Scamp hit the button on the coffee machine, watching as her cup was slowly filled. Once it finished, she grabbed the hot cup and took a sip, a tired sigh escaping her lips.

“Another late night?” Calypso asked as she stepped out of the locker room's shower, using a towel to dry her hair.

“Kinda, I’m just trying to make sense of some findings,” Scamp said as she stepped over to her locker and pulled out her uniform.

Calypso nodded as she also started taking out her uniform. “Just don’t go overboard.”

“Sure,” Scamp smiled to herself as she put on her uniform and other pieces of gear.

The two remained silent as they got ready.

Once she was finished, Scamp drank the rest of her coffee and headed for the door, “I’ll see you in the morning briefings.”

Calypso only waved as she finished putting on her gear and grabbed a book from her locker.

Scamp walked down the hallway, passing other SWAT officers as they went about preparing for their shift.

Up ahead she saw Dribble messing with his PDA.

“Hey, you’re actually here on time today,” Scamp teased as she neared him.

He looked up at her and smirked, “Says the one who usually sleeps through meetings.”

She waved him off as she walked past him and into the briefing room. After taking her seat, she sat back and rubbed her face. The room only had a few other officers in it, as she was a bit early.

With a yawn, she tilted her head back and closed her eyes, intending to just rest them for a moment.

“Sergeant Scamp!” A gruff voice yelled, causing her to jolt awake. The stifled laugh of the officers around her filled the air.

Scamp looked around, realizing the room was now filled with officers. She must have fallen asleep.

“Now that Miss sleeping beauty has joined us, we can begin,” the captain said as he stood at the front of the room.

She looked around and spotted Dribble smirking at her with a ‘what’d I say?’ look on his face. She covertly flicked her hoof at him, causing him to quietly chuckle and look up front.

The Captain went over the normal morning briefings, telling each team they assigned post that day. Echo Team was getting their favorite post; standby.

“Before I let you all go,” the Captain said as he finished up the morning briefings. “The OEA has sent us some more Wanted posters and packets, I’ll be handing those out to all team leaders after this meeting.”

Everyone groaned at this, as it always meant more work on their end.

“That is all, team leads talk to me in my office. Dismissed.”

Everyone in the room stood up at once and began leaving.

Scamp watched as her team leader walked to the front with the others. He looked her way and waved her off.

She nodded in response and followed everyone else out of the room.

“Hoping for a familiar face?” Lemongrass, a member of Bravo Team, said in a snide tone as she walked past.

She ignored him, not up to fighting today. This caused Lemongrass to huff and walk away to his own team.

Dew slid up next to her as they exited the room. “I heard a rumor that the Queen will be in town soon.”

This caused Scamp to look at him in puzzlement, “Why the hell would Queen Twilight want to come here?”

“Dunno, but it probably has something to do with our friend over at OEA getting promoted,” Dew said as he pulled some dry hay snacks from a pouch on his belt, shoving it into his mouth.

“It’s probably about that new law she just passed,” Calypso said as she appeared beside them as they walked. “The one that basically removes all rights from Bronies.”

“Ah,” Scamp said with a frown. “Yeah, the new law that is about to light a powder keg with all of us around it. The Bronies are already heavily regulated and segregated, what’s the point in banning them from all major cities?”

“Control,” Dribble injected as he joined them. “That’s the whole point of the OEA, and it’s why Strawell got promoted to head of all Equine and Brony affairs. I’m surprised they haven’t just combined the OEA and the OBA yet. They’re basically the same thing at this point.”

“It’s for apparences,” Jace commented as he joined them as they made it to the motor pool. “The OEA is more about Brony control than the OBA is. The OBA is just there to get hit with the public opinion and be the bad guy.”

Scamp nodded at this, “It makes you think, doesn’t?”

“Thinking like that can lead to being charged with treason,” Parker said as he caught up with them. “Which doesn’t help the whole ‘free state’ the Queen preaches about.”

“So wanted packets?” Scamp asked as they neared their rig.

