The Life and Times of Caughlin Mare

by Casca

12: Enter Project ALICORN, Part II

A soft whirring filled the air as Team 4 switched on the new device, a sleek metal box connected to the test chamber via donor-recipient rune pairs that circled both volumes, throbbing in sync. It was a no-cables affair - admirable, much-needed neatness in the absence of expandable floor space. Lightwise, their demonstrator for the day, stepped in, and once it was safely sealed, she raised her head high and let off a spark. Caughlin nodded appreciatively as the monitors on the device flickered, yielding numbers. She proceeded to let off two more sparks, one much weaker and another much stronger, before stepping back out. The device listed the new readings accordingly.

The machine was the first magic-measuring instrument to ever exist, or at least as far as they knew. It was still a prototype, but Team 4 boasted that it gave an estimated error of only five units for large sources, or a range within two to nine percent. Mediocre rates by any other standard, but given that they had worked at the concept from scratch, using cross-measurements, predictions and controlled experiments to define a unit and its nature - as well as a measurement system that was sensitive enough to "significant" change (anypony could tell you that fire was hot and ice was cold, but the degree system gave one everything in between) it was nothing short of impressive.

Calculations regarding magical energy had been only theoretical until now. Even during the planning of the alicornifications, the amounts of magic to be used in the union and implantation stages were not specified. "As necessary" was almost infamous; Caughlin knew first-hand that it was really trial-and-error when it came to the strength of the magic required. Rather than using a dedicated unit, they used thaumic masses, derived from physical mass using the Demetritic constant - an approximation at best - but now with the device, the fields of magical resistivity and conductivity were open to them - "Would a rock retain more magic if zapped than say, a stack of paper of the same mass?" "Do all objects emit magic?" - it was a historic day for the R&D department.

The only thing that could ruin it was the return of the Order scientists to act as fellow witnesses. It had been a good few years since there had been this many of them down here; now that Celestia no longer needed monitoring, they no longer needed to stay.

Of course, its immediate use would be to record the alicorns' current power levels. That was why it had been commissioned, after all. Team 4 were reluctant - they did not like the idea of losing their only prototype in the event of an overload - but Furhich had somehow managed to "convince" them after a "chat". So here they were - now that the functionality of the machine had been proven to the rest of the department, they were to give it its first real task.

Caughlin glanced at the leader of the Order, standing some ways behind her. How long had it been! She was almost used to it by now, stealing looks at him to ease the tightening in her throat she got whenever she sensed him hovering where she could not see. Six years of laying low and doing apparently almost nothing during the alicorns' growth, save for maintaining the memory hex on her team. Six years of careful tending of her demeanour, so much so that it was second nature when talking with him. He had become thinner despite his lack of activity, and he had picked up a lethargic attitude to life, staying in his room for days sometimes and moping around, pawing the floor when he did come out. Not that she cared, of course; all the better for them if the hex on her colleagues wore off at last due to Furhich's own negligence.

He looked up as she turned her glance into a stride over. "I have to ask you," said Caughlin, "How will we know when the alicorns are ready to defeat Discord?"

"This device should tell us fine," replied Furhich. Even his voice had become shorter in breath. Coupled with his solmenness it gave him a pinched, annoyed tone. "We shall get one of my stallions down here to fire off a damaging spell at full blast, and we can compare it to the alicorn readings. We need enough power to counter-act Discord's own thaumic field. He's a Draconequus, and virtually half-magic; if we can neutralize those vital energies with a big spell, fast enough to stop him from regenerating, he's as good as dead."

Shrugging, Caughlin then nodded for Luna, now her height, to step in. She briefed her on what to do - she simply had to build up as strong a magical pulse as possible, and release it when she couldn't safely contain it anymore. Luna nodded with an eager glint in her eyes, receiving the same from Celestia, standing further away.

"Sealing runes, check. Clear radius. Reinforcement spells, check. Heat dissipation, check."

"Let 'er rip," grinned Caughlin, giving Luna a little push on the side.

Luna stood perfectly still in the chamber as everypony else put on a pair of shades and earmuffs and a cautionary barrier was erected around them. She took a deep breath, and began to channel power into her horn. Her eyes and mane began to glow with power. Suddenly she roared, and let loose the pulse with a deafening crackle. The recipient runes flared as they tried to convey the full amount of magic. The device shuddered, and out came a number.

