• Published 10th May 2012
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All-American Girl - Shinzakura



A pony raised amongst humans finds out about her birth mother - Rarity.

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Chapter Six: Aftermath and Regret

She stood on Luna’s balcony, watching the eclipse. While it was a normal phenomenon on Earth, it was usually a sign that a regency was in charge of Equestria at the moment, with the Solar and Lunar princesses offworld. Of course, from what she heard, there was a weird atmospheric effect going on in the skies over Tokyo at the moment, but Luna was too busy with her current situation to deal with that and Celestia insisted on taking a direct hoof in the matter regarding the attack, which left Cadance to return to Equestria in order to deal with matters of statescraft.

And right now, as she read the mission plan for what was obscurely known as “Situation Firestarter”, she wished she could just go back to the days when she and Shiny were just teens in love, where she watched over a young Twilight and they were all unaware of the monsters that went bump in the night. In the decades since they’d all become all-too aware that they existed, and in the end Cadance had her heart torn out because of it, a stallion-sized wound that after fifteen years had yet to heal.

If I do this, it could be seen as revenge. Plus, we don’t know if there are innocents still caught in that deathtrap. Of this she was certain: Fillydelphia was lost. She’d been there when the refugee camps were being set up, saw the foals without parents crying for help, the parents who had no idea if their foals were still alive, and so many of her ponies, just suffering and in need of succor. Vibrant Fillydelphia was always meant to counter this, to give ponies a home and a place to be. But that city was gone now.

Cadance took a sip of a honey wine that she’d picked up the last time she was Germany, tasting the flavor on her tongue. It had been a favorite of hers, a sweet explosion on her taste buds. But today it was as bitter as the mantle of responsibility she now wore.

She turned and looked at the pegasus standing there, a guard she’d called while she pondered her choice. And then she spoke.

“Messenger, inform General Spitfire that I am authorizing Situation Firestarter.”

There was nothing but the soft beeps of the life support machines for fanfare as DJ slowly opened her eyes. She felt like shit – and that was an understatement. She was sore all over, aching in muscles she didn’t know she had, in parts of her body she wasn’t even aware existed; it was like someone poured gallons of tired sauce all throughout her insides.

“Ah, good to see you’re awake, DJ.” She knew that voice. The humanized pony looked up, seeing a familiar face, soft mirth on the smile. “You know, I usually don’t chase after married girls like this, but the Air Force insisted, so….”

Despite the pain, she grinned weakly. “Good to see you too, Evan.” Her doctor, Cpt. Evan Pierson, MD, EqD, USAF. Unfortunately, with DJ not being human, there were a limited amount of places Mike and his family could be stationed. While the Navy didn’t have any equiniatric doctors at the Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, Evan had learned the trade as a doctor prior to joining the Air Force; when he was stationed at nearby Yokota Air Base, it gave Mike the chance for them to be stationed in Japan. Needless to say, DJ and Evan became friends.

“Don’t tell me you came all the way here for me,” she said, feeling touched. Yes, it was his job, but still….

“I’m the only EqD in East Asia, DJ,” he pointed out. “Of course I had to come.” He then looked at her somewhat soberly as he added, “How do I say this gently?”

She struggled to turn her neck to look at him; the soreness and the strain began to scare her. Finally, after a few more seconds of struggling, she said in a calm voice, “Give it to me straight. I’m a grown woman, I can take it.”

“Not in the least,” he said as he shook his head. “As much as you act and think like one, you’re not a woman – you’re a mare. And that’s the only reason you’re still alive. Had you been a human woman, or even a unicorn or pegasus mare, you’d be dead right now. The only thing that saved you is the fact that you’re an earth pony and your particular subspecies has a higher injury tolerance. Even still, since your time here on human-Earth has made you weaker than the average earth pony, your body bears that out: most of the major bones in your body were crushed, including your skull. Multiple lacerations and punctures; you had an artery sliced and lost a good amount of your blood – and your blood type, EG-positive, is not a common pony type to begin with.” He leaned closer and added, “You even lost an eye.”

“Um, how so?” she asked, confused. “I’m looking at you with both of them, and if I recall correctly, pony eyes can’t be cloned and artificial ones are still on the drawing board.”

“You really want to know?” DJ nodded, and in turn, he pointed to the other side of the room. With a great amount of strain, she turned to look. There, seated in a chair next to the bed, sitting human style with her eyes closed and her horn blazing like a star, was Luna. She looked the very picture of exhaustion and fatigue, as if she’d just run across the length of the galaxy and back – several times. Her mane was starting to change from the “galactic” look it had normally to the cornflower blue of when she was depowered, and she was still in the gown she wore to the dinner several days earlier. Her face was etched in concentration and deep meditation and when her eyelids flickered, light seemed to pour out of them briefly.

“She’s been like that for the three days you’ve been under. She refused to move from your side, even when the doctor tried to kick her out – she even went into the operating room and freaked the hell out of us! Once we had you stabilized and informed everyone of how bad things were, apparently she doesn’t take bad news very well. You’ve been under a ton of magic healing – freakin’ magic! – and all I’ve been doing is standing here and stupidly watching as she’s made me completely fucking redundant. Again, she refused to leave your side; they even tried to get the President of Singapore himself in here to try to get her to leave.” He shook his head. “Who the hell is she?”

DJ looked at the still form with crushing guilt. “Someone I’ve badly misjudged,” she admitted, unable to take her eyes off the haggard alicorn princess. Straining to turn her head to face Evan again, she felt queasy. “Ugh, sore all over.”

“Yeah, there’s a reason for that: when she was awake an hour ago and after basically telling the President’s aide to go pack sand, she explained to me that the soreness is a side-effect of her healing you at the friggin’ cellular level. The cellular level! DJ, we’ve been friends long enough that I hope you realize how absolutely useless I feel right now?”

“You’re here; I appreciate that.” A thought came to her and she asked, “Where’s Mike?”

Evan laughed. “Terrorizing the entire island, of course. Apparently people are figuring out that it’s rather bad to piss off the guy who’s responsible for his ship’s nuclear weapons. Of course, I recall someone saying the Konetzni doesn’t carry nukes, but hey, let’s not play our cards early, he said. In any case, he’s down at the prison on the eastern side of the island having a nice chat with the guys who decided to shoot up the whole island.” A thought crossed his mind. “You hungry?”

“A little.”

“Okay, let me go get lunch for you then and something for her, too – you know she hasn’t eaten anything since you got here either? Said it’d distract her from focusing on you.” DJ’s eyes went wide at that and Evan nodded. “Nope, not kidding. In any case, I’ll be right back.” With that, Evan left the room and DJ was left alone with Luna.


She lay there for a few minutes, looking at the sleeping alicorn, not really sure of what to do or say. Finally, DJ forced herself to sit up, ignoring the pain, all to get a better look at the moon avatar. DJ had done enough overnighters to know how rough it felt, and here was Luna, having done far, far more than that with no rest whatsoever.

Why? Clearly she hates me and probably only saved me because Celestia or Cadance told her to.

But then Cinnamon’s words suddenly came to her mind, unbidden: “She tries to be considerate, but it doesn’t always work out that way. But once you actually get to know her, she’s just one big cuddly Smarty Pants doll. She really does love us all. You too, even if she’s a little peeved with you.”

Realization kicked in. Luna could have just let the doctors handle it. But Evan said she’s been at it for the past few days. Seeing the chronometer on the wall, DJ suddenly noticed it was four days past the last day she remembered, and the only reason she was alive to remember it now was because of Luna.

Because I’m family, DJ realized. Because Luna wasn’t just some alicorn royal that DJ had pissed off one day; the moon princess was DJ’s aunt, with all the love and care that went with it. And while there was no doubt that Luna had been cross with DJ – dinner that night had proved it – Luna would not be here if hatred ruled her dealings with her wayward niece.

DJ wasn’t sure why, but suddenly she leaned over, ignoring the pain, to brush Luna’s face with her hoof, whispering a soft, “Thank you…Aunt Luna.”

Luna’s lips moved into a soft smile. “You’re welcome.” DJ hadn’t been expecting that and fell back in surprise, only to be caught by Luna’s magic field. “Please don’t injure yourself again – I just spent a considerable amount of energy putting you back together.” Floating the recalcitrant earth pony back into a prone position on the bed, Luna herself just yawned and stretched slightly. “I am sooo exhausted. I think I’ll be asleep for the next few days at this rate.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve been trying to keep you alive the past few days, of course. That takes a lot out of a pony, even me.”

“No, that’s not what I m—”

“I know what you meant,” Luna said, smiling fondly. “It’s because you’re my niece, and at the end of the day, you’re still family. I couldn’t let you go. Obviously, there were all the other considerations like your husband, your foals and such, but in the end, I did it for you.”

DJ sighed. “Look, I owe you an apology.”

