadence had even heard, her voice sounding distant and upset. “Sunset had to stop him…I should have done something, protected her from seeing all of it…but she just…one second she was on the couch and then…” Hands made vague motions in the air. “…it was like the next I blinked and she was just there, in his face, staring him down, like he wasn't towering over her…”

The gears began to turn. Had Shining been yelling at his sister then? That would be the kind of thing to provoke Sunset Shimmer into action, and she just couldn't see the girl being afraid of Shining after everything that had happened in the last six months, especially if he was threatening her little girlfriend.

Before she could ask, Cadence said something that got her attention. “She did something, Lu… she yelled for him to stop…and it was…there was this heaviness that just…it was there and none of us realized it…and when she yelled it was like something in her voice…pushed all that feeling away, and we could breathe again…”

That made her brows arch upwards in surprise. That sounded like Sunset used her magic, either intentionally or unintentionally…but why? Was it just a foul mood she had broken through? Some kind of instinctive, protective reaction? Or was there more to it? It was hard to judge—the more she got to know their extra-dimensional pupil, the more alien and strange the girl was. Either way, it sounded like Sunset had used her powers; the magic the group of girls released did make it feel like a weight was lifted from a person’s shoulders, even if they were just having a tough day.

“…and when I could breathe, it was like she…had brought my Shiny back, and he knew what he had done…and it…it hurt him inside too, just as much as it hurt us…and he’s just…I don't know how to help him…”

Cadence’s voice caught. “…I don't even understand what got into him…or into Twily…she practically trampled me at the end, because she was angry…” she rubbed her face. “All I could do was…stand there. My mind froze…and Mom…she was so hurt…it was like he had slapped her. And with Dad going after Shining…”

Now Luna was starting to get confused. “I thought Shining got into it with his sister…?” she ventured.

“His mom—both of them did. At first it was just Twily, but then he got involved…if was…” The pink skinned woman wrung her hands. “…It was so senseless, Lu! Just all hate and anger and ugliness…”

Humming, Luna hugged Cadence tight around the shoulders again. “I understand…how has Shining been since?” she asked carefully. “You said he’s not taking it well? What set them off like that anyway?”

The rattle of a key in the door interrupted whatever response Cadence had, but it was a moot point, as the opening of the door answered Luna’s first question.

Shining looked like hell. Like Cadence, he was pale and washed out, his eyes bloodshot. There was a tremble to his limbs and his clothes hung on his body weirdly. Even his posture was foreign and worrisome, and his eyes stared at Luna with an expression she’d seen before, more than once, of someone who had taken a major blow to their reality. He stood in the open door for so long she began to worry. “Shining? Maybe you should co—”

He dropped his things right there, hurrying, just as his fiancee had, to the bathroom, the sound of retching even more pronounced and intense than hers had been. When Cadence started to rise, Luna gently pushed her back down. “Let me. You put some of that rice in your stomach. Just a few bites, and some of the soda, before you collapse in a faint.”

With that, Luna got up from the couch and moved to collect everything out of the entryway, setting it on a small table there, before firmly securing the front door. By then, the sounds in the bathroom had turned into the sound of running water in the sink, and the gargle-spit-gargle-spit sound of Shining rinsing his mouth of bile. She stepped into the small bathroom, studying the figure slumped against the sink, barely holding himself up on shaking arms.

When she touched his shoulder cautiously, she was surprised to find that he flinched away from her. “Don’t…!” He curled in on himself. “I…”

Luna’s lips thinned, and she closed her eyes a moment, gathering herself. This was not an easy conversation to have. She exhaled slowly, in a deep sigh, and set herself to do what needed to be done to sort this out. “Alright, Armor,” she said briskly, the same firm tone she used with her students. “None of that.” She hooked an arm through his, and pulled him bodily into the living room, despite feeble protests from him. “We need to talk, and I refuse to do it in the cramped confines of what passes for a bathroom in this apartment.”

Once he was ensconced in an armchair, she handed him a drink just as she had Cadence to settle his nerves and to get some sugar into him. He took a sip immediately, then cleared his throat. “…Cady told you.”

“She told me some,” Luna countered, “but I want to hear your side, because I still possess an incomplete picture. I know better than to make judgments or fill in the blanks.”

Shining took another sip, pushing a lank lock of hair out of his face. “I…almost hit Mom…” he said flatly, a numb, clinical detachment to his tone.

“Alright…why? What started the argument?”

