Chapter Text
Abacus Cinch was a respectable woman. Or at least she used to be until "that" event.
The cursed Friendship Games.
Just by remembering them, Cinch could feel her blood boiling with rage. Therefore, Abacus Cinch had begun using all her resources, obtained after years of being the Crystal Prep principal, to investigate magic and how to counteract it. And now she was obsessed.
Obsessed with ending the people who had ruined her life.
But during her investigations, she discovered something that she thought impossible.
It was true that even before "that" event, Cinch knew there were tons of strange people, and that included the criminals everyone considered heroes, such as the Avengers, or Spider-Man and his cronies, or those who were even worse, like Nick Fury, Victor Von Doom and the Red Skull.
However, during her research and experiments to discover a way to counteract the magic of the students of Canterlot High, she discovered that humans also possessed their own magic, but only a few hundred had been able to use it. Among them were people who she believed were legend, such as Merlin, and even more recent people like a man who was previously a neurosurgeon, whose name was Stephen Strange.
After that, Cinch dedicated her research to investigate further about human magic, finding various books of spells, manuals of mystical objects and several others.
And now, the former Crystal Prep principal, was in the small apartment that she had had to get, after having to sell almost all her belongings to pay for her research, reading a magic book while using a dictionary to translate the parts she didn't understand at all.
At that moment, someone knocked on the door, but since it was usually her annoying landlord or someone else who came to charge her for her bills, she simply ignored him and continued her investigations. But whoever was outside her door kept insisting for several minutes, which started to annoy her.
"Abacus Cinch, we know you're in there!" Said the voice of a woman. "Open the door!"
"Go away and leave me alone!" Cinch snapped before covering her mouth.
"Under the authority of S.H.I.E.L.D., open this door or we'll bring it down and we'll arrest you." Another woman snapped.
'S.H.I.E.L.D?!' Cinch thought. 'But what did I do?!'
Moved under the instinct of survival, Cinch walked up to the door and opened it, finding four people in front of it, two women, one with tanned skin and dark brown hair in a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, another one with white skin and a weird green hair in a uniform similar to that of the first woman but in green and with a different logo, a Caucasian man with brown hair and a few gray hairs on his temples, who wore a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, and a strange reddish humanoid creature with a head similar to that of a dog.
"May we come in?" The man said.
"Y-Yeah..." Cinch stuttered.
Cinch moved aside and the four people entered the apartment, but out of the four, only the humanoid made a friendly gesture.
"Good afternoon." The humanoid said.
"G-good afternoon..." Cinch stuttered again.
The three humans and the creature sat in the few chairs that Cinch had and asked Cinch to sit with them, with a gesture. Once she did, the man sighed a little.
"Well, Mrs. Cinch..." Said the man. "To begin with, I think we should introduce ourselves. My name is Phillip Coulson, I'm the Head of Operations of S.H.I.E.L.D."
"I am María Hill, Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D." Said the tan-skinned woman.
"My name is Abigail Brand, I'm the Head of Operations of S.W.O.R.D." Said the green-haired woman before she gestured at the humanoid creature. "And he's our Head of Investigations, Sydren."
"It is a pleasure." Said the creature with a kind gesture.
"Now that that's done, you're probably a little surprised by our presence here." Coulson said.
"A little is an understatement..." Cinch let out.
"The fact is that since your statements a year ago in Equestria, Ohio, S.H.I.E.L.D. has kept an eye on you and on the students of Canterlot High." Hill explained.
"How...?"
"In organizations such as S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.W.O.R.D. we know everything and we know everyone. We never take our eyes off those who may be a threat." Coulson snapped. "Not much less to those who can be useful to us."
"What do you mean...?"
"We mean that we've kept an eye on Canterlot High since their little incident during the Fall Formal, aside from discovering a few strange events in the cities of Angel Grove, Echo Creek, Whitechapel and Gravity Falls." Sydren said while he showed Cinch four holograms about the four cities.
"What does that have to do with me or those weird girls at Canterlot High?" Cinch asked.
"All the events that Sydren mentioned have supernatural, paranormal and/or mystical origins." Hill explained. "Unfortunately, all those involved in those events have managed to elude us and the people of those cities will not even talk about them. Because of it, we have taken the task to find an expert in mysticism who could help us to clarify everything that has happened and, if need be, prepare a contingency plan."
"And there's where you come in, Mrs. Cinch. You have spent a whole year studying different volumes about magic and mysticism, you have obtained data that none of our best researchers have even begun to discover." Brand explained. "And since experts like Dr. Strange, King T'Challa or Thor have not even the slightest intention of collaborating with Fury or me, we came to offer that opportunity to you, Mrs. Cinch."
"How?"
"Since we were founded almost immediately at the end of World War II, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been given the task to study the potential threats and have contingency plans for any sort of attack." Hill said. "And that is the reason why our sister organization, S.W.O.R.D., was founded, focused on protecting us from extraterrestrial threats."
"Unfortunately, although we know a lot about mutants, Inhumans, supervillains, superheroes, the Kree, the Skrull and others, there is still a subject that eludes us; magic." Said the humanoid creature. "And that's something that our superiors do not like."
"That's why a new sister organization is being formed, one focused on studying mystical threats and stopping them." Explained Coulson. "As such, we want you not only to be part of the organization but to direct it."
"M-me?" Cinch stuttered again, this time out of excitement. "D-do you... do you really want me to be the director of this organization?"
"That's right, after all, you have the ability to understand magic and mysticism with ease, along with all its variables, as well as being able to give an opinion about the use of magic, since you have developed those skills yourself."
"You're wrong... I don't..."
At that moment, Hill pulled out a blaster and fired at Cinch, who simply managed to make a quick movement with her hand and create an invisible barrier, which stopped the shot of the Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. without any problem.
At this, Cinch looked to one side and tried to cover her face.
"Calm down, you're not the only one here with extraordinary abilities." Brand chuckled. "But we would like to know your answer, Mrs. Cinch, I am not a very patient person."
"O-of course!" Cinch said with a smile. "When do I start?"
"You already did, Director Cinch." Hill said before she gave her a card. "A team will come to take all your equipment and belongings to your new headquarters."
"At the moment I ask you to come with us, there are some data that you must provide us, documents to sign and you have to receive your uniform and badge." Brand said as everyone stood up.
Abacus Cinch felt joy for the first time in a long time.
Maybe thanks to the strange girls of Canterlot High, she had lost her beloved school, but that was only for her to have something better.
And while Brand, Coulson, Hill and Sydren left their apartment, Cinch checked the card that Hill had given her and noted that it was an ID that had a blank space where her picture had to be put and the name of her new agency.
"Wizardry, Alchemy and Necromancy Department." Cinch read out loud.
"Call it W.A.N.D." Coulson said as he gestured Cinch to leave. "It'll be better to leave, Brand is not patient at all."
Cinch nodded again and followed Coulson, closing the door of her apartment, as she thought about how she would use her new agency not only to protect people from the influence of magic, but also how she could make Sunset Shimmer and her friends pay for what they had done to her.
After all, they possessed magic and as such, they were also a threat.