“No, you don’t. I’m not exactly Miss Congeniality, and I probably caught you on a bad day.”

“Yes, you did, but I should have reacted much better. Cinnamon told me the small, ostensibly unobtrusive guards were to prevent making a bigger scene and it never occurred to me.”

“Tell you what: let’s just forget about it and move on, shall we? I’d like things to go back to the way they used to be.”

A nonplussed look came over DJ’s face. “Um…I just met you a few weeks back. We never even met during the custody trial.”

She shook her head, nostalgia filling her eyes. “You were too young to remember, of course. Shall I show you?” Before DJ could even respond, Luna brought her horn to her niece’s forehead and shared the memory:


He looked at her, as she gazed back at him with sad eyes. “I hope you feel I’m not using you.”

He gave her a smile, one that was meant only for her. “Do you think I’m using you?”

“Of course not. But….” She couldn’t finish her words, instead just pulling him back to the bed and holding him. “I wish I could be normal,” she said softly.

“You are normal,” he replied. “You just wish that you didn’t have your cage, just like me. And you know what? While we’re here, we don’t.”

“You’re right, we don’t,” she said with a sudden smile. “So, for the rest of our time here, we’re just Robin and Cyndi?”

“That’s the way I think it should be,” he said, kissing her tenderly.


Luna’s cheeks burned bright red. “Um…that was the wrong memory. I must be really tired.”

“What was that?”

“Uh, don’t worry about it.” Luna caught a flicker of a smug look crossing DJ’s face, but instead focused on sending the correct memory this time.


Luna walked into the hospital room where a still-exhausted Rarity was holding her daughter. Due to complications in post-natal, the Knight Elemental of Generosity would need to remain in the Infirmary for a couple more days. Fortunately, the whole of the family made the effort to come see her, and so Rarity’s room was a bustle of activity as everypony she knew came by to visit, not the least of which was her current visitor – the Princess of the Night.

“Hello, Luna, she just fell asleep,” Rarity said with a soft smile. “She’s rather boisterous when she’s awake.”

“May I?” the night alicorn asked and Rarity handed her over. “She’s so beautiful,” Luna said, peering at the small bundle of joy in swaddling. “What’s her name?”

“Sandalwood. We named her after Silver’s mother.”

“That’s beautiful,” the alicorn agreed. Reaching down to gently caress the baby’s face, she cooed, “Do you know who I am, little one? I’m your Aunt Luna, and I’ll always be here to give you sweet dreams and beautiful stars.” In response, the foal awoke and reached out with her forelegs to touch Luna’s muzzle.

“See? She knows who her favorite aunt is,” Rarity commented. “Just watch, you’ve got a tag-along niece for life. You’ll have years to teach her the stars.”


“Of course, it didn’t work out that way,” Luna sighed, retracting herself to her previous position. “Two weeks later, you were gone and things haven’t been the same since.”

“I’m hoping this isn’t going to turn into one of those ‘blame my parents’ speeches.”

“Of course not – you have every right to be protective of them and love them; I’m not here to insult them at all. But what I am saying is that you’re a grown mare now and you should be mature enough to realize that your mother – your biological mother, Rarity – still aches for your loss. It’s long past time that you make up with her.”

DJ crossed her arms. “Sorry, that’s not in the cards.”

“I’m not going to excuse what she’s done or would still be doing if the situation weren’t so dire. Nor am I going to excuse you for not being, in a manner of speaking, the better woman in this. Part of being human is being humane, so I was told.”

“That’d be the guy in the memory, right?” Being an author, she quickly put two and two together. “Wait – you’ve got a human boyfriend, don’t you? Heh, small wonder you don’t have a problem with my parents.”

“DJ….” Luna warned before continuing. “Just…look at it this way: I’ve wanted to keep my promise to you about the stars, and part of the reason I haven’t is because of your desire to stay as clear of Equestria as possible. Did you know your younger brother has wanted to meet you for years now?”

“Cinnamon told me about it.”

“Both Sweetie and Twilight have had a lot of influence in his life, a counterbalance to Rarity, if you will. He’s a smart, eloquent stallion, one you should get to know, and he’s going to be a father soon himself – he could probably use your sage advice.”

“My kids aren’t exactly like foals. I’m not even sure if they’re like full humans, for that matter. Lyra and I have been comparing notes on a regular basis and both my kids and hers will probably be complete headaches when they reach puberty. I’ve also got another friend who’s got a half-pony kid, and he’s got his hands full on that one as well.”

“Well, foals are no different, especially when they start reaching maturity. Teens are seriously problematic, both your sister and Blitz especially. Cinnamon, not too surprisingly, was very timid, and the twins, well…the twins are the twins; that’s all anypony can really say to explain them.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me about them?”

“Because you didn’t care.” DJ suddenly looked as though she’d been slapped and Luna merely looked at her with sad eyes. “You did this to yourself, gave everypony the impression that unless they were coming to visit you, you really didn’t care. You probably didn’t mean it, but that’s the result – what you can get away with when you’re younger you can’t when you’re an adult. After trying to involve you in the family’s affairs, eventually everypony just gave up save for the occasions when they were on human-Earth.

“You have a chance to make things right.” Luna reached up and took DJ’s forehooves into her own; DJ herself noticed it, a very human gesture. “If you truly care about all of us, if you truly care about your husband, children and parents, if you care about yourself – fix this. Otherwise, you’ll give into hate. And you’re too special a mare…woman…person to let that rule your life. That wasn’t what I saw in your future that day I held you, and that’s not what I want to see now.”

DJ was speechless. This was the mare that gave her grief earlier, that pretty much drove her out of the dining room and to a near deat—no, that was me. That was my doing. I could have sat there and taken it; God knows how many times my parents have lectured me for misbehavior. Or when Mike has gotten on my case for something I screwed up. So why can’t…?

Luna was right. So was Mike. And her parents. And Twilight. And Sweetie Belle. And Lyra. And AJ. And, and, and, and, and.

DJ just looked at Luna for the longest time and said, “I don’t know if I can. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m somewhat of a basket case.”

“Don’t ever think that; it’s almost always an excuse. If you want to see cases of ponies with actual problems you should see Screwball or Screw Loose; both of them were permanently damaged by Discord and have yet to recover. Some ponies even believe Screwball was created by Discord, but we can’t prove that. But we have hope that they can recover; Dr. Redheart has been working with both for years. Or for a better case, Bon-Bon when she was dealing with her mental breakdown. And if there’s hope for all of them, there’s hope for you. You have a family that is there for you and has always been there for you. Just because you have an affinity for your human family doesn’t mean we don't matter or vice versa. Whether you’re DJ or Sandalwood, it doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing.”

“I’ll think about it.” She would have said more, but she suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion come over her.

“Don’t just ‘think about it’, DJ – really think about it. Now get some sleep, and let me keep working on healing you.”

“If you insist.” DJ was too tired to argue, so she crawled back into the sheets and was out like a light seconds later.


Evan walked in, carrying a couple of trays in his hands. “Okay, DJ, they didn’t have much, but…” Evan noticed that DJ had fallen asleep again, but that Luna was now awake, back to her healing spells but with a better look on her face than she’d had since he first saw her. “Healing going okay?” he asked.

Despite her exhaustion, the Princess of the Moon gave him a tired but wide smile. “The physical part, yes. The emotional one? For the first time in a while, I have hope.”


Several miles off the coast of Fillydelphia, a dozen Royal Equestriani Navy ships sailed, ready to pull the trigger. The collection was composed of several Twilight Velvet-class AEGIS destroyers, Dodge Junction-class AEGIS cruisers and Harmony-class ballistic subs, as well as the acting flagship for the mission, the aircraft carrier RENS Commander Pansy. The ships sailed in a great circle off the coast of the ruined city, as if awaiting a silent signal for what was about to occur.

Suddenly, as one, the ships and boats opened up their missile tubes and fired on what had once been their own city. Blasts of fire erupted from the decks of the ships and geysers of flame blasted from the water as the missiles were committed to action. A forest of Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles tore into the sky, leaving contrails of smoke as dirges for the tens of thousands of ponies that had once lived in the fourth largest city in Equestria. The missiles seemed to lazily hang in the air for a few seconds before they arced and then lanced down towards the city.

Once in several carefully selected locations, they detonated just above the ground, the airbursts turning the very air into fireballs. The walls of flame immediately rushed throughout the city, incinerating everything they touched as the blast waves and explosive power turned buildings into dust and rubble. The inferno of flames rose into the air as the ships continued their onslaught, firing wave after wave of missile until their respective arsenals were spent. The ships awaited orders to see if their railguns would then be turned against the city, but as the skyline of what was now being called Quarantine Zone Alpha was naught but hellfire, the ships were ordered to stand down and return to base.