He spoke like he was reading a script, nursing his drink and with a thousand yard stare that made Luna shiver. “Twily was talking about her project at school. About a contract she signed for it that wasn't what Mom and Dad had previously agreed to. Mom…started in about how she hates Crystal Prep and how they do things…how she thinks it’s affecting my sister.”

The niggling sense from earlier returned with a vengeance, and a picture was starting to come together, a picture that Luna didn't much like. “And how did that involve you, Shining Armor?” the dark haired woman asked carefully.

“I…” He paused, as if searching for the answer. “It made me angry—I felt she was…targeting the school…and Principal Cinch…out of jealousy.” Still the answer was delivered in a flat tone, punctuated by him taking another drink. “I couldn't let her bully Twily into quitting Crystal Prep for…some…low rated…public school where her gifts would be…wasted in an environment that caters to the…lowest common denominator…”

Luna arched a brow. “Hmm. Offense taken, lunkhead—as both a graduate and an administrator.”

Shame flickered across his face. “I know, and I don't understand why I felt that way, now. It…feels…wrong.” A heavy breath and he rubbed his temples, a little more life in his voice. “But I did…and I stepped in. Calling out the absurdity of the whole mess. Argued with Mom…and she just…wouldn’t…listen. She just kept on and on about Principal Cinch and the school, about how she hates them and wants Twily out of there…how Principal Cinch is untrustworthy….and I just…snapped. I couldn't take hearing it anymore and all I could think about was making her shut up. Making her see that she was being a sour, unpleasant, jealous bitch all because her daughter didn't need her to hold her hand anymore.”

“Given that I have spoken to your mother over the phone in the last week, I feel your impression there leaves…much to be desired, Armor.” She filled her plate with a healthy helping of General Tso’s.

He rubbed his wrist, the skin slowly turning pink under his grip. “I…I know. I can…recognize that now…but at the time…I just wanted to make her stop talking bad about Crystal Prep…in any way I could…and…make her regret it. I…wanted to punish her. My mom. For an opinion about a school. And I don't understand why…”

Luna studied him, studied Cadence, and the gnawing sensation in her mind became the beginnings of an epiphany.

The symptoms that resembled an illness? Bloodshot eyes and pale, shaking, sunken features, like an addict suffering withdrawal?

They were the same as Sunset had looked when the Sirens had the school under their sway.

The emotional distress?

She’d fielded that in plenty of her students over the last few months.

The self-loathing?

Celestia was still struggling with it when she thought no one was watching. Too many nights she’d caught her sister staring blankly at the television, not even aware of what was playing on the screen.

Crystal Prep.

The school Velvet had expressed reservations of. A place Luna had been to, that always left her feeling…ill at ease and unsettled, like the whole building was judging her. The very school that Sunset had asked about in a worried tone, less than two hours after having some sort of magical vision of dark magic encroaching. A school constantly lauded as the best of the best, despite the extremely unpleasant statistics that its Principal tried to downplay.

Abacus Cinch.

A woman that she and her sister both loathed, who seemed as welcoming as a venomous snake during its monthly molt. Whose greatest focus was not on the well being of her students, or the education of children, but on what those youngsters could do to further her prestige and renown.

Sunset’s reaction, severe and likely involving her own magic…something that the girl didn't seem like she would do lightly if she had a choice.

All of it was becoming a very nasty, very unpleasant picture that she did not like the feel of, not one bit, and it was making her hackles bristle, the thought that it had hurt two of her dearest friends making her extremely angry.

“Lu?” Cadence’s voice broke her out of her thoughts.

“I…apologize,” she responded, schooling her emotions. “I…am just starting to have some…some of my long held suspicions confirmed, and I do not care for it.”

Shining’s brows furrowed and he looked at her—really looked at her, for the first time since she’d gotten home. “What are you talking about?”

Taking a deep breath, and following it with a fortifying swallow of a drink that was a bit more rum than coke, Luna answered him very carefully. “Bear with me here, Shining—I need to ask you some questions and I want you to stop and think before you answer. Really stop and consider the answer, search through memories and do not just give me a snap emotional answer. Can you do that?”

His brow furrowed, the confusion painted across his face a definitive improvement over the lost expression from before. “Yeah…Okay, Luna, I can try…” A thin, tired smile that was more grimace than humor twitched at his lips. “Just…keep the questions PG this time?”

Luna snorted. “Not those kind of questions, lunkhead.” Still, the sad attempt at humor did lighten the atmosphere—probably a good thing considering the rabbit hole she was about to take them head first into. “Think back on your years at CPA…when you two were attending, did you ever actually meet one on one with Abacus?”