“Already sent to your PDA,” Parker said as he opened the rigs back doors. “I didn’t see any familiar faces, but you’re the expert on all that.”

“Thanks, Parks,” Scamp said with a smile as she climbed into the rig, followed by everyone else.

“I know we all just kinda ignore it,” Dew began after they all got seated. “But what happens if one day Scamp recognizes one of those Wanted ponies as someone from her book?”

Everyone looked unsure at this, even Scamp.

“Then we’ll go from there,” Parker said as he got in the commander's seat. “Till then, we’ll just do our jobs.”

This seemed to set everyone at ease.

Scamp opened her PDA and began looking through the new Wanted packets, but none of them matched any of the characters from Lance’s book. As she expected.

She’s always hoping to find at least one of them who knows anything about the book. But so far, the few she’s been able to speak to know nothing about Lance or that book. They don’t even act like they do in the book, but she chalks that up to the time reset and them going down different paths.

The few who aren’t accounted for though, she’s hoping to one day meet. So far every character in that book has been at least spotted, all except two.

“Where to for breakfast?” Jace asked as he took the driver's seat.

Scamp swiped through her PDA haphazardly as she lay on her back in the middle of the rig, boredom getting the better of her.

This was a common occurrence for any time on standby, there’s nothing to do but wait for the shift to end. Or for someone to cause enough trouble to warrant your team responding.

“You’re gonna break that,” Calypso said without taking her eyes off her book.

“No I’m not,” Dribble replied as he tried to take the back off of one of their drones. “It’s just stuck.”

The radio in the rig blared to life, causing all of them to turn towards the front of the rig.

“Echo Team, your presence is needed at the Hay Town office building. Two hostile Bronies have taken over the building and are threatening on scene officers with a bomb.”

“Oh lovely,” Calypso said as she closed her book.

“Show Echo Team enroute,” Parker said as Jace hit the sirens and began heading towards the Hay Town office building.

“Another suicidal Brony with a bomb?” Dribble asked as he started adjusting his gear.

“Packets coming in now, guys,” Parker said as a beep emitted from all of their PDA’s.

Scamp opened and began to read the report. “Not much here.”

Parker nodded as he summarized, “Just says they knocked out an officer in the downtown police station and fled on hoof. Hurt a few civilians by throwing them out of the way with magic. Then holed up in an office building. No intel on the bomb other than it appears to be homemade.”

“Oh that poor Unicorn is going to lose their horn today,” Dew joked.

Scamp smirked and slugged his shoulder.

“Pretty simple plan,” Parker interrupted. “The layout of the building is being sent to you now. Teams of two. There’s three ground entrances, and we’re going to hit it from all sides. Work our way towards the middle of the building.”

“What do we do with the two wannabe terrorist?” Dribble asked.

“Drop them on sight. Dew will check out the bomb once we’re clear.”

“Yes, sir,” Dew said as he checked his rifle once more.

Calypso and Scamp quickly made their way to the back door, where five officers were waiting.

“Finally,” one of them said as they approached. “Took you SWAT guys long enough.” He looked them over, “SWAT gals.”

“You’re relieved,” Scamp said with a tad too much annoyance.

The five officers didn’t respond as they walked back down the alley, muttering to each other.

“City cops,” Calypso said with a shake of her head as they both stacked up on either side of the door.

“Echo-4, in position,” Scamp said into her mic.

“Echo-2, in position,” came Jace’s response.

“Echo-1, in position.”

“Echo Team, you are clear to enter,” came the response from Cherrywood over the radio.

Scamp gave a nod to Calypso as she opened the door and the two rushed in. They slowly began moving through the hallway, calling out to each other every time they checked a room.

“Echo Team, check your PDA for a mission update.”

Scamp propped herself against the wall and nodded to Calypso. “Check it, I’ll cover you.”

Calypso looked at her PDA and began to tap away at it. “That’s… strange.”

“What?” Scamp asked, a bit of worry washing over her.