On four particular ships, the destroyers RENS Cinnamon Spice and RENS Upper Reaches, the cruiser RENS Cloudsdale and the submarine RENS Valor, the crews stood on the weatherdecks, watching as the city burned. Just what seemed like weeks ago the crews of the four vessels called the city home, via the Naval Station across from the civilian port. But that was a time now since gone. Those whose families escaped went in all directions, hoping to be reunited with their loved ones; others had not been so lucky and the fire-blackened remains would be a tragic memorial. Twenty years on from the first contact, ponykind had seen miracles from their human allies, medical wonders, electronic delights and so much more. But now, standing on the decks of human-built military vessels and having fired human-built weapons into their own cities, they were seeing the flipside of the wonder that was humanity. Mankind could create, mankind could destroy. But, had they never run into humanity, would they have done the same with magic? Nightmare Moon had not been repulsed by the Elements this time, and Chrysalis had performed an atrocity that had to be met in kind.

Nopony wanted to answer the question; the truth was too damning. Let the humans, fairly or otherwise, shoulder the brief burden of guilt; let the changelings, with nothing but their destructive ways, suffer the demonization. For now, ponykind would be a martyr, a victim, able to dress its wounds and wait for tomorrow when they would be mighty coursers, bringing the fugue of battle back to their enemies.


“That’s a damn shame to do that to people – both you and the actual victim,” Rodenkov said, shaking his head in sympathy. “They really didn’t follow up?”

“No,” Mike said to the members of the 15 Office as they stood outside the interrogation room at the prison. It was the first time in a couple of days he’d seen them, after having spent more time at the hospital than at the interrogation due to needing to be with DJ. “I pretty much keelhauled the guy from Reuters repeatedly asking how he could mix up my wife – Daisy Jo Martinez – with someone who just happened to have the same first initials and last name. While I do feel sorry for whomever in the Philippines is mourning Diana Jane Martinez, you’ll have to excuse me for being elated that it wasn’t my wife. But still, that lack of professionalism? Completely unsat.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear about your wife, Commander,” Sung said. “But in the meanwhile, we have info for both you and her majesty.”

“We’re all ears, Lieutenant.” Celestia was back in her human guise again; by now the cover was blown but she felt that given the circumstances she’d probably be much safer running around as a human with a lower profile, at least until they returned to Equestria.

“I think I’d best explain it, as I was the one who talked to both of them, Princess,” Gespenstflügel commented. “The gent the Colonel put his ‘gun’ against broke like a twig. His name’s Rocky Rickard, and he claims to be former Australian SAS; we’re trying to confirm that right now. He claims that he was hired by a man who represents the Ploan National Liberation Front. We looked into it and it’s completely bogus, so we’re discounting anything he’s saying in regards to that. But it does mean he’s hiding someone.

“And that’s where the other man comes in. Cecil DeVille, former US Navy SEAL. We were able to confirm his identity, and he’s actually wanted for desertion, so we got quite a bit of information on him. DeVille told us a different story, one we’re willing to go with. He claims that he and Rickard were hired by a man named Ghino di Tacco—”

“Ghino di Tacco? Really?” Mike asked.

“You sound familiar with the name,” Mitchell commented.

“Yup, because DJ has a character with that name in her Rimefrost novels, based on the historical figure of the same name. But the historical Ghino di Tacco was a Robin Hood, a gentleman thief type.”

“Not this Ghino di Tacco,” Mitchell explained. “He apparently gave Rickard and DeVille a group of those changelings to them to train like human soldiers, and set things up to attack your party. The man was painfully familiar with your plans, which means you have someone on the inside.”

“Changelings, most likely; I’ll inform Cadance to have our forces start an investigation immediately.”

“While that may be for the best, your majesty,” Rodenkov spoke, “it might not help your current situation.”

Celestia picked up on it immediately. “Okay, Colonel, what are you not saying?”

“Very astute, your majesty, very astute. DeVille informed us that, strangely enough, the three of you were collateral targets; nice to get if they could, but not the main thrust of the attack. No, the target of the attack was your wife, Commander.” The sudden silence was palpable and thundering. “Part of me thinks he just feeding us a line, but there’s something about the reasoning that has a very bizarre truth to it.”

“Which is?”

“According to DeVille’s statement, your wife, for better or for worse, is a symbol of the United States; the ‘anyone can make it in America, rags-to-riches crap your media feeds the world, whether it’s true or not.’ And now that even an alien has made it, per se, it probably pisses off nationalists, extremists and all those other fun and pleasant individuals with axes to grind. All it takes is a wealthy man in Indonesia who has a grudge against the American beach bunny that turned him down twenty years ago; or the man in Kabul who thinks Allah just gave him a license to kill as many people as possible and you’re dealing with someone with too much time to kill and not enough brain cells.”

Mike shrugged. “Sorry, but as much as it worries me that he claimed to have targeted DJ, I just can’t buy that. She’s never been about ‘being a symbol of America’, quote unquote – all my wife has ever wanted is to just be treated like any other person here on Earth. Sorry, Colonel, but I don’t think that theory washes.”

“Then let me throw one more out there,” Celestia said. “Mike, this is what we were going to discuss the other night, but things…somewhat got in the way. It is entirely possible that those men were hired by undesirable elements of our world, because…there’s the potential that DJ might be a Bearer.”

“What’s a Bearer?” Mitchell asked.

“It’s…you know, I don’t ever really think I got an answer on that myself,” Mike said.

Gespenstflügel, on the other hand, was floored. “A new Bearer?”

“It is possible, Major. For the rest of you, the Bearers are holders of the ultimate weapons in Equestria, the Elements of Harmony, though I hate to call them weapons, per se; they’re more like purifiers of a sort. The Bearers are the virtual avatars of the six most important values in Equestriani life: Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness and Magic. The six are very much loved by the people, but the Elements are magically imbued and choose their users; the current six are the first to be chosen in a millennium,” she explained. “There’s a theory that once the current Bearers pass on, the Elements themselves may choose successors from within the families of the current Bearers, making them hereditary. Needless to say, that’s a significant change from the status quo, and enough of one to turn an individual against Canterlot.”

“So let me see if I’ve got this,” Mitchell said. “We have someone claiming that Commander Hengst’s wife is in the crosshairs, but we have no idea why, assuming of this is true and not just misdirection by a mercenary who’s far smarter than he seems.”

“Honestly, I’m going to go with that,” Mike replied. “I think he’s playing for time and is willing to put my wife in targeting brackets to keep us off his back. And I don’t know about you, but only the fact that I am a military officer is preventing me from going in there and just beating the….” Mike trailed off, not wanting to say anything he’d regret.

Rodenkov nodded sadly. “And that is why I didn’t want either of you involved in this. It’s too painful to be objective.”

“I can see that now. I’m already having a hard time keeping it together as is, and I can’t imagine how her pare—“ A bone-chilling thought suddenly rolled through him. “Celestia, DJ’s parents are staying at Twilight’s right now – has anyone informed them about what happened?”

The look he received was equally horrified. “I…there’s been so much going on, I have no idea.”

“I think I’d best take care of that,” Mike replied, “as well as letting my parents know. They’re all probably going out of their minds right now.”


Dozens of miles north, at the edge of the Great Northern Forest, two figures watched the distant trail of smoke slither into the sky like a vicious gray snake on its way to consume the joined sun and moon. The first was a great alicorn, far larger than Princess Celestia. Her coat was black and her mane and tail billowed with indigo motes of dark energy and the dim lights of dying stars. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of cyan even as the slitted pupils within made her seem all the more unnatural. The armor she wore was darker and etched with ancient runes whose meaning would horrify anypony who dared to read the inscription. Her very presence wilted the earth below, the grass beneath her hooves dying at the touch. This was Nightmare Moon, more powerful than she’d ever been, and she gazed on the site of her latest victory. “They’ve bought the ruse.”

“I hope this was worth it; the expense of all those drones will be costly.” Beside her was the changeling queen, Chrysalis. She gazed at the fiery remains of Fillydelphia, a funeral pyre for so many of her kind. “Even still, my latest changeling princess was a fool. Any self-respecting princess should have known that once I birthed my new soldiers and abandoned the hive to her, she should have run as far away as possible before she attempted to assume my throne and become queen; once that happened, her biological instincts kicked in and she started laying an army that would never see the light of day.”

“I assure you, it will be worth it. You may now march south at your leisure to the Southern Continent, where the changeling tribes there will assume you dead and be no match for your pepsis. Additionally, our human ally is offering to assist in the effort, as a token of appreciation for the gifts we have sent.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Forgive me if I scoff at his generosity. He wants another of my pepsis and says the one we sent him is ‘defective.’ Admittedly, that much is true; it seemed like a way to get rid of her, but she seems to be growing a spine in my absence. I will have to rectify that.” She turned her head and called out, “Blood Armor?”