"Eight thousand seven hundred and thirteen," read Caughlin, as Luna stepped out. There was a round of polite applause. Nopony knew what those numbers actually meant, but even so, she felt a surge of pride. "Well done, Luna."

"That was amazing, Mommy," she replied, shaking her head. "I'm still giddy from the shock. So much magic, like I've never felt before... You need to let me do that more often."

"I'm not setting up all the safety procedures to let you blast my test chamber," mock-frowned Caughlin, rubbing Luna's mane.

"Can I not do this?" asked Celestia, pawing the ground nervously. "It seems overwhelming."

"You'll be alright, little sis," said Luna happily. "It's fun! Just do your best."

Unwillingly, the white alicorn went in. Once again the safety procedures were repeated, and when all was safe, her horn flared up, and the chamber was once again filled with light. It did not help that her coat was pure white, either; soon she became painful to even look at.

The room exploded with sound. Caughlin flinched as the walls of the chamber rattled and the runes whined, flaring up prismatically with excess magic, as the barrier, curiously, moaned with the strain. When the ringing in their ears had finally stopped, Caughlin steadied herself to read the numbers. She heard the sound of somepony's goggles breaking into pieces - her own pair sported stress fractures at the edges.

"Ten thousand and seven," said Caughlin breathlessly. "That's - that's over -" The rest of the sentence was quickly lost under the barrage of cheers.

"See? I told you it would be great!" exclaimed Luna, meeting her sister as she staggered into an embrace, slightly smoking. "That was like, bang, and boom, and there was that ringing sound and everything!"

"I... thank you?" stammered Celestia. Her wingtips twitched erratically. "That wasn't very pleasant. I feel ill."

Caughlin approached the two and gave Celestia a nominal dusting off. "Take your sister somewhere to have a sit down." The two left, chattering excitedly. She turned to the silent shadow. "Well, Furhich, what do you think?"

"Powerful, yes. But not enough."

"She stared at him disbelievingly. "What?"

"I won't know until we get a regular spell measured, but it just doesn't... feel adequate. Flashy and admittedly awesome as it was. It's better to be safe than sorry," said Furhich. He turned around, looking at nothing in particular. Blank, disinterested. "Can Celestia grow any more?"

"She's past her peak growth stage," replied Caughlin, keeping her tone an even recital. "Sure she can, but it'll take another year at least for any significant growth." What's with that look, huh? Even that's not good enough for you? "Just like any regular pony after their formative years," she added.

"I see." Furhich frowned, and bit his lip. "Then it's about time we reveal to you Project ALICORN's Phase 2." He perked up disconcertingly, and shouted, "Attention!" He lifted his head, and three guards swooped down through the ceiling, one of them carrying a bag of scrolls. "You, go fire your strongest spell inside that chamber. Have it measured. You two, give her a brief overview of the plans of Phase 2."

Did they... did they actually rehearse for that? I can't tell if that's just drama-whorsing or full-blown senility... "Wait, wait, hold on. Phase 2?" asked Caughlin sharply. "You never mentioned Phase 2. What's this all about?"

"The guard here will explain it to you," said Furhich, waving a hoof at the black-clad guard, dissipating with it the brightness as quickly as it had come.. "I would love to do so myself, but you know that I am not the best when it comes to matters of terminology, and all this excitement has tired me out. Age is a cruel mistress, Caughlin... My apologies."

---

The Alicorn-Decageas Cannon, or ADC, is a system that harnesses the unique strain of alicorn magic and amplifies it. It is a modification of the classical Decageas, or union of ten.

In a decageas, five groups of two, of equal power levels, join together to perform a spell significantly stronger than the sum of their components. In practicality the risk is much higher than any considerable return, as it involves not only a balance within and between each group during the duration of casting, but also the difficulty in obtaining participants of sufficient skill - controlling the often-large amounts of magic and keeping them in tandem with the other parties is a severe test of durability.

