I couldn't leave the story hanging at something sappy like that. If you know me, you might have seen me develop a penchant for the action/dramatic style of writing. So, here I am, leaving you with an epilogue. Not going to say anything more until later.

Enjoy!

Rio De Janiero, Brazil
Approximately four months after the return of Twilight Sparkle.
0140 hours local time...

"You know, I think this is the first mission where I've enjoyed having to wait around for the target. Granted, the weather stinks, but at least we're comfortable." Rook said, reclining in the passenger seat of the black Range Rover that Captain Mactavish had assigned them. Shade sat in the driver seat, peering through the dark and rainy night through a set of infrared binoculars. "Then again, Meat and Royce get the fun job. We're just here to catch the runners." Hotel Team had been deployed on a mission to Brazil, and were spread around the international airport in Rio. Shade and Rook were parked on the side of a service road that led to one of the general aviation hangars, where they had been for the last four hours.

Shade set down the binocs and looked at his partner, shaking his head. "You do realise that the objective of this mission is to intercept a large shipment of stolen Stingers, Javelins and SCAR rifles, right? Odds are that whoever is having them imported will have payed off customs and security, will spread the load out on different aircraft, will load the weapons onto different vehicles, and depart on separate routes. While those two are on the ground in the immediate area of the target, we're to make sure that no-one leaves or enters the exchange. Once all the cards are in play, then we pounce."

"Speaking of cards, I've got a vehicle approaching from behind us." Sure enough, as Shade turned around and peered through the binocs, he could make out the shape of a luxury sedan growing closer. Shade clicked on his lapel microphone to inform the rest of the team.

"Guys, this is Shade. I've got an unknown victor approaching the target area. Single victor, type is a Chrysler Three-Zero-Zero-Charlie. Can't specify number of occupants at this time."

"Tally on victor, Shade. Toad and I have him on our sensors. We're picking up a total of four passengers, no weapon signatures at this time." Archer informed over the radio. The two snipers had set up on an abandoned control tower that allowed for perfect coverage of the field. The bad weather had not deterred the pair from climbing up and setting up shop to watch over the field for a number of hours. "Looks like they're making their way to the target. Whoever these guys are, we didn't know about them."

"Looks like the others didn't either," said Royce over the radio as the car drove into the hangar where the last of the weapons were being unloaded. "Wait, I can see the face of one of the passengers, give me a second to verify his ID." The seconds dragged on like minutes before Royce returned to the radio. He was frantic, the sounds of gunfire audible in the background. "Captain, we've been compromised. Meat and I are moving to point delta!" Shade, as he heard those words, threw the binoculars into the backseat and prepared their vehicle to move. He had failed to realise that another vehicle had crept up behind them, the matte black paintjob concealing them in the rain.

"This is Hotel Six, all members, abort mission, move to pre-planned regroup points and await for further instruction."

Shade threw the Ranger Rover into reverse, covering two meters of ground before ramming into the vehicle behind them. Rook and Shade shouted in surprise as Shade shifted into second and peeled out, the second vehicle switching their lights on and following in pursuit.

"Who the fuck was that?!" Shade shouted as he moved onto the main road that ran to the south of the airport. His answer was answered by a number of rounds fired from the vehicle, shattering the back window of their vehicle.

"I don't know, but they won't live long enough!" Rook shouted back as he pulled an MP7 from under his seat. He pulled the lever that allowed the seat to recline, and flattened the back against the rear seats. As Shade sped through the streets, Rook took aim using the rear headrests as support, and started to return fire. This served to make their pursuers even more aggressive, and Rook shouted as they closed in to ram them off the road. The heavy Range Rover wobbled off course for a second, before Shade regained control.

"Hold on Rook!" Shade turned off the main road and crossed three lanes of oncoming traffic, taking them onto the small freeway that fed to the west of the airport. The pursuing vehicle followed closely, narrowly missing a truck that was in the last lane. The freeway started to elevate off the ground and bend around to follow the coastline, all the while Rook was firing at the chasing vehicle, with his rounds making little difference.

Shade looked back for a second to see where they were, and returned his focus to the traffic ahead of him. Without warning, a car in front of him pulled ahead, forcing Shade to hit the brakes and turn to avoid a collision. At the same time, the pursuers rammed the back end of the Range Rover, flipping it and sending it into a roll. The Range Rover rolled across all four lanes of the freeway, flipping over the edge and landing in the water below. Water started to flood as Shade slowly regained consciousness from the impact, hanging from his seatbelt as the car was inverted.

Rook was spread across the roof, still unconscious from the impact, the water flooding around him.

"Rook!" Shade half groaned and half shouted, winded as a result of the seatbelt locking him in place. "Rook, wake up damnit!" He failed to respond to his cries, so Shade tried for his radio. "Captain, this is Shade. We have a man down, our car went into the water!" Static formed the reply, his radio damaged from the seatbelt as well. Shade kept Rook above the rising waterline, and desperately tried to open one of the doors, but the pressure difference from the inside of the car to the outside prevented him from doing so. Accepting his fate, Shade closed his eyes and grabbed for the small crystal that hung around his neck. He held it to his head and thought of Twilight, wanting his last memories to be of her and not of the inside of the car.

The water rose above his head, and Shade slowly lost the ability to hold consciousness. As the blackness started to fade in, the last thing he saw was a flash of purple.

Golden Oaks Library, Ponyville, Equestria
That same time...

Twilight woke from a fitful night's sleep. The dream, or more accurately, a nightmare had consumed her mind, the images leaving her afraid but confused. She had suffered from a few mild nightmares ever since her return four months ago, and attributed them to some of the stories and events that she saw with Task Force 141. Generally speaking, humans were capable of some horrendous atrocities, made clear when Captain Mactavish had reluctantly taught her about some of the major wars in human history. Some of the images she saw of the Holocaust had been cemented in her mind, unable to comprehend why such people would commit such an act.

This latest dream, however, was unlike the others. It was much shorter than the others, lasting only a few minutes, and she was not in the dream itself. Instead, she was watching through the eyes of another person, merely an observer who was watching and listening to the events that unfolded around her. The dream had started with her looking out through the back of a vehicle, the rear window shattered for some reason unknown to her. Another vehicle followed closely, occasionally a staccato set of flashes erupting from one of the windows.

A set of flashes had erupted from immediately in front of her, and she saw in her 'hands' was a weapon, a sub-machine to be somewhat precise. She was firing at the car chasing them, and it was firing back. They had driven onto a major roadway, trying to escape the pursuers, when the car she was in suddenly and without warning swerved to the side. Time slowed down as she watched the black car ram into the rear of her car, and looked in horror as they began to roll over and over and over again, rolling off the side of the road and falling into the water below. This was the last thing she saw before she woke up in her bed.

Something about the entire dream felt strange about it, but she could not place what it was exactly. Making a mental note of the dream, Twilight moved to lie back down and attempted to fall back to sleep.

She had not seen the purple flash that burst from across the town.

And there we go. Oh, what could that purple flash mean?

(Seriously, if you can't see the answer, you need a good slap on the face.)

Anyway, this should serve as a teaser to the eventual sequel to HVP (name undecided just yet). And as for the report-style fic, I'm changing my mind and rolling with something different, similar to how "The 141 Archives" is set up. It'll be a collection of one-shots in no apparent order, but this time be related to HVP. Some may be memories, some might be report segments. We'll see.

TSO out!

[UPDATE - The sequel has now been released, under the name of "Foras Admonitio".]