The leader of the pepsis approached. “Yes, mother,” he said, showing deference to both females whether he wished to or not.

“Our human ally will be joining us for our southern jaunt,” Chrysalis said lightly, “but he desires a replacement for the piece of trash you sent him. This time, I would prefer someone who truly represents our kind.”

Before Blood Armor could say anything further, a pepsis princess walked up behind him. She was a deep blue, and her mane and tail were purple and black. Her carapace and wings were of a soft gray and the color of her eyes was that of a deep gray. Swishing her tail seductively, she said, “Mother, I would like this assignment, if it pleases you.”

Chrysalis looked at the female pepsis; while there was no sense of challenge coming from her, it was clear that she wanted something. “And may I ask why?”

“Because my brothers and sisters bore me,” she said. “None of them have any stamina save for Blood here,” she said, nuzzling the pepsis prince in a disturbingly intimate manner, “and I think a human might just be enough of a difference to keep me occupied.”

“I see. And what say you, my son?”

“Get her out of here,” Blood Armor snarled. “If she continues to rut with our troops, they’ll be too exhausted to do anything.”

“That’s because they don’t have your strength, older brother,” the princess said.

“Then let it be so. When our allies meet us in the southern continent, we will make the switch. And then, I fully expect you to attend to Twilight Sunburn’s missteps, Blood Armor. She is growing too bold and must be…dealt with.”

“Yes, Mother,” he said. “Come, Blue Velvet,” he said to his sister. “We have much still to do.” A flicker of a look crossed the pepsis’ face, and she followed her brother. But Chrysalis couldn’t help but notice that as Blue Velvet departed, her tail began to rise.

“Your troops’ personalities are somewhat…interesting,” Nightmare Moon said to Chryalis.

“They should be. I spent years ensuring their personalities were of more suitable facets for my needs. They are filled with the genetic memory of Shining Armor and, by extent, his immediate family. Thus every one of them serves a particular facet. Blood Armor engenders his father’s ruthlessness in battle, while Blue Velvet, I presume, engenders a part of Twilight Velvet that was unknown to my….” Chrysalis hung on the word for a second, before committing to it. “…mate,” she said finally.

“You consider the stallion you seduced and tricked as your mate?” Nightmare Moon said, a touch of laughter in her tones.

Chrysalis nodded. “Credit goes where credit is due, even for me: my pepsis warriors are smarter, stronger, more loyal and far more capable than any mere changeling, because they have their father’s heritage to fall back on. Personally, I would almost like to thank him for that, but he has been dead for years now. He’ll be spared what will happen to his beloved homeland, so perhaps I’ve already done the father of my foals a favor.”

“Perhaps,” Nightmare Moon said, with a barely perceptible smile. “But for now, we plan. Let us make haste.”

Nothing more to be said, the two great mares melted into the forest, followed by the hundreds of pepsis warriors under Chrysalis’ command.


Ghino held the gun to the next drone’s head. “You will do as you are told, Twilight, or they will die.” To the side of the weakened, terrified drone, two more lay dead, the telltale holes in their head – that weren’t there originally – a sign of what would happen to this next one. The drone looked both in fear at the weapon being held to his head and in the hope that the princess would save him. But he was too weak and malnourished to use his natural shapeshifting and untrained in the ways of changeling magic.

Feeling the dirge of sorrow within her, tears streaming from her eyes, she lay prone on the ground, supplicant to the human. For a change, she was in her true form, the result of playing with the drones and giving them as much love as she could. She now knew she’d gotten them killed, and it was entirely her fault; all she could do now was to try to save the lives of the rest of them. “Please, I beg you – don’t hurt them, they’re just innocent drones! I am their pri—” Her words were cut off by the tinny sound of the gun going off.

He looked at her, rage in his eyes. “What did I tell you, pepsis? These are not your changelings. They serve at my whim, as do you. Now you will do as you are told or the rest of these will suffer the same fate.” He slid the armament back into a hidden holster underneath his jacket, looking at the pepsis with contempt. “Now clean up this mess and then I expect you to do as you were ordered. And when you return? You are to sleep in the guest quarters from now on.”

“But don’t I—”

“Not anymore,” he snarled. “You were never that much of a diversion to begin with.” And with that, he departed, leaving a torn Twilight Sunburn to ponder what she’d done wrong. All she was doing was what her father would have wanted her to do, was that so wrong?

One of the few surviving drones, already near death, looked at her, and with the last of his strength, shifted his form to almost look like hers; due to his lack of strength, it was an incomplete change and he looked more like a changeling version of her than an actual copy. The changeling whispered something to her, smiled, then fell to the floor, changing back to his native form as death claimed him.

Twilight Sunburn heard the drone’s last words and cried. He’d meant it as an honor, but his words were just a reminder of how she was failing these innocents. Setting a spell to teleport the bodies away, she shifted to her human form, ready to do what her lord had bid her, as the drone’s final words rang in her mind: “Thank you, my princess.”


In the center of the city of Ponyville was a building fashioned out of a living tree. It had once been the local library, but with the growth of the small town into a large one and then into its current status as a small city, the library was now housed in the former town hall, which itself was replaced by the larger city hall across the street. The Boughs and Books building, as it was still called after all these years, was now the local office for the Mage Guild, where any mage could spend time discussing various issues with their colleagues or await assignments for various missions. In fact, the one full-time mage assigned to the office usually handled the magical needs of both Ponyville and the surrounding towns, from Woodside in the south to Berryville, northeast of the town, a suitable fit for Equestria’s seventeenth largest city.

As for the mages that came in and out of the office on a regular basis, they were a nebulous fit in modern post-Contact Equestriani life. Once they had been fully integrated into both the Guard and the Fleet, but with the ERG now solely assigned to royal protection and the rest of the Guard reformed into the Royal Equestriani Armed Forces, it left hundreds of unicorns of considerable magical skill without a real place in life. Fortunately, their leader, Twilight Sparkle, solved that problem; the Mage Guild now served as Equestria’s national police force, handling issues that the ERG, the Armed Forces nor town sheriffs could not deal with for one reason or another. The biggest case to date was the Bucker killings, but mages served in a range of roles from research to rescue to embassy duty and everything in between. Though Twilight was officially the head of the Guild, due to her range of duties the day-to-day issues fell to her Vicemagus, Raspberry Blast, who welcomed the change in the scope of the Guild’s operations. Underneath the Vicemagus were twenty or so Senior Mages, all of which were considerable talents in the arts and formidable for their magecraft, their knowledge and their leadership.

And currently, one such mage was in town, though she was hardly expected. Sweetie Belle knocked on the door of the Guild office, trying to get the attention of the full-time mage that lived there. Her attitude was frantic and impatient, and had she been in a better mood she would have taken a step back to look at the old house, remembering the times she’d trained here before Twilight was asked to head the Guild and Sweetie, loyal apprentice that she was, joined the purple mare in Canterlot. In a manner of speaking, this was always a part of her life, would always be a part of her world.

But right now she didn’t want to be alone. Granted, she could have stayed at the other end of town in a carousel-shaped clothing store that had a private home in the upstairs, but it cut too close to the bone right now. Likewise, the cottage on the outskirts of town that was available to members of the Royal Family, but she knew she’d be spotted in a heartbeat and she didn’t want to deal with anypony at the moment. That last decision also made the sizable apple orchard to the west of town off-limits for the same reason; she had family there as well, but to be there would be even more obvious than to be at the Carousel Boutique or Fluttershy’s old cottage. So the only choice left to her was the Guild office and its current residents.

Finally, a high-pitched voice wafted from behind the door. “Okay, okay, I’m coming! Just hold on, okay?” After a few seconds, the door opened and a small baby dragon opened the door. Her scales were mostly lilac in color and her soft spikes were the green of newly-sprouted leaves. She wore a big red bow tied to one of them, a gift from Apple Bloom, and though she looked like another baby dragon she once knew, she could hardly be confused with the graceful drake that other dragon now was.

“Oh! Sweetie Belle! Wow, haven’t seen you in a while. What are you doing here?” A pause. “Uh, is it office inspection today? I thought that was next week.”

“I don’t know; I’m not on the inspection committee,” she said to the younger female. “I’m actually here on personal biz. Is Beardy here?”

“She’s in the shower right now. Did you want to come in and wait?” A sudden thought crossed the young draconess’ mind, and she looked past Sweetie, hoping for something. Finally, turning back to the unicorn, she asked in a dreamy tone, “Is that dreamboat of a drake here?”

Sweetie chuckled; ever since the draconess found out about Spike, she’d become absolutely convinced that it was her destiny to marry the older dragon. Spike had always found that odd and never encouraged her, though somehow that made Spines all the more determined to get her beau. “Sorry, Spines,” Sweetie replied. “With everything that’s going on right now, I’m sure Cadance has him very busy.”