In the ADC, there is a main pair that provides the bulk of the spell, or payload. Three of the five pairs establish a magnifying hex, while the one remaining pair channel and aim the spell through the hex, resulting in an extremely powerful spell. The main pair will obviously be manned by the two original alicorns. However, due to the intensity and previously-unforeseen alicornic nature of the payload, only other alicorns can participate in the ADC - regular unicorns lack the additional control of matter provided by the other two characteristics to properly handle it, and pegasi and Earth ponies cannot harness magic outside of their own bodies.

The arrangement of the ADC presented minimizes the involvement of these second-generation alicorns, or G2s, for efficiency, but still requires them - the magic used in the magnifying hex has to be of the same substance as the payload, lest the payload disrupt it due to thaumic density differences. The need for alicorns to man the channeling pair is self-evident.

For the ADC to function, therefore, 8 more alicorns are needed. We suggest using fully-grown unicorns who know the fundamentals of magic. After the adaption period, their magic and control thereof will naturally take on the desired alicornic form. Alicornification processes for the G2s are different given the subjects have a developed Horn; attached with this overview are the schematics, calculations etc. covering the process and methods to overcome the forementioned problem with others.

---

Caughlin went to bed biting her lip, clutching furiously at her pillow. She had spent the rest of the day poring over the notes with her team to run through the technicals - the Order's work was complete, without any need for further input, so that the surprise would spring unopposed - but she could not stop thinking instead about the implications of the scale of alicorn engineering being proposed.

Furhich wanted power. That much was obvious. So was the fact that he wasn't willing to wait for it. He never intended for there to be only one phase. That has to be it.

The idea was actually sound - to get rid of Discord, they had to do it in a single blow. Any less, and he would use the opportunity to wreck the world in an outrage, or worse, escape and recuperate before hunting them down. The magnifying hex plan made sense - it was the fastest way of achieving the desired results, and there was little way that Discord would survive after being dealt a shot from the proposed ADC - it was more than enough to unearth and annihilate the entire laboratory by Caughlin's estimate. But there was the issue of adaption, and while she had no sympathy for Furhich, she wondered about the other ponies under his command. They were willing to die, supposedly. Are they also under a hex? Furhich couldn't possibly keep maintenance on those, since he's stuck firmly down here. Or maybe his hex is remote... She frowned and squeezed her eyes shut tighter.

Perhaps they were just devoted to his cause, or brainwashed with his philosophies. Celestia had come close to that.

No doubt, she would be the director for the processes. Where else could they hold it? Most possibly down in the laboratory. And who else but the most experienced of them all? But surely by now the R&D team would at least suspect something. A whole new phase, unannounced? That's got to trip a few nerves, thought Caughlin. Memory hex or no. After all, he never tampered with their personalities, and they even grumble and complain when they think nopony's listening. It's frightful how mild the hex seems to be...

There was a knocking at her door. She shot up nervously. "Who is it?" she demanded, as softly as possible.

"It's me," said Whooves. Caughlin sighed in relief and got up to open the door, and couldn't help but smile at that all-too-familiar figure.

"Can we talk about the cannon?"

"Not here, Doc. They're sleeping. You'll wake them."

"Oh. Right. The hall, then?"

"Too risky, Furhich's spies are on their rounds. Your place?"

Whooves' room was slighter smaller and a lot messier than hers. There were notes and books littered across his bed, and Caughlin mused on how he could sleep in such limited space - perhaps in that vaguely pony-shaped clearing to the side? Hurriedly, he made space and bade her to sit down.

"You know, I enjoyed not having the Order around," said Whooves, smiling tightly.

"You and me both," said Caughlin, sighing. "Peace is but a fleeting candle, or something. But this is it, Doctor. The moment of their lives, the reason for their existence. The freeing of Equestria." The words did not roll off her tongue well. Far too much bitterness had been swallowed for the sake of those words.

"Celestia's power level is a hundred or so times more than the Order's demo fighter," said Whooves. "I hung around to watch. The Order pony's blast was pretty strong. It would have broken a few ribs if it had hit somepony, but it only registered nine hundred-something units. You should have seen the looks on their faces when Furhich asked him if he was actually trying." He indulged himself in a chuckle before continuing. "I mean, I'm still having trouble believing it, but our little alicorns are way wacked-out powerful. With Luna and Celestia combined, I can't see why Fuhrich would think that we'd lose."