Shining immediately opened his mouth. “Yes, of cour—” He stopped, mid-word as Luna held up a hand, flushing as he seemed to remember her full request, and then frowned even harder. Blue eyes sought Cadence’s, which were equally troubled. “I…Cady? I…I don't remember ever actually meeting with Principal Cinch.”

Pink skinned hands clutched the blanket around her shoulders tighter. “…We never needed to,” she pointed out quietly. “Neither of us stuck out in any way, Shiny. Not for discipline, not for grades or for sports. Only the best of the school and the problems ever really had her get involved. She was…just kind of not there for us outside of assemblies.” She shivered a little. “I…have always been a little confused as to why she was so interested in your sister. Twily is a brilliant, sweet girl, and cute as anything, but…she just doesn't fit the pattern of the kind of kids that the principal liked to focus on.”

Sharp eyes fixed on Cadence. “What do you mean, Cadence?” Luna asked. “You have implied that she’s on a level with Sunset Shimmer, who is one of the brightest minds to ever grace the halls of CHS. Any school would be thrilled to have a mind like that, even if just to bring up the averages and test scores. I would think she’s the exact kind of student Abacus would want to put effort into.”

“Normally…but…” Cadence paused, trying to figure out how to word what she wanted to say. “Principal Cinch…she…doesn’t really like…children with…special needs…in her school. As smart as our Ladybug is, to CPA…her various diagnoses make her ‘defective’ in an ‘environment that promotes excellence.’”

It took everything Luna had not to sneer, but she managed to keep her expression neutral and rely on dry sarcasm instead. “I wish I could say I was surprised that the harpy was of that mindset, but I’m not. If that is the case though, how did she get past the admissions process?”

“Money,” her best friend responded bitterly. “I can remember Dad and Mom arguing over the extra large ‘donation’ that had to come out of the trust on top of tuition fees. Something about it being used for a fund to accommodate ‘students with special needs and considerations.’ At the time I couldn’t understand why it was such a big deal…”

Shining rocked a little in his chair as the words really registered to him. “I…why did I forget that?” he whispered, before looking up at Luna. “Lu…I…how could I not remember that? Mom was really upset that he’d done it, and told him it was a sign that Twily needed to go somewhere else, even though her heart was really set on CPA, and even though CPA was where Dad, Grandpa Firelight, Cady and I had all gone…” He rubbed his face with a hand. “I…I told Mom…it was a small price to pay for…for my baby sister to be happy.” Horror coated his words. “Luna… that’s not legal.”

“Lunkhead, it is so beyond the realm of legality that it would put Abacus away for a long time.” Not that someone like Abacus Cinch would ever see the inside of a jail-cell, not with as many upper class sycophants as she had.

A pale hand reached for the bottle of rum and Shining poured a very generous splash into his still half full glass. “…that makes what happened even worse…” he moaned miserably. “Mom was talking about how the school doesn’t follow Twily’s IEP, and I told her the school probably knew better than she did how to meet those needs…to stop being a helicopter parent. But if Dad had to pay them extra up front to do that and…and they aren't…why would I think that’s okay?”

Silence that spoke louder than any answer stretched between them for a long time, until Luna filled a plate and passed it to Shining. “Eat before you have any more to drink.”

The apartment was broken only by the sounds of eating for several minutes. Once they’d all had a chance to put some food in their stomachs and both Shining and Cadence no longer looked about ready to collapse in a dead faint, Luna cleared her throat. “Alright…next question: Have either of you met with Abacus in the time since you graduated? Personally or professionally?”

Once more Shining opened his mouth to answer right away, only to freeze and stare out blankly. “I…I would have sworn…” he started slowly, frowning. “…but the few times I went…when I was still a beat cop and assisting a detective…it was almost always her secretary or the VP…” He shook his head in something akin to disbelief. “Lu…those were official police investigations and we just…the detective always put the secretary or VP’s words down as if they’d come from Principal Cinch herself…” He took a large gulp from his glass. “That breaks all the rules of procedure…why would we even do that?! And why didn't I really remember or care about any of this!?”

The answer to that was likely something he would not believe, but that Luna was growing more and more certain of: dark, insidious magic. She needed a different, more mundane suggestion that led to the same result…thankfully, she had one. “I do not think you’ll appreciate the answer, Shining,” she said in a soft voice.

“Hit me anyway, Luna,” he rasped hoarsely. “We need to hear it. I need to hear it. Especially if it's putting my family at risk.”