“Then tell the Archmagus that he has to come here so we can plan our wedding!” Spines demanded. “She’ll listen to you – she’s your older sister, isn’t she?”

Sure, stab to the heart, why don’t you? “Look, I’d rather not talk about it right now. Could you please go get Beardy?”

“Sweetie, you know I hate being called that,” a voice said as a figure descended the stairs.

“I only call you that ‘cause I’m your friend,” Sweetie said as she approached the other unicorn, embracing her. The 35th direct descendant of Star Swirl the Bearded (and thus how she picked up her odd nickname), Star Swirl was twenty years Sweetie’s junior, but was wise and powerful for her years. The periwinkle unicorn had been Sweetie’s apprentice when the former had first completed the Mage Academy; due to Star’s considerable power the apprenticeship hadn’t lasted long but had instead formed a close bond between the two. Also, due to their family pedigrees (Star’s from her namesake ancestor; Twilight was a descendant of the first Star Swirl’s protégé, Clover the Clever), generally similar personalities, and respective guardianships of Spike and Spines, Twilight and Star got along as well.

“So what brings you to Ponyville? Let me guess: Shimmering Pearl didn’t want to do the inspection and you volunteered to do it to spend time with me?” In response, Sweetie just broke down and started crying into Star’s shoulder. The younger unicorn had no idea what was going on, but it was clear that something was wrong with her friend and mentor. “Spines, make some tea for us, okay?”

“Uh, sure, Star! Right after I—”

“—finish your homework?”

Spines suddenly started shuffling her feet. “I, uh….”

“You can finish that love letter to Spike later,” she said in a firm but kind tone. “Now, go get some tea and then go finish your homework; I don’t want to have another parent-teacher conference with Miss Cheerilee, okay?” She then said to the other unicorn, “Sweetie, come with me and let’s get you to relax – you look like you’ve been through an ordeal. Now, you want to tell me what’s wrong?”


Relaxing went out the window twenty minutes later.

“Sweetie!” Star said firmly, banging a hoof on the table, “that was stupid of you! You just abandoned them there?” Sweetie made to open her mouth, but a stark stare from Star made her shut it immediately. “Sweetie, you’re like an older sister to me, but as the Archmagus’ protégé, you can’t just shirk your duties just because of your problems with your fiancé!”

“But I—” Sweetie was lost for words. She tried to explain what happened back in Filly, but it came out as though she’d had a minor spat with Pip and bailed in the middle of an important mission instead of what really occurred.

“—left the two remaining Bearers, two allied soldiers and one of our own mages behind! And if I heard you right, a little filly, too!” Star chugged her cup of tea, then poured herself another cup. “That poor filly probably lost her parents in the attack and needed you – and you ran because you started arguing with Pip?”

“That’s not what happened,” Sweetie said, suddenly going on the defensive. “Look, I came here because—”

However, Star was having none of it. “I don’t care why you argued with him, it was a stupid reason and you’re supposed to be better than that. Who always told me that our responsibilities as mages came first? But you shirked that duty! You’re one of the most senior mages in the Guild and the protégé of our archmagus! But what kind of standards and image are you setting if we can’t expect the archmagus’ own apprentice to follow them?”

Sweetie just wanted to run away. In addition to all her other hurts, she’d now cracked Star’s faith in her and embarrassed Twilight’s good name. She turned to leave and—

“Wait.” She found herself tackled in a hug. “I’m sure the argument was minor, and by tomorrow you and he will be back to normal – after all, you and he have been together forever, and I’ve rarely seen a love truer than the one you and he share. Besides, weren’t you the one who told me if you really love someone they’ll always be there for you?”

Sweetie suddenly thought that maybe it would be better to explain what really happened once she calmed down. Cycling up wasn’t going to do her any good, and that sort of thing opened the door to CMFIS incidents. “Yeah, I did,” she said, deflating.

“Then just let it lie. You and he are a permanent thing,” Star continued, blissfully unaware of the end of the relationship her mentor and Pip had the day before – and unintentionally driving the knife in Sweetie’s heart further in. “Besides, from what I’m told, making up is the best part, isn’t it?” Star said, an impish grin coming to her face.

“Star….” Sweetie groaned, a sign she didn’t want to deal with her friend’s wordplay at the moment.

“I was just teasing,” the younger mare replied. “Look, I won’t tell anyone about what happened, but if somepony else says something I can’t cover for you. And as to Pip, your argument will be done and forgotten by the next time you see him. After all, he’s your special somepony – and I’m still waiting for mine.”

Sweetie Belle nuzzled her younger friend. “I wish you’d find someone, Star. Don’t wait until you’re my age to get married and start a family. You’re already in your thirties – don’t let Mr. Goodhooves pass you by.”

“Don’t worry about me. When it happens, it happens,” Star answered. “And speaking of happening, I’m guessing you didn’t get the broadcast that came over the emergency magic channels, did you?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “I’ve been using the network to bounce through the nodes until I got here. Is something wrong?”

Star nodded sadly. “Princess Cadance ordered the military to commit to Situation Firestarter.” There was a sudden gasp from Sweetie; she had a high enough security clearance to know about the secret plan. “She’s supposed to have a press conference in the morning to explain everything, but the press is going to eat her alive over this one – I mean, our own Navy destroyed Fillydelphia? It’s going to make her look bad, as well as Princess Celestia, too.”

“But she—! The city had become a changeling hive!” Sweetie gasped. “I was there, remember?”

“Um, considering your goof-up, you’re probably best laying low for that one. In any case, we’re talking the majority of two million ponies dead or missing, and tens of thousands of refugees swamping the nearby cities and tow—”

“MY NIECE IS DEAD!” Sweetie roared, slamming a hoof on the table, making Star flinch. “This whole thing…it was to go find Minty. We knew…we knew something was wrong, and according to initial reports, the moment they uncovered the superhive, they knew Filly was lost.” The older unicorn looked at the younger, and the look in her eyes was wild. “I’m losing all my family: Twilight. Rarity. Minty. The others. Pip. Everyone I’ve loved and cared for is slipping out of my hooves and there’s not a single thing I can do to stop it.” Sweetie buried her face in her hooves, sobbing, “Why is this happening to us? What did we do to deserve it?”

It broke Star’s heart to see her friend and mentor in such a state. “Sweetie?” she asked.

The white mare looked up briefly. “Yes?”

Star’s horn suddenly flared with her magic, a shaped aura composed of white mini-galaxies encircling her horn. Sweetie’s eyes suddenly glazed over and she slipped into a deep sleep, slumping over the table.

Spines noticed immediately. “What did you do?”

“She was going into hysterics, Spines. I hate seeing her like that.” The look on Star’s face was one of heartbreak. “I can’t ever bear to see somepony I care about hurt like that.”

Spines sighed. “I guess I’m carrying her up to your bed?”

Star gave her younger sister a wan smile. “I’d appreciate it, Spines. In fact, if you do, I’ll insist that Sweetie deliver the letter to Spike directly, okay?”

The young draconess looked as if she’d just received a boon from the courier gods. “You got it!” She then went over, picking up the larger mare and effortlessly carried her up the stairs. As she did, Star sighed, looking at the sleeping unicorn as she was carried upstairs to Star’s bed. Sweetie had been right: the younger unicorn shouldn’t wait forever for somepony to come into her life. But so long as the one she wanted as her special somepony had the ups and downs of another in her life, there’d be no chance to try to win her heart. And as Star turned off everything downstairs to shut down for the evening, she reminded herself once again that so long as she remained ever silently in love with her mentor and best friend yet watched from afar as that cad Pip continued to rule Sweetie’s heart unfairly, a pit of anger and jealousy would remain, a festering wound in the heart of Star Swirl.

Finally, coming up to bed, Star bent down and kissed the sleeping mare she loved softly on the lips. “Pleasant dreams, Sweetie,” she said, meaning the white unicorn’s name as a double-entendre. She then went to the empty side of the bed, readying herself for another night in solitude even as her heart’s desire lay mere inches from her.


Luna removed the earbuds. “Beautiful song…but it’s about boxing?”

“The Boxer Rebellion,” DJ corrected. “Then again, Daedelus has always done theme albums, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he did one on actual boxing eventually. Oh – speaking of which, his new album comes out next month. Definitely have to download that.”

The pair, having been left to their own devices for the past few hours, found they had a lot more in common than expected. DJ shared her love of music with Luna, both having agreed that there very little music, post-2020, that was worth listening to. Luna, in particular, had been introduced to Nick Drake, Bonnie Pink, Daedelus and Adventure Time. Out of the music DJ had on her phone, there was a brand-new album by Nick Drake; the Night Princess was actually surprised to discover that the singer in question was Lyra’s brother Harper, who was such a dead ringer for the English singer that the long-retired Drake nearly sued the unicorn for copyright theft until the two worked it out.