"Ten thousand is only around eleven times stronger than nine hundred," frowned Caughlin. "Which does sound a lot less than a hundred, but even on its own that's no mean feat. He's taking precautions." She let her eyes drop to a random sheaf of paper covered in scrawls, too dim to read. "We may be able to deal damage, but we can't take much of it. That's why it has to be in one go. Killing Discord, I mean." She remembered Discord's description of the chase, as if he had merely drifted along to catch up to those trained fighters, obliterating everything else on the way. Then she remembered how she would have never imagined herself saying those two words. Killing Discord. "Besides, if we take any longer than a moment, he'll take the fight elsewhere, and innocent ponies will be hurt as collateral. A single shot, taken somewhere preferably far away from other groups of ponies - that's what Furhich wants. And there's nothing wrong with that."

"Isn't there an aftershock, though?" asked Whooves doubtfully. "Like just now. Big blast go boom, so much bigger blast might end up wiping out everything anyways..."

"The ADC fires a focused destructive spell, not an explosive one," said Caughlin. She had been impressed by this. "Destructive, meaning it destroys, focused, meaning it's contained to within the target aim. It won't harm anything that isn't in its way. So it's like a laser." She gave him a poke with feigned disappointment. "Didn't you read the memo? It was one of the first footnotes, I think. Somewhere around Appendix A."

"Who reads the appendices? Anypony could have missed that," pouted Whooves. "Anyhow, I still think something's wrong with the whole idea. There has to be another way." His expression turned dark. "Didn't you notice anything odd about the runes on the director's circle in the blueprints?"

"No, I didn't." Was there something that she had missed that Whooves had picked up, for once? "There weren't any, were there?"

"That's right. Isn't it weird? The runes are pretty important, so why would they not list it in?"

"The letter was a rushed one, just before they packed up to another hiding place," said Caughlin, recalling the words on the "Supplementary" section. "And it was a blueprint diagram. You know how those are the devil to draw."

Whooves frowned. "Something doesn't feel right," he repeated.

"It's part of Furhich's plan. Of course it doesn't feel right." Caughlin ran a hoof through his mane. "But..."

"But?"

"There's not really much else, is there?" She could not look at him; she could see his widened eyes. "We either have Luna and Celly fight him with their current level and possibly lose. We could wait for a year, years maybe for them to train more, which isn't an option any longer, or we go through with the ADC."

"Don't you have any faith in their abilities?" asked Whooves ruefully.

That unexpectedly disturbed her. She thought back to the times when the two had moved on from fundamentals to advanced training, developing reflexes and stamina. The Order had sent guidebooks on combat skills and spells, revising their editions to include unique, fusioned alicorn techniques, and the sisters tried to make the best of them. Celestia had the double benefit of actually being with Order trainers half the time, as well as possessing the Accelerat; Luna was, however, by no means weak, for she had put in a lot of effort to grasp and practice the concept of utilizing all her characteristics in battle, with help from Celestia. She had never seen them fight before, and part of her still did not want to.

"It's not that," said Caughlin, shaking her head. "It's just, what if Discord pulls some new trick, something we've never seen before? Or one of them has an accident? There's just so many things that could go wrong in a head-on fight."

"So you're doubting them."

"No! Ugh, Whooves, I've known you for so long now. You know me. You're frightfully dense at times. Don't you get it?"

"I'm just trying to help you see," replied Whooves bashfully. He stacked a few surrounding books as he continued. "I think... I think it's all right to not have one hundred percent confidence in them. It's only natural to be unsure of the possible. Sounds like what you'd say, hey? But sometimes... it's okay to trust them, if you can trust them. If that makes sense." He scratched his head. "Of course we help them as much as we can, but it's all about putting the matter into their hooves. I mean... I never told you about this, but I had a friend in Manehatten." The tower of books stopped growing. "Amazing luck at finding shelters. Had a knack for knowing which ones wouldn't collapse. I asked him about it, and he'd just happily say that he got lucky. Most even had food lying around."