Nodding, the dark haired woman forged ahead. “Do you know what the seven main signs are to look for when investigating if someone might be caught up in a cult or extremist movement? I know there was a lot of talk of making that a mandatory part of the education for both educators and law enforcement after all the mess in the last two decades.”

She could hear Cadence suck in a sharp breath, and knew that the other woman was putting the pieces together on her own. Shining’s realization was slower. “…excessive devotion to leadership…use of coercive or manipulative techniques to isolate members from anyone not part of the organization. Control of action or thoughts with those methods….suppression of…” His expression grew sicker and his voice faltered, “…of information detrimental to the goals of the leader and organizational mandates…promotion of dependency…” Trailing off, he swallowed heavily and met Luna’s grim gaze.

She made a loose gesture. “Say it, Shining. You have to say it for yourself.”

“Lu…you…” A long, shuddering breath calmed him as she touched his shoulder gently. “…it’s…some kind of cult…isn’t it? And Abacus Cinch is in charge of it…”

Cadence commented, “It’s less like a true cult, just looking at it. It's more like…” She shivered. “Like a mix of some kind of organized crime syndicate and a cult of personality crafted by a celebrity.” She looked at Luna for confirmation.

Another breath, in and out, gathering herself. “A dangerous combination,” she acknowledged. “She has friends and associates in all kinds of places because of that school being around for so long. Generations of people in politics, finance, business, education…” Her eyes looked pointedly at Shining. “…military and law enforcement…and plenty more who are just existing with more money than sense. Abacus is very good at getting what she wants.” …Of course, if she had some kind of mind magic, that would explain why so many people were willing to throw themselves into the fire on her behalf. A thought occurred—for all the CPA principal only appeared middle aged, she’d been in charge of the school for almost four decades without ever seeming to age. And for a moment, the Vice Principal of Canterlot High had an errant question pass through her mind: Why had she never given that more than a passing thought before now? The hairs on her arms prickled with unease.

Luna liked this whole thing less and less, the more she talked with her friends…and she would have to share this with her sister while deciding whether or not to confront Sunset Shimmer. Part of her wondered why Sunset hadn’t let her know already—the students all knew it was a Friendship Games year, including Sunset. Did she not have the information yet to pin down it being CPA directly and not just another roving problem like the Dazzlings had been? Or was there another reason? Protecting her relationship seemed like another likely possibility, since as far as she knew, Sunset was just as closeted as the girl she was involved with. Or…was it just that she believed she could handle it on her own? Any adult with eyes and basic knowledge of people could tell Sunset was a fiercely independent girl who was used to relying on herself to solve problems and run her life…partially because she still wasn’t accustomed to adults who actually gave a damn about her.

Damnit.

It could never be simple, could it?

Shining sat in numb, shocked silence for a while, his brain clearly overwhelmed by everything he’d realized and was trying to come to terms with. Then he seemed to register something she’d said, and he started trying to stand. “Right now she wants my sister,” he said, half to himself. “I’ve got to stop her. Tell mom and dad, get them to transfer her away from there. Find a way to expose her…”

Luna pushed him firmly back into his seat. “Armor, stop. Breathe. You cannot just go charging in like an avenging angel—Abacus is dangerous, and likely has contingency plans for just such a situation.”

He pushed back with considerable strength, and only the advantage of him being sitting helped her keep him there. “Damnit, Luna! I can't just do nothing! I can't fail Twily again! I have to protect her!”

The image of defiant blue-green eyes and fiery hair on a figure facing down ancient, magical demons from another world, one arm out in front of the kneeling Twilight Sparkle, as its owner put herself in the line of fire danced across Luna’s memory. Shining might not have been aware of it, but his younger sister likely already had a new protector, one far more capable than anyone would imagine. She set the thought aside for the moment—telling Shining that his role had been upstaged by an exiled unicorn sorceress in the body of a teenage girl wouldn’t help right now. “You can protect her best by being intelligent and listen to what I’m telling you, lunkhead,” she bit back tersely. “This is not a dragon you can run out and slay, or an evil Emperor you can toss down a shaft in a doomsday device. First order of business is getting your sister away from CPA…that means your parents, and the two of you on the same page about it…though I would caution telling them about what you have just realized for yourself—having them go off like you already want to is a dangerous gambit.”

“And then what?” Shining snapped in frustration. “With the way she’s been challenging Mom and Dad over this project, and with the way she was just as mad as I was at Mom over suggesting Principal Cinch had less than above board motivations, she’s not going to want to ‘just change schools,’ not after she’s gone this long at Crystal Prep.”