In turn, Luna introduced her to some Equestriani artists, such as HUFSTOMPR (apparently Cinnamon was a huge fan), Sapphire Shores, the Polypony Spree, and Midnight Moondust. Midnight was actually a friend of Luna’s, having met her at a Royal Command Performance that the moon alicorn had been reluctant to attend; they particularly bonded when the pegasus was filming the Arddun Lleuad film trilogy, as the character of Princess Selene was a pastiche of the dusky alicorn herself. Luna then told DJ about the time she and Midnight pranked the entire Night Court for several days by placing a disguise spell on the statuesque pegasus and letting Midnight ramble on about whatever the hell she felt like talking about; the ruse was finally revealed four days later when Midnight’s human husband (who was in on the joke) suddenly walked into the court and started passionately kissing “Princess Luna.”

“Oh, you should have seen the look on Princess Champagne Dreams’ face – she looked as though I’d just set Equestriani culture back to the stone age, while she never figured out the human woman standing right next to her was me,” Luna giggled. “I swear if she’d had her way Champagne would have started a coup against Celestia and I right then and there!”

“Um…I don’t have to meet this person, do I?” DJ asked. Hair-trigger people were not on her list of people she wanted to deal with, as she never cared much for those types…being one herself.

“You don’t have to worry about that; they’re quote unquote ‘part of the Royal Family’ due to a little fabrication Celestia made a thousand years back, but we have little to do with them if possible. They’ve always been a pain to deal with, and their current patriarch, Prince Blueblood, is a complete boor and Champagne Dreams, his wife, is worse. The only one I can really stand is Blueblood’s daughter, Gilded Lily, but she’s rather timid and meek due to Blueblood’s constant haranguing of her that she consorts with those beneath her station, which is a nice way of saying he’d rather she be elitist.”

“Would it help if I said I’d really not want to bother with it at all?”

Luna gave her niece a lidded glance. “You, giving up? The same mare who threatened to buck my flank repeatedly?”

DJ sighed. “Look, how many times do I have to apologize for that?”

“Infinitely. You know, you’re very cute when you’re contrite?”

DJ gave her a wicked smile. “Of course – how else do you think I can get Mike to let me get away with as much as I do?”


It was at this point that Mike and Celestia walked into the room, instantly noticing the two ponies getting along fabulously. Once they noticed, the two looked at each other, then back to the pair, and then back at each other, completely perplexed looks on both their faces.

“Changelings?” Mike asked.

Celestia mock-sighed. “Probably.”

Not having heard their banter, DJ and Luna looked at the two, before giving each other conspiratorial smiles. “We’ve worked out our differences and, at least between us, I can show her the stars I promised,” the alicorn said as she draped a wing around her niece.

DJ smiled, leaning into the embrace. “Yup, bestest buddies and all that.”

Mike and Celestia looked at the display, then back at each other, then back at the display, then back at each other before both saying at the same time, “Yup – definitely changelings.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed. “Changelings?”

“Yes. Four of them were amongst those who were captured in the attack. Which, we have a lot to discuss regarding that.” Celestia and Mike then went into a very unnerving explanation of what had occurred over the past few days, and the fact that DJ had been the target and not the princesses. The look on the earth pony’s face was one, surprisingly enough, not of fear but anger. Celestia noted that and saw the slight look of pride on Mike’s face at DJ’s reaction to being targeted.

“DJ,” the sun alicorn said, “Now please be aware it’s just a theory and likely one to put us off-guard while the suspect’s accomplices cover their tracks further.”

“No offense, Celestia, but see this stuff in my hand?” DJ raised one of her hands, the hoofspace flat and holding nothing as it was held out to the sun alicorn. “This is my collection of fucks I don’t give. Someone is trying something on me, so I have only one question for you and Luna: CCP, or can I go open?”

Celestia shook her head; as usual, her niece’s vulgarities were complex and that last part completely confused her. “I’m sorry; I didn’t quite get that.”

Mike explained: “Can she get a concealed carry permit or is open carry allowed. For a handgun, that is.”

“A handgun?” Celestia said. “As in, a human handgun?”

DJ looked at her aunt as if she was completely naïve. “Well, my parents were both military, and my mom has a small armory she keeps around the house for weapons reference for her artwork, so yeah, I know how to shoot. Learned on Dad’s Seburo M5 9mm. I’m not the greatest shot in the world…I mean, I can hit the freakin’ target, and unusual movement of muscles in my hoofspace tends to go numb around twenty rounds, but I can shoot – just don’t expect me to be the resident gunbunny.”

“No, you misunderstand what I’m saying. Why would you want one of those?”

“Celestia, at the risk of being blunt, the only reason you’re alive is because I had one,” Mike pointed out. “That’s what DJ’s getting at; if she really is the target and it’s not just lies, she’s gotta have a way of protecting herself. As her husband, I’m more than comfortable with her being armed.”

“I’m afraid we can’t, Mike. I drafted a law outlawing all personal use of weapons in Equestria centuries ago and I have no interest in repealing it. There’s no need for the general populace to have anything of the sort. I’m sure we can make an exception for you, Mike, given your military status, but for DJ, I’m afraid it’s out of the question.”

Luna spoke up. “Celestia, I think DJ might have a point.”

The sun alicorn looked at her younger sister as if she’d grown a third eye and second horn – Luna was defending DJ? “Luna, are you sure you’re not a changeling?”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Positive.”

“Okay, what city were we in when you and Robin became an item?”

DJ looked at Celestia, a mischievous grin on her face. “So, when do I get to hear the blackmail-worthy bits?”

“DJ, please, not now.”

“Please?”

Now it was Luna’s turn to be impish. “Okay, 'Rarity'.”

A sudden disgusted look crossed the earth pony’s face. “That was a low blow, Luna.”

“What happened to ‘Aunt Luna’?”

“You lost that plus when you started throwing insults at me.”

Luna moved like a shark smelling blood in the water. “An insult? No, little filly – you want to talk about insults, how about the self-inflicted one when you dressed up that night with your mother’s usual manestyle. Or didn’t you notice that you looked like the spitting image of Rarity that night?” DJ reacted as if she’d been slapped, and everyone bristled, especially Luna; after she’d just went to hell and back finally making up with DJ, now was not the time to reset things back into the negative.

Fortunately, that wasn’t necessary; DJ instead looked at her husband and drolled, “Next time? Hair stylist.”

Mike shrugged; a fight avoided was a fight avoided. “Sure thing, hon. Do we know how long you’re going to be here in the hospital still?”

“Spoke to Evan about ten minutes ago; they want to keep me a couple more nights just to doublecheck everything, but I should be able to check out first thing Friday.”

“Good. The first thing we’re doing afterwards is getting to Canterlot. I have no idea how much wild misinformation your parents have right now, but if they got the part about you being dead and not the part about that being a mistake, things are going to get big time Charlie Foxtrot. As it is, I’ve got to get word to my parents. Speaking of which: ladies, do you mind if I talk to my wife in private for a moment?”

“Not at all. In fact, I think we should probably consider getting some lunch. What about you, Luna?”

“No, thanks. I’m going back to the hotel to get some sleep. Wake me for dinner. Tomorrow.” With further ado, Luna teleported herself out of the room.

“Mike, I’ll wait for you outside,” Celestia said before departing.


The minute she was gone, Mike leaned over and kissed DJ. “Are you okay?”

DJ just broke down at the point, embracing her husband. “Mike, I was so scared! I—”

“You’re not the only one.” He cut her off sharply, gripping her arms and pulling her away from him. There was anger on his face and his eyes were starting to water. “Don’t you ever do that to me again, Daisy Jo, got that?”

Huh? This was not the response she was expecting. “Mike, what’s wron—”

“Do you even realize what kind of hell you put me through? Do you?

“Mike! I was the one dying!” What was wrong? She hadn’t seen him this mad in years. As a couple, they almost never bickered about anything, certainly never fought. One was always able to defuse the other somehow…which is why seeing him like this made her both worried and afraid at the same time. “I thought I was never going to see you or the kids again!”

“DJ, I killed a man trying to shoot at Celestia. And after that little bucket of fun, then I get to see the only woman I’ve ever loved crushed to a Goddamn bloody pulp and dying before my very eyes! And why? Because you threw a tantrum!”

“But Lu—”

“No buts, DJ!” He was trying to keep his voice low, but with the tears streaming down his face and his whole body tense from anger, it wasn’t easy. “You promised me that you’d try to keep civil with Luna but you turned around and blew a shit fit and took off! If you had stayed and just put up with it, I could have kept you safe.”

“She started it!” The moment she said it, she regretted it. The look in his eyes was…for the first time in years, she couldn’t read him, couldn’t comprehend. A pit of worry started growing in her heart.