Caughlin made no response, not knowing what to say. Whooves looked up and quickly spoke on:

"Long story short... he saved me more times than I can count. By that time I trusted him wholeheartedly... had faith in him, you could say. Now Furhich, I'm not going to put my faith in him, because, well, Furhich. But Luna and Celly? It's a risk, but I'd choose them any time over some supercannon baloney."

"Except it's not supercannon baloney, it's grounded science. I'm not saying I agree with Furhich's methods, but... what's wrong with going a few extra steps to be sure?" She blinked rapidly, trying to walk the thin line of argument between for and against. "Ignoring the dangers of Discord coming in on us mid-alicornification and gutting us clean, but we've managed two so far, right?" Some part of her did not like being lectured by Whooves, as much as she knew it was good-intentioned; it was late, she was cranky, and she would have to attend to Celestia in a couple of hours.

"Well, the idea of the cannon seems wrong," said Whooves. "Where are we going to set it up? What are the Gen-2 alicorns going to do after we beat Discord? And there's the runes, and the obvious dangers of handling this sort of spell. I mean, I can't even use magic. I'm not a professional, despite everything you've taught me. I wish I could be, but I don't have your smarts, Caughlin." He gave her a grin, which failed to appease her irritation. "But to me, it just feels off for the Order, so many questions left unanswered. Furhich isn't one who takes risks. He plans everything. So there's bound to be something amiss, because there's still stuff missing from the picture."

"What do you suggest we do about it then?" asked Caughlin.

"Why don't we try a vote of no confidence? Nopony's actually decided whether to agree with this or not. It's a separate project, and it's really dangerous. Even if they're hexed, I'm sure they'll realize that there's a lot that could go wrong with it if we point it out." He seemed pleased with his solution. Caughlin had to admit it was a good idea - it was the only way they could oppose the ADC without sounding un-hexed. She was the Chairpony of the R&D department, faithful to protocol and the safety of her team. It would be perfectly all right to do so.

Still, the plan hinged on the decisions of a group of compromised ponies. There were ten of them, and Furhich made eleven. Whooves' and her own vote made two in opposition, and Furhich's made one in favour. That left eight votes which could swing either side, depending on the severity of Furhich's hex - which, she was willing to bet, was not strong enough to overpower their individual thought.

"Fuhrich wants work on the ADC started as soon as possible. So, given that we're under a hex and inclined to co-operate with him, it only makes sense if we raise the voting issue tomorrow night, no later, so that we can 'get it over with'. That gives us not much time to persuade the others - but it also means Furhich can't modify his hex," Caughlin muttered to herself. "It's the only window of opportunity we have." She gave him a lopsided smile. "So, this faith of yours. How does it work again?"

---

She carried out her routine the next day distracted by her thoughts. She ran through her side of the debate, how there were too many uncertainties involved, how the ADC was, with all due respect, a waste of space - it was unnecessary, it brought about too many risks, the cons outweighed the pros. She pondered on the Gen-2 alicorns, of all the problems that could arise from them. Where would they store them? What if Discord came in in the middle of the process? The chance of him discovering this time round was ten times higher than any previous alicornification. She tried to build a strong argument on the toll and stress such a task would put on everypony, from the subjects to herself. She crossed out lines, replaced them, double-crossed them. By the time it was dinner, her weariness was so much that it showed through her eyes, earning a couple of sympathetic queries from colleagues.

They finished eating, and Caughlin stood up. With a flick of magic, she tapped a conical drinking flask and gathered their attention.

"Everypony, as you know, the Order has requested to carry out the second phase of Project ALICORN. As chairpony, I view this as a weighty, new event, something needing collective agreement before carrying on. Therefore, for urgency's sake, we will hold the vote now." She scanned her audience for tell-tale signs across their faces. Nothing wrong so far. "Before we vote, I will hold a debate, that our decisions may be informed and for the best. I will represent the side opposing the ADC." There was a ripple of surprised murmurs across the table. "Shall we invite Furhich to defend it?"

A raised eyebrow, but nothing more. "By all means," replied Furhich gravely.

She took a deep breath, and began to speak.

Experience and self-review had honed her public-speaking skills. For all her tiredness and tension, she portrayed a picture of level-headed confidence as she went through each point, keeping eye contact with everypony in turn. At last she finished, and she could see quite a few ponies nodding their heads to themselves. She motioned to Furhich, and he took over - unfazed, it seemed, by the spontaneity of it. He did not mention anything new from the set of memos, and most of his defense was based on reassurances and pleas to "take the leap of faith".