Luna frowned. “You need to find something that can break through. Something she values more than Abacus’ indoctrination and manipulation. Preferably something outside that woman’s reach.”

They sat there in the quiet again for more than a double handful of heartbeats before Cadence spoke up. “What about Sunset?” she asked.

“What about Sunset?”

The pink skinned woman sat up straighter. “Go with me on this…Sunset and Ladybug are like this.” She crossed her fingers. “And Mom has pointed out that Sunset can get through to her when no one else can…plus she…she broke through to you, Shiny, somehow.”

Shining Armor crossed his arms over his chest, looking extremely uncomfortable. “Is this really the kind of thing we want to get a teenage girl involved in? She’s only a year or two older than Twily, and she’s already been through hell—what right do we have to dump something like this into her lap? Especially since we have just talked about it being dangerous?” He glanced between the two women. “As much as the relationship with Sunset has helped her….I feel like it’s a two way street. That it’s done a lot to help Sunset’s mental and emotional state over the last few months…is it right of us to even think about using Sunset that way, potentially putting strain on the relationship, and risk breaking what trust we’ve managed to foster with her?”

Luna weighed her words a moment, thinking about the intense look on her magical student’s face and the almost desperate note in her voice when she asked about Crystal Prep. “On the one hand, I would normally agree with you, Armor. This is not the kind of situation you drag a child into, even one as mature as Sunset can be. However,” she continued through, ignoring his frown, “given the nature of a few conversations I have already had with her, including a very pointed one where she all but demanded my thoughts on the environment and safety of Crystal Prep…she is already well ahead of all of us in clueing in on just what is happening with your sister.”

The expression her lips stretched into could never be called a smile. “Pair that with Sunset’s natural independent streak and her glaring mistrust of most people outside a very small circle, I would be willing to wager she is already making plans of her own on how to undermine Abacus’ actions, and to further separate her friend from machinations that she is, I suspect, all too familiar with.”

There was a sigh from Cadence. “Shiny is right about one thing though, Lu—we can’t try to manipulate Sunset. That would break her trust in all of us at the house.”

She highly doubted anyone in the family was actively capable of manipulating Sunset Shimmer, but she didn’t voice that. Instead, she said, “So do not try. As I said, Miss Shimmer is likely working on plans of her own—perhaps you should just encourage giving her opportunities to do just that. She’s extremely skilled at flying under the radar, while still enacting complex plans to attain goals—and if her investments in her friendships are anything to go off of, she will be more determined to succeed at whatever plan she devises than she ever was at controlling the student body at Canterlot High.”

As tired and worn as she was, Cadence managed a wry smile at her best friend. “If I didn’t know better, Lu, I’d almost believe you sound like you admire Sunset’s former accomplishments pulling one over on you.”

A snort of laughter escaped before she could halt it. “I suppose it is in my favor that you do know me better than that then?” She sipped her drink, deciding how to explain it best. “It is not her actions or her ability to perform subtle manipulation on a grand scale that I admire—much of what I realized after the fact was her doing was devious, underhanded, petty, and extremely self-centered. However, I am quite capable of realizing and even respecting the sheer amount of discipline, drive, intelligence, forethought, patience, tenacity, and sheer cunning she brought to her endeavors. Sunset Shimmer at her most invested is not an opponent I would relish pitting myself against.”

Luna fought to hide the savage grin that wanted to break out on her face, knowing that if her suspicion of there being some kind of magic involved was correct, that sour old Abacus Cinch may have more than met her match in the unicorn turned teen girl from another world. A touch of her emotion still leaked into her words. “Given what I know of Abacus, and the way she treats others, I almost feel like Abacus Cinch deserves every iota of misfortune and unpleasantness that comes as a result of whatever plan Miss Shimmer decides to pursue in her goal of helping your ‘little Ladybug.’”

Shining topped his glass off with a healthy amount of alcohol before raising it towards Luna. “Knowing what I know now, I can drink to that,” he said.

This interlude is dedicated to my wonderful readers, you dastardly people who were asking oh so many questions about Shining's reactions and the fallout from what happened. There'd been plans to touch on it later, but...with all the eager chatter, we shuffled some things around.

Please enjoy an interlude from the POV of Vice Principal Luna, Best Friend Extraordinaire, who brings takeout and alcohol to help solve the issue!

Plus a few fun little hints at events from "The College Years" and a deeper look at the friendship dynamic of these lovely minor characters.

I do so hope everyone enjoys, and I look forward to the comments I'm gonna get for this one.