“We have new orders directly from Strawell himself. We are to capture the two Bronies alive and hand them over to him when he arrives.” Calypso sounded puzzled by this, as these new orders were very abnormal.

“They want us to capture a suicidal Brony alive while he’s holding a bomb?” Scamp asked in disbelief.

“It appears so.”

After a moment of silence, Scamp sighs. “Fuck it.”

They both resume moving down the hallway, their helmets amplifying all the sounds around them.

“Damn it, Greg!” Came a muffled yell from down the hallway.

Scamp and Calypso pushed forward, guns pointed to the door the sound came from. They stacked up on either side quietly.

With a practiced elegance, Scamp reached under herself and grabbed a snake cam. She slowly ran the thin camera under the door, staring at the camera feed on her PDA.

Inside she saw two ponies, one all green with a blue mane, and the other a dark grey color with a black and blue mane. They were arguing quietly, but she could see the green one had what had to be the bomb in his magical grasp.

Something was off about them, but Scamp couldn’t figure it out.

Then, as if hit by a cold lighting bolt, it hit her. She started frantically tapping through her PDA, getting an alarmed look from Calypso.

She brought up two pictures and placed them by the camera feed. When she compared the two, she felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.

“Scamp!?” Calypso hissed, clearly worried for her friend who was suddenly looking very unwell.

“It’s them,” Scamp whispered, a dazed look on her face.

“Who?!” Calypso asked back in a slightly panicked voice.

“The missing two from the book,” she said in a trance. This caused Calypso’s eyes to widen, but before she could say anything Scamp seemed to snap out of her daze. “Let me handle this!”

“Scamp, no!” Calypso yelled in a hushed voice as she reached out for her. But Scamp had already pushed open the door and rushed into the room.

“Oh fuck it’s the cops!” The green one screamed as Scamp rushed in. “Stop! I swear I’ll do it! I’ll blow us all to hell!”

“Wait wait wait!” Scamp yelled, coming to a stop and standing on her back hooves, waving her forelegs in front of herself.

“Drop the bomb and hit the ground!” Calypso screamed in stern but panicked voice as she came in behind her, gun trained on the green pony.

“Oh my fucking God!” The grey one yelled as he started bouncing from hoof to hoof, eyes wide.

“You hit the ground bitch!” The green one yelled waving the bomb in front of himself.

“I will drop you! Drop the bomb NOW!” Calypso’s voice was raised as loud as she could, her gun never moving.

“Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck!” The grey one repeated, his bouncing becoming more frantic.

“Everyone stop!” Scamp screamed, her voice cracking as she did so.

This luckily had the effect she wanted as everyone stopped screaming and looked at her.

She came down to all four hooves and stared at the pair, the green one still holding the bomb in confusion, and the grey one still bouncing. “What are your names?”

The green one looked even more confused at this. “What?”

“Names!” She yells, causing everyone to flinch.

“Uh, Greg Campbell,” the green one said slowly.

The grey one finally stopped bouncing as he answered. “Jeronimo.”

“Pony names, as well!” She hissed, sweat pouring down her face behind her helmet.

“Uh shit…. Mellow Haze?”

“S-Shadow Breeze.”

There was a moment of silence as the two pairs looked at each other.

“Scamp,” Calypso addressed her friend, not liking the situation at all.

“Are you…” Scamp hesitated. “Looking for Lance?”

The two Bronies looked dumbfounded at this.

“You know Lance?” Shadow Breeze asked in shock.

This snapped Scamp back to reality and she turned to Calypso. “These ARE the two from the book.”

“Fuck,” was the only thing Calypso said in response.

“What book?” Greg asked.

“We don’t have time for that, a whole lot of shit is about to go down,” Scamp answered, remembering that Strawell was on the way, probably bringing more Enforcers with him. “And drop the bomb.”

Greg blinked and looked at the bomb in front of him, and smiled sheepishly. “Oh, uh this isn’t a real bomb,” he admitted as he dropped it. “Just pieces of wire and dry wall from the wall taped together.”

