Ayane and Marcus sat in the car as he drove, down the long stretch of highway that lay before them. Ayane was fast asleep in her sleep, snoring softly as the moonlight illuminated her face which glowed with an air of adorableness not often seen. Marcus yawned and reached for another can of Monster, which happened to be his third in the past two hours. The roads were empty, which was weird for it being 11:30 at night, though Marcus didn't really care all that much. The radio played a song which he couldn't help but whistle to, knowing full well that Ayane was an insanely heavy sleeper. The universe seemed to have retained its sense of humor however, as another couple had turned on the radio at that same exact moment...

Alena and Placidia sat on top of the bright yellow Honda Civic the four of them had piled into earlier that day, got some doctored I.D. from a friend that lived close by, and done some other things. They were currently parked in front of a motel with some pretty decent rooms, the two just stared at the stars in the night sky. Suddenly, Alena turned to look at Placidia, with a look that just screamed she wanted to say something.

"Hey, Placid... I know that I said that I was going to talk to you about something important within a dream, but I felt it couldn't really wait." The atmosphere and mood of the conversation had been set by the song, and even more than likely, instigated by it as well, "Placidia, we've been through quite a lot, visiting Equestria and bringing back Princess Twilight and Vinyl notwithstanding. You've helped me through quite a bit during my life, and undoubtedly I've done the same for you. We've grown so comfortable around each other that sleeping nude next to each other doesn't bother us in the slightest. Whenever I'm near you, I feel this desire to keep you away from all harm, no matter the cost. I look into your eyes, and I see both a raging sea of emotion and a calm ocean that gently sways my heart back and forth, and makes me calmer than I've ever been. I feel like I can actually relax within your presence, and be more than just myself when I'm with you.

"I know we've playfully flirted back and forth before with no real meaning behind it, but the more I've thought about it, the more everything just made sense. We ever so slowly fell for each other that we didn't even notice it. That time I got sick, you came over to my house and stayed by my side, quite literally, until I got better. Not even my mom yelling at you to let her take care of me quite a few times got you to leave. That time I got so angry at someone that I literally passed out from anger and exhaustion, you were there for me again, and made sure that I was alright. Placidia, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I never want it to end. I've got a question for you, though now it seems fairly obvious: Serenity Placidia Shores, would you do me the honors of being my girlfriend?"

Placidia just sat there on the hood of the car, completely dumbstruck. If one were to look over at her at that specific moment, they would probably swear that for the briefest of moments, they saw a BSOD display through the eyes of Placidia. She just didn't know what to do. Sure, she had been considering talking with Alena about it and asking herself, but she wasn't expecting her to say yes, let alone Alena reversing roles and asking her instead! Eventually, Placidia got out of her stupefied trance long enough to consider what was just asked of her. Nothing much would really change, aside from the two having the titles of being each others girlfriend, but it was that thought alone which brought her extreme levels of comfort. She suddenly realized that she wouldn't be all that lonely anymore, because she just knew that Alena would do almost literally anything within her power to keep her safe and by her side.

After a mental nod to herself, Placidia answered. Not with words, however, but instead she grabbed Alena's shoulders gently, and planted her lips softly on Alena's own. The two stayed like that for a minute or so, just enjoying the sensation of sharing an intimate kiss between them without the deafening roar of college boys cheering that they got to see two best friends make out while drunk. The two relaxed into the kiss, and Alena got and impulsive idea. She backed away from the kiss slightly, and then came back to it, focusing on Placidia's bottom lip, giving a subtle and gentle bite on it.

Placidia responded in kind, and the two slowly deepened the kiss, the both of them poking slightly into the other's mouth with their tongue, exploring as if they were giants walking around a city built from cardboard. It was both familiar, yet different to the both of them, the feeling of sharing an intimate moment such as this, without having to worry about onlookers making comments or snapping photos. The two of them kept kissing for a few moments, until Placidia moved back and pulled Alena into a tight yet gentle hug, softly crying. Alena got worried, until she heard what Placidia had to say.

"Alena, I have something to confess, but it is probably very obvious now due to my actions. I have fallen for you as well; whenever I look into your eyes, I see a burning flame which does not burn, but protect all within its reach. Whenever I'm near you, I feel warm and safe, like nothing can get to me. I can also see that you will do anything to protect those around you, no matter the cost.

"All of this made me realize something: we were both silly, thinking that the other wouldn't accept what we felt, and just kept it to ourselves. It just feels awesome knowing that the whole time, we both cared far more for each other than we realized, and that it turned out the way it did. I love you, Alena, and that will never change. I'm not going to say that I want to marry you in the future, because for one thing, we don't even know how long things will last. It might last for a month, a year, decade, or just a day. For now though, I just want to stay by your side. Do you think you could let me have that one selfish request?"