“That’s a bullshit excuse and you know it. Last time I checked, I was married to a grown woman, not a child. It didn’t matter if she started it, you should have had the maturity to ignore her!” That shut DJ up right there, but Mike wasn’t done yet. “DJ, I’ve been tiptoeing around this long enough, but I think we’ve reached the breaking point. We’ve been together for over twenty years of our lives—”

“No, no, don’t say it!” She’d heard other wives talk about this speech so often; unfortunately divorce was a reality in the military and the divorce rate for the military was roughly double that of the civilian population – and the Navy’s divorce rate well outstripped all the other services combined. “Please don’t leave me,” she moaned, using her strength to break free of his hold and embrace him.

“Is…is that what you thought I was going to say? No, never – I mean it, DJ. You are the only one I love, could ever love. You. Are. It.” He wiped the tears away from his face briefly, but then continued. “No, love, what I’m afraid of is your temper – it’s hair trigger and it’s getting out of control, bordering on abusive.”

Abusive? “But I would never touch the kids! You know that!”

“I’m not talking about abusing them; I’m talking about you abusing yourself. You’ve become a physical reminder of everything you loathe and hate. You say you have no interest in becoming human, but you have a fine line between ponies you care about and whatever – and I think you’re including yourself in that list of ponies you dislike. And I’m honestly afraid that you’re going to lose it and something bad’s gonna happen. This last time was a fluke, but what happens if you do something stupid while I’m out at sea and you die in front of the kids? Or, God forbid, if you lose it while in the car with the kids….”

She looked at him in shock and horror, because she couldn’t believe the love of her life was telling her all this. And that he was right. “Mike, please! I need you!”

“DJ, we’re at a breaking point here. You need to let go of your anger and hate, and the only way you’re going to do that is to make good with Rarity. You don’t even have to have a relationship with her; just acknowledge that she’s your biological mother. We’re all worried about you: me, your parents, my parents, Twilight, AJ, Sweetie – everybody.” His eyes were both hard and breaking as he said, “Please, it’s time to put away the hate. It’s unnecessary, unchristian and it’s not the kind of person you are. It’s eating you alive. Don’t let it.”

“And I’m working on it! I made up with Luna!”

“That’s a start, grasshopper, not the final goal.” He felt her tears soaking his blouse, but he didn’t care; he was pretty sure his were soaking the top of her head. He bent down and kissed her head and ears; sure enough, he was right. “DJ, you need to let go. You owe it to our kids, to me and most of all to yourself.”

“It’s not easy. My life’s never been easy.”

“I know. Look who you’re talking to – it wasn’t easy being the first guy to date a non-human, either. Did you know that after the wedding Paul thanked me for making it easier to have a relationship with Lyra? Guy’s ten years older than me, and he’s thanking me for putting up with all the shit beforehand. So you’re not alone in this, and I’m kind of insulted that you even mentioned that.”

“Mike, you knew what I meant.”

“I know. But I hope you’re getting what I’m saying, DJ. We can’t live like this anymore. I need you to really make peace with yourself, because if you keep going off the rails, I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I will promise you this: if I feel the kids are in danger, as much as I love you, I will take them and I will leave. I feel like a scumball for even saying that, but it’s the truth. You’ve been through so much hell, I know you have. But don’t let it tear you apart, DJ. I want to grow old with you, spoil the grandkids and then hand the over-sugared tykes back to our kids as revenge. But I can’t do that unless you’re willing to do it with me.”

The pair sat there for minutes at a time, just holding each other and taking in each other’s reality. “I’m sorry, Mike. I’m so, so, sorry,” was all DJ could whisper after a few minutes, her head buried in his chest. “You are the one person I never want to hurt.” She looked up and ran a hoof against his face. The look in those eyes; she’d only seen them a handful of times in her life and she regretted it every time she did, because she was almost always the cause of it.

He took her hooves in his hands and kissed them gently. “I know.” They looked at each other once more and then went to kiss….


“Hey, kids, don’t you two have a hotel room for that?” Evan said, leaning against the wall with a grin on his face.

“You won’t let my wife go, so I’m forced to go hang with a princess until then,” Mike said with a smile.

“Well, hospital rules are hospital rules, Mike. Even I can’t break those; Colonel will have my ass if I do. As it is, you probably should let her get some rest. She’ll be out of the hospital soon enough so you two can spend the next few days in your hotel room doing what married couples usually do.”

She looked at Mike and smiled. “I’ll be fine, hon. We can talk about this tomorrow. We’ve…we’ve got a lot to talk about.”

“Okay. I’ll see you then.” He kissed her quickly, then left the room.

Evan watched him head out. “You need to get some sleep, DJ. That’s the kind of rest you need most right now, and I’m getting the feeling that you’re not going to be getting any anytime soon.”

“Yeah, yeah, I getcha,” she said, crawling back into the sheets.

“Tell you what: I probably shouldn’t do this, but knockout for a few hours, and I’ll see if I can sneak up a cheeseburger and fries from the staff cafeteria.”

“Evan, you know me entirely too well.”

“All the part of being your doctor. Now get some sleep and I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Evan?”

“You’re welcome – you don’t even have to say it.”


The sun alicorn, as promised, waited on a seat in the waiting area down the hall. Reading a copy of Singapore Life, she watched DJ’s husband as paced the length of the hallway, radiating frustration but not saying a single thing, as if digesting something.

“You look like something’s bothering you, Mike.” The look on Celestia’s face was one of concern; the human male had shouldered far more of the burden than she’d ever expected him to and didn’t complain, but instead just picked up more and more of it.

“No biggie. I’m used to juggling a lot of things,” he said, plopping down on the chair right next to her. “I’ve dealt with a lot worse.”

“You don’t need to let it sit in. I’ve seen what that does to a pony and it’s not much different for humans.” Before he could object, she stretched a wing out, embracing him with it. “I just want you to know that you’re not the only one with a vested interest in DJ.” Celestia felt odd, trying to do a wing embrace with a human, but it was worth it; he needed it. “We are all family – and that includes you too. You’re not left out just because you’re a different species.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that.” He was silent for a long while before continuing. “Did you ever feel like you needed to get someone you love help, but you weren’t sure how?”

“I understand what you mean. I…had a family member go quite…wrongsided out of jealousy. I couldn’t help her and as a result….” Even after Luna’s return over nearly a half-century now, to Celestia the wounds were still quite fresh.

“You two wouldn’t be the first ones who’ve gone through that shit,” a new voice said. Both looked up and saw Evan standing there. “Listen: my father went apeshit because my sister is a lesbian – she got caught in bed with her ‘best friend’ – and my dad’s hardcore ‘Do Not Want.’ Mom took it well, and I obviously had no problem with it, but Dad…he just exploded at my sister, kicked her out of the house at 16, no less. As a result, because we couldn’t help her after Dad chased her away, she killed herself since she had no one to turn to when her relationship went south. Keep in mind that I’m by no means saying that’s what would happen to DJ, but I am trying to make a point that neither of you need to go through this shit alone.

“Mike, I just copied you on an email to NAVHOSP. There’s a psychologist I know there, a Lt. Bonnie Zacherle. She might be able to help DJ through everything she’s been through. I’m guessing her parents never got her counseling before?”

“I’m sure Matt and Anna thought about it, but knowing them, they’ve tried so hard to instill that DJ’s a normal person that even sending her to counseling probably would indicate that she’s anything but. But as to if they actually did? I don’t recall it happening since I’ve been with her, and we’ve been together since we were both 14.”

“Shit, seriously? I thought the whole ‘twenty years together’ thing was exaggerating. Hell, I can’t even remember the name of the first girl I slept with at that age and you’ve been with just one girl…pony…whatever since you were both teens? No wonder she freaked when you threatened her with divorce.”

“You what?” Celestia looked at Mike in shock; everything that she’d heard about their relationship indicated that Mike and DJ’s relationship was stronger than most marriages she’d seen with ponies. And yet Mike had just threatened to end their relationship, even as it was clear he still loved her?

“Your majesty, he only did it because he wanted to get across to her how serious he was about her needing help; he also admitted that he felt like a jackass for even saying it. I’ve seen these two for about a year now and I can tell you their marriage is better than any I’ve ever seen. In my professional opinion, when someone makes a statement like that, it’s because it’s underscoring the severity of the situation, not because it’s imminent, am I right, Mike?”

Mike nodded and then turned to Celestia. “Celestia, I’ve been in love with only one woman my entire life; that woman just happens to not be human. Furthermore, I was the first one anywhere to have done it. I’ve taken a world’s worth of slings and arrows for her, and I would do so again because I love her and I want to see her happy. And I’ve seen her smile and laugh and cheer and other things, but there’s always been that thing inside her, gnawing at her, and I want to see it go away. I was almost made a widower this past week. I really don’t want to be one. That’s the only reason I said what I did – I’m sure you’ve heard of tough love before, right?”