“Idiot,” Calypso said under her breath, her gun finally lowering a bit.

“On the ground!” Came the loud voice of Parker behind them as he and the rest of the team burst in, guns trained on the two Bronies. “Hooves out!”

“Wait!” Scamp yelled, turning to face her team.

“Wait?!” Jace yelled back, his adrenaline clearly running high.

“It’s the missing two from her book,” Calypso deadpanned.

“No,” Dew instantly remarked.

“Look!” Scamp sent their pictures and info to the other members of her team.

Parker reviewed the info and cursed.

Greg and Shadow Breeze stood behind Scamp, looking very uncomfortable with all this attention and guns directed at them.

“Scamp,” Parker began slowly. “We have to bring them in, you know that right?”

“We can’t!” Scamp pleaded. “Strawell wants them, that can only mean one thing!”

“If we let them go, it’ll be our heads,” Parker reasoned, a pained and conflicted look on his face.

Scamp looked back at the pair, getting a nervous smile and wave from Shadow Breeze in response. She lets out a sigh and forces herself to calm down.

“I understand that. But we can let them go and just say they escaped. I’ll take full blame for them escaping.”

Parker looked at his other team members, who all looked just as conflicted as he did.

He suddenly lets out a roar and kicks a nearby chair over. “Unicorn!” He yells, startling Greg and everyone else. “Are you able to teleport?”

Greg blinked and nodded slowly.

“Good. The Brony Unicorn teleported himself and his accomplice away just as we made contact. Bomb was secured and no casualties taken on either side.”

“Uh, yes sir!” Jace yelled in response. Everyone else gave their acknowledgment as well, Scamp was practically beaming.

Parker stomped up to Greg and raised his PDA showing a location to him. “This is my kitchen at my house. Study this picture and map, and teleport when you’re ready. Do not leave till I come get you. Clear?”

“Uh, crystal clear?” Greg responded as he looked over the details.

After a few moments, he nodded and gave a single wave as he and Shadow Breeze flashed away.

Parker growled as he hit his radio mic, “Echo-1, target’s teleported as soon as we entered the room. Bomb secured.”

There was a long pause before a response came. “Copy that, Echo-1. Exit building through the front door when ready.”

“We’re in trouble,” Dribble said with a frown.

“Yep!” Parker snapped back as he walked out of the room.

Scamp looked at her friends sheepishly. “Thank you guys.”

“Let’s go, secure the bomb,” was the only response she received from Jace.

“Oh it’s a fake, sir,” she said as she lifted it up and passed it to Dew.

Jace only shook his head as he and the others left the room, leaving Scamp and Calypso.

Calypso looked at her and shook her head, “That could have been played better.”

Without elaborating on her meaning, she walked out as well.

Scamp took a deep breath and exhaled, a lot of emotions playing through her at that moment. She lifted her head high and walked forward, following her team.

“Teleported away?” Was the first thing they heard as they exited the building.

Standing before them was a group of Enforcers and Strawell, his eyes ablaze with anger.

“Yes sir,” was the only thing Parker could respond with.

“This is the exact reason you should have a Unicorn on your team! For countering other Unicorns!” Strawell exploded, his normally calm and calculated demeanor gone, replaced with just pure anger.

“To be fair, sir,” Dribble interjected. “The ability to teleport is very rare among Unicorns.”

Strawell turned to him and pointed at him,but didn’t address him. “Your team is being benched till further notice!”

Parker tensed, but did not voice his opinion. “Yes sir.”

“Get out of my sight,” Strawell commanded.

The members of Echo team saluted and quickly made their way to their rig.

“Get in there,” Strawell commanded, causing his Enforcers to rush into the building.

As the rig's doors closed behind them, Parker glared at Scamp. “We’re putting a lot on the line for you. Don’t you burn us.”

Scamp could only nod in response to this as the weight of the situation fully landed on her shoulders.

Next Chapter: I knew you were trouble Estimated time remaining: 41 Hours, 7 Minutes