Alena held Placidia tighter, "Yeah, I can and I will, with absolutely no hesitation. Hell, even if you hadn't, I would've asked you the same thing. I love you Placidia, and I don't want to lose you as either lover or friend. You're way too special to me to stand losing."

The pair just sat on the hood of the Civic and held each other, way late into the night, with only the beautiful night sky and themselves as company. It was another couple of hours into the night when they finally retired to the motel room, where they flopped onto the bed next to Twilight and Vinyl, and held each other in their arms as they slept; they both fell asleep with smiles on their faces.

Eventually, the long drive had paid off; Marcus had called the Texus branch of Nocturne while en route to the last known location of Alena and gang, after it was pointed out that she had arranged to get their new I.D. from someone in Austin. Due to how far away they were at that time however, Marcus had ordered the team that was ready to be deployed to remain on standby until such time that they could move in without disrupting the goings on of the general population. That is how things came to be at the current moment in time, where Marcus had sat in his car with Ayane still passed out, waiting for Alena and Placidia to return to their room. Sure, he could've ordered the troops to move in while they were outside, but then there was the potential for however many people they brought back to retaliate. He needed to wait for them to re-enter the room, so they could bring all of them in at once.

It wasn't Marcus' idea however to operate this mission as he was. He knew full well exactly who and what the Noels were, as his own family shared their history. The reason he had to handle this like any other operation however, was due to the government keeping a representative from Homeland Security on his team for this operation. That meant that he couldn't just stroll in and casually ask Alena and company about Equestria; Marcus idly wondered why the government was so afraid of magic that they had renditioned Julia Noel's husband. Marcus shook his head; he couldn't let himself get distracted at this moment, he had a job to do.

In an attempt to wake her up, Marcus punched Ayane in the arm, hard. He knew that she had taken off the KFD during the ride, as he had pointed out that they were supposed to meet up with a rep from HomeSec before carrying out the mission to capture and interrogate Alena and whoever else was with her. Originally, it was to go and pick up Alena before the rest of the authoritative branches of the government caught wind of her return, but it had slipped through the cracks that she was back, and with friends. Nocturne's mission immediately turned to damage control... Both for their sake, and Alena's.

Ayane got up with a start, and looked to Marcus. All he did was gesture his hand towards the room that Alena and company currently resided in, and got out of the car. With a hand up to his ear, Marcus contacted the rest of the team, "Alright guys, this is the procedure: Jenkins, I want you to throw up a Faraday cage around the section the room is at. Davis, Rob, you two are at the back door, be ready in case they come through there and try to escape. Objective is to hold them until they're able to be transported, do not injure them. Alice, you're on point on the Burger King across the road facing the front door, tranq rounds only, semi-auto sniper, call-sign is Rapier One, order is Dart. Ayane, you're with me on the front door; Jenkins, that cage goes up the moment we breach, got it? Good, let's move!"

The soldiers moved with an excessive pace, and yet made very little noise; Marcus internally swelled with pride that the teachings of old could still be applied in modern day circumstances. He and Ayane moved up to the door quietly, and stood ready as he waited for everyone else to get into position. It was a few more seconds, before Alice came in on the radio, "Rapier One, in position. I got my eyes on you, boss, clear as day."

It was then that Marcus noticed the laser that wasn't there before, "Rapier One, turn off the laser guide and switch to infra-red. Davis, Rob, you in position?"

An immediate response was heard, "Aye, sir! We're in position, ready to breach at your signal."

Marcus took a series of breaths, and then opened his comm, "Breaching in three, two, one, GO!"

Both the front and back doors burst open in unison, and the four Nocturne personnel rushed in and startled everyone awake, "UP AND AT 'EM, LET'S GO LET'S GO LET'S GO!"

Placidia shot up from the bed and screamed, Twilight and Vinyl both showed fear on their faces, whereas Alena merely showed pure annoyance, which to everyone that was suddenly awakened, was quite odd. Placidia, Twilight, and Vinyl's panic levels rose when they all moved in and bound their wrists together with zip ties. Alena still wasn't amused.

"Alright Jenkins, you can move the fence away from the door, we're coming out. Everyone's zipped and ready to go."

As they were moved out, Alena cleared her throat to catch Marcus' attention, and said in a monotone voice, "Don't forget our bags, our only clean clothes are in there, along with the only cash we got."

Marcus didn't even hesitate, "Jenkins, go in and grab the bags, put them in the back of my car. Do not just toss them in."

"Aye, sir."

The four girls were escorted out of the room and into the waiting black Navigator outside. As the lights in the street and parking lot gave her a better view, Alena was even less amused, if that was even possible, when she saw who was escorting her to Marcus' car, "Ayane, is this revenge for me beating your ass when you went too far while picking on Placidia? Cause last time I checked, it was more than justified."