"We will now hold the vote," Caughlin said. "Those who oppose the ADC, raise a hoof." She lifted hers defiantly, and saw a few old-timers' rise as well. Her heart jumped. We're going to make it-

Her eyes rested on Whooves. He was looking down, as if afraid to meet her glare. His hooves were firmly on the table. She wanted to go over and scream at him: What are you doing? But this was a democratic process, and everypony was entitled to use his or her vote in the way they wanted to - she could not take action to shake him out of it, at least not in front of the team and Fuhrich. But what the HELL is he doing? Whooves, wake up already! Wake up! We're taking the vote!

She waited until her foreleg began to ache. There was no sign of him responding. "Five votes," said Caughlin, keeping her voice even with difficulty. "Those in favour?"

Six hooves raised. One of them was Whooves'. She felt herself plunge into confusion, and barely heard the words as she concluded:

"Then it's decided. Project ALICORN, Phase 2, will continue as planned. Thank you, everypony, and have a good night."

"Hold on," said Furhich, lifting a hoof. "While we are on the subject, I must ask you all of one more thing. I have received word today that Discord has struck hard on one of our major bases. If he finds leads that would lead him to the others, the Order and the project will collapse. I beg of you that we initiate Phase 2 now." To everypony's surprise, Furhich bowed his head and fell on his hooves. "I accept your vote of support with gratitude, and - as Caughlin has said - this is very demanding of us, and you have every right to refuse. The original plan was that we do it according to the schedule. I know these things cannot be rushed. But my ponies are out there, chaos is wrecking out everywhere, and the sooner we have this complete, the more that will survive. We are literally two steps away from ending this, and I cannot think why we should delay this time of salvation!"

"Hear, hear!" cried a pony. He was cheered by a few others, and even those that had voted against the ADC were biting their lips in cautious support. Some of them looked at Caughlin expectantly. As for herself, her heart had sunk to new depths, to the point that she could no longer feel anything. Whooves had just opposed her out of the blue. The Order base failure was surprising, and that might have changed her views, but for now, all she could feel was shock. We just talked about it last night! It was supposed to work! It almost had! Stupid, stupid Whooves! It was outmatched only by her surprise at it - only now did she realize that she had expected Whooves to follow her all the way without a doubt. And he had faithfully done so, But why not today?

Whooves...actually betrayed me. "You do as you please," said Caughlin, sounding hollow as she met the eyes of her team.

"Then let's do it!"

"My sincerest gratitude, everypony," said Furhich, his voice shaking. "Yes, please, let us." He got up and trotted to Caughlin. "Miss Caughlin, I must thank you personally. You are not only virtuous and intelligent, but you are also a good sport, and so willing to join us for the greater good."

"You want me to play director again," said Caughlin flatly. She didn't care that she was blurting out her unveiled thoughts. She just didn't feel up to fighting anymore. "But I'm tired. It's been a long day, and I don't think I can take up this honour, Furhich."

"Then please rest up. We will await your return with baited breath."

"Yeah, sure, whatever." She turned and left for her room quickly, before anypony could notice the tears forming at her eyes.

---

A few hours of uneasy sleep later, Caughlin walked back into the hall feeling no less depressed. She was met with anxious expectation.

"Are you ready now, Caughlin?" "You alright?" "Caughlin, are you up to it? You don't look so good..."

She waved these off with a hoof. She was trapped once more, this time by her own team. She put on a weak smile. "Of course I'm ready. Let's do this. For Equestria." She did not even need direction as she walked up to the chamber, noticing Dr. Klipit amongst the rest of the Order ponies around. A scientist passed her a memo. It was a hastily-written thing, with an apology beforehand - due to Discord's direct hit, they had to work overtime non-stop to solve the remaining issues with Phase 2, hence the scrawling. There was an explanation of the modifications done to the chamber, union processes and implementation to-dos. There was even a warning on the addition of the conditional barrier clause this time, meaning she was well and truly stuck with going through with this.