“Yes, and I wished many a time that I’d practiced it with others in my life. But you know her better than I.”

“That I do.”

“Well, I’ve got her sleeping off the rest of whatever whatshername—”

“My sister, Princess Luna,” Celestia amended.

“—that her highness did to DJ,” Evan finished without skipping a beat. “Um…DJ herself doesn’t have a title, does she? I’m not going that far.”

“She’s a countess, but considering she’s your friend, I think we can let that bit of protocol slide.”

“Good. Mike, you think about what I said, seriously; I’m not just her doctor, I’m her friend, too. I’d like to see her get happy.”

“Thanks, Evan. I owe you one.”

“You want to thank me? DJ got a sister? I know she’s had an unusual upbringing by pony standards, but man, your wife is cute.”

Celestia and Mike looked at each other, and then back at Evan. “It’s…somewhat complicated,” Mike replied diplomatically.


Normally the city of Manehattan, the most populous of Equestria’s cities, was the city that never slept. But that was usually for a much different reason than what occurred tonight. The citizenry was stunned to see elements of the military rolling in, starting to set up positions in and around the town, and soon the skyscrapers of the Big Apple Fritter were bristling with weapons emplacements as fighter squadrons rocketed above the sky.

It was more than enough to risk ruining Bon-Bon’s dinner with a business partner. Looking back at her wife Waterfire, who was chatting breezily with her business associate’s husband, Bon-Bon smiled appreciatively. “And I think we can meet your needs, Orange. Besides, it’d be a great cross-marketing effort for both our companies. MildBon brand chocolate now baked into every Orange Bakeries’ chocolate croissants, donuts and the like? I think it’d be perfect.”

“Then I’m sold, Bon-Bon,” Orange Box said with a smile. “Let me get a pen and I—” She was suddenly drowned out by the rumble of tanks rolling down the street. “What’s going on?”

Before she could ask, Waterfire looked at Bon-Bon and said, “I’ll find out, Bonnie.” Waterfire excused herself from the table and got up, walking outside. As she did, she noticed that the surrounding area was getting turned into a warfare zone. Summoning her ID via magic, she got the attention of the nearest soldier and said, “I need to speak to your commander.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, recognizing the tone of the senior mage and motioning for her to hop in their tactical vehicle. The pair drove a slight distance away, finally arriving at a series of military tents being set up in Cedar Park in the middle of town. As they arrived, a stallion stepped out of one of the tents, bearing the rank of a three-star general and glittering like an emerald. Waterfire kept her surprise down as she saw him: a crystal pony, one of the earth ponies that had been slightly changed by their life in the Crystal Empire region of Equestria, rarely ventured outside of the territory.

Waterfire wasted no time. “General? I’m Command Mage Waterfire, head of the Regional Mage Facility.”

“Good, saves me the trouble of tracking you down. I’m Emerald Ray, the general in charge of this little soiree. We’ll need some help throwing up some high level shields, though they’re going to need to screen for changelings.”

“Changelings?”

“Yes. I realize that Manehattan seems to think it exists in its own reality, but the truth is that Filly is now nothing but ash and cinders, and we’re here to make sure that the same doesn’t happen to Manehattan. We think we may have gotten them all, but so long as one changeling princess lives, we are all at risk.”

“But isn’t this a bit of overkill, General?”

He looked at her as if she were mad. “Tell that to the innocents that were murdered by the changeling attack. Now my job is to make sure this city doesn’t end up the same way and your job is to give me support, understood, or do I need to start barking up the Guild chain?”

“No sir,” she replied. “I’ll have my on-duty staff liaise with yours in a few minutes. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get back to dinner.” And with that, she teleported back to the restaurant.


Waterfire arrived back at the restaurant just in time to see Orange and her husband depart. “Sorry I couldn’t get back sooner,” the unicorn apologized. “The general in charge seems to be a real ‘kill ‘em all and let Luna sort ‘em out’ type.”

“What happened?” Bon-Bon asked.

“Something about the changeling invasion of Filly. I don’t know how classified it is, love, so I can’t say anything,” Waterfire explained, “but looks like my ponies are going to be busy for a few days constructing shields and the like.”

“Well, maybe we can just use those damn human weapons to kill them all – human weapons should be good for something,” the earth pony replied.

“Bonnie, I thought we talked about this,” Waterfire said. “Please, just let it go, love.”

“Why should I? Humans ruin everything – I’d still be happily married to Lyra if it wasn’t for them!”

“And our marriage counts for nothing?” Bonnie realized she said the wrong thing and looked down at the ground, chastened. Understanding the mistake, Waterfire nuzzled her spouse, kissing her gently. “You’ve already strained your friendship with Lyra – don’t do this to yourself.”

There was a flicker of rage in Bon-Bon’s eyes, but only for a second before it disappeared, replaced by sorrow. “I’m…sorry. Can we just go home?”

“Sure,” the unicorn replied. “Let’s walk home. It’s a nice enough evening.”


“There,” Champagne Dreams said as she walked into her bedchambers. Blueblood was already there, reading a book. “I’ve made the necessary arrangements and our strategically placed journalists will do their job to their utmost and uncover the truth as to what happened to the poor souls in Fillydelphia. It is a shame that there’s a coverup, but sometimes light must fall on the dark for the truth to be outed.”

“I do feel sorry for my cousin,” Blueblood said delicately. “On one hand, I cannot blame her for her birth as a usurper, but at the same time, she should have supported the rightful rule of the Unicorn Dynasty. And I almost feel sorry for what she will be going through tomorrow at the press conference. Those jackals in the press corps will tear her to shreds.”

Champagne nodded. “All in a days’ work, my prin—” She was interrupted as Blueblood went over and kissed her tenderly. “What makes you so attentive to me today, dearest husband?”

He grinned. “Only that I am clearly not paying enough attention to my loving wife.”

She looked at him. “Turned down again? Who by this time? The chambermaid or one of our daughter’s friends?” He suddenly looked irritated and she knew she’d hit her mark. “Oh, my dearest Blueblood, it vexes me to see you so.” She then nuzzled him carefully, whispering, “I don’t love you.”

“Nor I you,” he said, kissing her neck slightly. “But as somepony said once, I am fond of you.”

“I will be your queen,” she insisted, wrapping her tail around one of his hindlegs. There was enough of the tail remaining for her to poke it underneath his stifle. He reacted immediately, kissing her passionately for several minutes.

“And I your king,” he responded.

“And I will be your everything?” she asked, batting her eyes coquettishly.

“Is that what you desire?”

“Dear sweet Celestia, no!” she laughed. “I’d never get any of my research done otherwise. But,” she said, whispering in his ear, “I can be accommodating for the stallion that married me.”

“As I would be for the mother of my foals,” he breathed, hormones in overdrive.

“Then I believe we have an agreement, dearest husband,” she said, gently grabbing his mane in her teeth, leading him towards their bed.


Sitting in his prison cell, DeVille groaned. Goddamn asshole di Tacco was already a day late with the extraction team, and while he didn’t know about Rickard’s situation, for DeVille, he knew if Ghino didn’t get him out of here soon, the Singaporean military would turn him over to the fucking Canoe Club as soon as they were done, and then it would be Game-fuckin’-Over. Desertion, murder of his superior officer, and all that on top of the weapons theft he was originally going to court-martial for. His ass would rot in Leavenworth forever and a century and that’s if he was lucky. They still did execute military prisoners, after all.

I swear, as soon as Ghino cuts me loose, I’m heading back to Depansar and laying low for a couple of years. Get me a couple of girls, some fine party favors and just play rich foreigner. Girls like that shit.

There was some banging in the distance and a few shouts. DeVille grinned and murmured, “About fucking time.” The banging got louder and at one point there was a blood curdling scream that even affected the usually-inured mercenary. After a few more seconds, the door to the cell started to open and a voice called out, “Mr. DeVille?”

DeVille stood up and looked in the direction of the voice. Standing there, in the moonlight, was Ghino’s girl, Sunset or whatever the fuck her name was. She was covered in blood and from the looks of it, was effective at whatever she did for Ghino aside from being his pecker polisher.

Gotta hand it to him – he knows how to pick the good ones. “Took you long enough. What’s the plan for extraction?”

She looked at him, and there was sorrow in her eyes. “Mr. DeVille…I’m sorry.” And suddenly she turned into what could best be called a Lovecraftian horror, an unnatural creature composed of razorsharp teeth and little else.

The last scream DeVille ever heard was his own as the monster leapt at him.

Author's Note:

Yes, this is half of the original version of "The Stars We Are"; in the rewrite, I had so much new material that I figured it was best to split the chapter rather than having you guys read a 35000-word chapter. The next revised chapter (still entitled "The Stars We Are") should be out in a week or two (a week if I'm not busy, two if I am.)

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