All attention turned to the HomeSec Representative who had begun slow clapping, "So, we finally get to meet the two people responsible for causing such an uproar in West Virginia, and we finally get to put a face to the name of the infamous Wallflower. You have a rap sheet so long, that I could use it as toilet paper every day for five years." Lance turned to Marcus, "Thank you for capturing her, as well as her cohorts. Homeland will be immensely pleased to hear that we can finally bring in these two, and their two friends that came with from wherever they were."

Now, it was Marcus' turn to not be very amused, "I'm afraid not; these four are headed back to base for interrogation, and then they're all to report to the one who requested their safe return, these two unknowns included."

The Homeland Security rep angrily pointed a finger at Marcus, "This isn't over! I will find out what's going on, and have you tried for treason!"

"Last time I checked, any and all "outside visitors" are to be reported directly to the President, which is what will be done, as soon as we have finished interrogations. Good day to you, sir."

"Listen here-"

"I SAID, GOOD DAY TO YOU, SIR!" Marcus turned around and headed back to his van before the HomeSec guy could get another comment in. Those who were part of the Austin branch of Nocturne went back to their vehicles, while Alena, Placidia, Twilight, and Vinyl piled into the back seat of the car that awaited them. Marcus drove away from the motel, and straight to the highway; as he drove, Ayane pulled out a phone from a pocket, and called. Everyone could hear the person on the other side, due to Ayane having the phone on speaker.

"Hey, thought we'd get a call way sooner! What took you guys so long?"

Marcus shot a reply, "Apparently, Homeland Security thought what we were up to was interesting enough for them to warrant a visit. I couldn't really just stroll on up and say "Hi" to someone who just jumped through the very fabric of space and ended up in another world with someone from HomoSec standing by to catch anything. You'd think that since we annexed the NSA, that the other agencies would take us seriously for a change."

"Maybe they just take you guys a little too seriously, and they're just being cautious."

"Whatever, just tell Austin International to be expecting us, and to turn out their lights. We were never there."

There was a noise from the phone, indicating someone just unmuted themselves, "Got it, we see nothing, we hear nothing. This conversation didn't happen. FAA clearing space for you now, path for your flight is now considered a no-fly zone at a diameter of fifteen-thousand feet on all sides. All aircraft inconspicuously re-routed to avoid you once you take off."

Twilight and Placidia sat there in shock, while Alena and Vinyl took what happened in stride; Twilight voiced her opinion on the matter, however, "Wait, isn't what just happened illegal?"

Marcus laughed along with Vinyl and Alena, "Oh please, every government agency around the world does it, and before you comment, it isn't corruption. Sometimes, things need to get done, regardless of public opinion. It also helps when the government is ready to jump to our defense whenever someone gets a little too nosy."

Placidia tossed in her own comment, "So, your military company is the biggest example of abusing your power. Why haven't you guys been outed for it yet?"

Alena cut in before Marcus could give her an answer and smirked, "Because the President slipped in a bill that granted Nocturne what is equivalent to a free pass to do almost whatever they please. That bill just flew through the Senate, and every single person on Nocturne's payroll was sick that week. It still amazes me how much trust the Senate trusts the current President. It's like they're all his bitch."

Twilight's eyes went wide, "That cannot be right! That's like giving the nobles back home the power to assault those that aren't as wealthy as them without consequence!"

"It may not be right Twily, but it's how things are. The fact that Nocturne only uses it when it comes to things that really need to be kept secret, says volumes about Marcus' character. All operations are passed to him before they get the go-ahead," Ayane confided.

Twilight's face scrunched up, "How do you know my name? I don't remember giving it to you."

Alena facepalmed, "I just knew I was missing something when I talked to you about our world... Twilight, you've heard Luna speak of my family as if they had history, and she outright stated that they helped with the creation of the Tree of Harmony. The only other family that could ever possibly know of Equestria at this point, is the Winters family. How everyone else knows of Equestria, is a different story, however..."

Twilight sighed as Vinyl could barely contain her snickers, and finally burst, "Oh! Oh, this is so priceless! Ha ha ha, to see that confused look on your face, Twilight, I know a few individuals who would make me rich if I had even a single picture!"

Alena rolled her eyes, "Well, no time like the present to give you an existential crisis, right?" Twilight looked even more confused, "Twilight, in our world, there exists a... let's call it, a family-oriented cartoon. This cartoon depicts the lives of a very powerful magic user, her five friends, and the adventures they end up in as they live their lives. That magic user is you, Twilight, and your friends are the other five people that are the mane cast. Now, there was an article that came about a couple days before the show officially aired which really tore apart almost every single thing that the person could grab at, one of those things happened to be Rainbow Dash's orientation. Somehow, the article got posted to a popular and yet controversial image posting board, and people saw it. When a couple of people came across it, they decided to watch the show to see if the article held true, and ended up liking the show.