"Alright, fine. Let's go. So all of these are unicorns, right?" she asked, stepping into the circle, the feeling of defeat overriding any other emotion.

"Yes," replied Dr. Klipit. "You simply have to slot in the Wings and Potential, and have them join within the subject's own Horn thaumatics. Any more questions?"

"No." She closed her eyes as Dr. Klipit nodded and began the countdown. There went the familiar shift of essence - that shift of her organs -

- and she was back once again in the thaumical realm. Before her lay the two characteristics. They seemed much larger than the ones they had used before, though. She tried not to think about it as she half-heartedly pieced the two together. As expected, they resisted strongly - the lack of the third characteristic caused an imbalance.

She sighed. The answer was simple enough - take the two into herself, rush back into the director's circle and re-enter the subject's field, then perform the implementation. Just as she had done with Celestia. She lifted the masses to herself and ingested them. She felt the two wild energies struggle, and she had to focus hard to keep them under the control of her Horn within herself. It was queasy business - like taming fish in her stomach - but the urgency of the matter triumphed. They throbbed and clutched uneasily at each other, bound by her focus and her Horn. Now to exit and re-enter.

She felt herself drop back into the physical realm. Blinded by the light of her own energy, she kept her eyes closed and fumbled about in the darkness of her conscience to find the thread to the next circle. It was a thin, frail line of direction magic - poorly-drawn, most likely - probably because of the rushed rate things were going at. She reached out to it and sent the characteristics through before her...

Then she was hit with a huge retaliation force, striking her from the inside out. Her eyes widened, only to squeeze shut as they drowned in painful white void. She gagged just before an immense pain racked her whole body. She screamed until her throat failed as something bubbled inside of her, meddling with her essence. She had no idea what was going on, but it felt like her very being was being restructured, ripped apart and pieced together. Simply the physical pain was on a whole new level. She thought she could feel her backbone breaking as unknown things emerged from it. Her skin stretched and pulled, triggering every nerve. The pain behind her eyes was much, much worse than Discord's image implement, as if her brain was threatening to blow up. Her gut felt as if it was expanding, raw energy lashing out through her stomach to her legs and back. To say that it was discomforting would be the understatement of the century.

She was not sure how long it lasted before she finally passed out.

---

When she finally came to, the first thing she saw was the ceiling of her room.

She felt that she could cry for joy at the familiar sight. That dull, rocky, blandly-painted ceiling of hers.

The next moment, she felt her throat sear as she tried to swallow. There was a soreness all over her body, but it was nothing compared to those... moments not so long ago. She lay there, content to think about nothing, just feeling, and soon noticed that she was lying on something hard. She shifted to one side and gave the object a tug with her magic, and yelped.

Promptly, she learnt two things - firstly, her magic had somehow strengthened in multiples. Telekinesis was as easy as breathing now - the little activity required mere will, and it had been done, with a good deal of force, too. The second was that this object was attached to her back. It was a part of her that had never been there before. And the tug hurt.

She was suddenly aware of the delicate sensations on her back as she moved against the covers. She gave an experimental pull of her muscles, and the object - objects - shot out from under the blankets, rigid, yet light. She could even feel the draft from these things. From the corners of her sight, she could see wing tips...

I have wings and stronger magic, she wondered. I have wings.

Something in her went cold. These are... mine?

All further thoughts were drowned out by a sudden squeal and the relieved sobs of Celestia as she threw herself onto Caughlin, shocking her perception of the world back into gear.

"Mother, Mother, you're alive! You're awake, and you're... you're alive!"

Comments

[Verequus]

Whooves betraying Caughlin - I suspect foul play. Did Furhich finally get him? Or was him freeing Caughlin some kind of plan by Fuhrich? Or maybe Discord intervened? Answers will be seen in "Enter The Third"! Or maybe not.

[Casca]

3484643
Ohohoho.

That is all I'll say.

Ah, and thanks for taking the time to leave a comment

[archonix]

Twist! Nice play, though I too wonder just what got into whooves... unless he already tried things caughlin's way...

[PresentPerfect]

You just barely avoided an over nine thousand joke. I got my eye on you, boy.

Okay, so we have Whooves' unexpected betrayal and Caughlicorn. I am very excite. :D