"One by one, more and more people got into it, and it spread from just that site, to all over the Internet in just a few short months. Then it almost literally exploded over the next couple of years. Sure, things have calmed down now, but make no mistake Twilight; you, your friends, their friends and relatives, the Princesses, Vinyl, Octavia, and almost everypony is famous to some degree. My only regret is that I didn't negotiate with Luna to come as well. People would have quite literally worshiped the ground she trot upon."

Twilight's mouth just hung open for a few moments, as Vinyl started outright guffawing in the seat between Twilight and Alena. Placidia ended up on the other side of Twilight, much to her dismay.

"Yeah, it may be funny to you, but wait until the inevitable reunion of Luna and the Winters family. Shit hitting the fan will be a drastic understatement," was put forth by Marcus.

Alena tilted her head, "What are you talking about?"

"Where do you think we got the name 'Nocturne' from, when it was named? Think about that for just a moment..."

Twilight's jaw was about to meet the floor of the car, whereas Vinyl just stared out at nothing in particular. This, however, irked Twilight when she got out of her moment of shock, "Wait a second! You're saying that the Winters family, as a whole, are or at least were, either descendants of Princess Luna, or her Royal Guards?"

"That's about the gist of things. A group of us were turned into Humans and sent watch over things here. The Noels know of us, and we know of them. It's a mutual understanding of 'Don't rat us out and we won't rat you out' sort of thing."

The silence that followed was broken by Marcus, "Okay a couple things: One, we've arrived at the airport, and two, we're headed to South Carolina. Alena, shut up, I have a phone call to make before we go in."

The phone rang for a moment, before someone both Alena and Placidia recognized very readily, "So, by you calling me on this line means that you've found my daughter and her friend?"

Marcus replied to Julia, "Yeah, I personally headed the operation to retrieve not only her and Placidia, but two others that have come with them. I don't know how you will take this, but one of them is Celestia's Protege. Make of that what you will."

There was a long silence, before, "Alright, Marcus, you may train my daughter like you wanted, but only if she agrees to it. And you must not treat her like she's some kind of super weapon like the other government agencies would."

"Oh, she will be treated fairly, as I will personally oversee her one month of training with us."

Julia breathed a sigh of relief, "You don't know how happy it makes me feel to hear that you'll be looking after her. I know that she's a Noel, but she's still my baby. I love you Alena, I'll see you shortly."

The line was disconnected before Alena could question what happened, "Wait, how did she know that I was in the car with you?"

"Your mother and I were close friends, and the Winters and Noels were always friendly with each other for ages. She knows that I'm not dumb enough to let you go with anyone else but me. You're the first true Noel to be born in fifty years, there's no way I'd let any other government agency get their grubby little hands on you. Speaking of, you will be personally trained and tested by me, and will become a member of Nocturne. You will hold the same position as Ayane, and work with her, not for her," Marcus gave a knowing look to Ayane, "Right?"

Ayane gave Marcus a stare, "So long as she doesn't try anything towards you, I have no problems with her." She turned her gaze on Alena, "Don't you dare try anything with Marcus!"

Alena raised her hands up in a defensive stance, "Hey, hey, I wouldn't try anything with him, even if I wasn't in a relationship with Placidia." Marcus could've sworn he felt a steel pole punch right through his heart, though he didn't let it show. 'Owie.'

Twilight and Vinyl both shared a look; Twilight looked confused, and Vinyl had the most perverted grin anyone had ever seen, "Well, that's a piece of news worth sharing. When did this happen?"

Placidia grabbed onto Alena's arm and pulled her over onto her lap. Alena had to undo her seat belt, before her arm got torn out from its socket. As soon as Alena was safe on Placidia's lap, she wrapped her arms around Alena's body as if protecting her. Alena didn't mind, and answered the question, "This kinda happened when you two were in bed, and we stayed out and looked out at the night sky as we sat on the car."

Vinyl's grin turned even more lecherous, as if it were possible, "Did you two seal it with a kiss?"

Alena said nothing, as she turned around on Placidia's lap and straddled her legs. As she brought a hand up to Placidia's cheek and gently held it, Alena moved in and started to passionately kiss Placidia. The two kissed for a minute as Twilight looked on in shock and a little curiosity, Vinyl seemed highly amused, Marcus mentally scratched an item off of his bucket list, and Ayane stayed neutral. After the kiss was broken off, Alena booped Placidia's nose, "I'm yours forever, don't forget that. Even if I have to walk straight into hell, and blow everything up just to get to you and bring you home, I will do so without hesitation." When Placidia looked into Alena's eyes, she could've sworn she briefly saw a flame burning brightly within.

Marcus broke up the party shortly after the impromptu show, "Come on, people, we got ourselves a helicopter to catch."