> Shinji's Nightmare > by Harry Leferts > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned by Gainax and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. "Interesting..."- Nightmare talking. "Why me..." -Ordinary speaking 'And so it begins.' -Nightmare thoughts 'Aw hay.' -Ordinary thoughts ______________________________________________________________________ Drifting through the Aether, a being made of energy seethes in anger. Anger at being defeated by those below it's previous host so son after defeating the one who beat it originally. Anger at losing it's previous host... And most of all anger at itself for not reacting quicker and thus leading to it's defeat. Suddenly, it stops as it senses something. 'Hm... what is this now?' If a cloud of darkness could grin, it would as it senses a opportunity to possess a new body. One that it has the possible chance to shape to it's content. And in a flash, it crosses dimensions, a cackling laugh in it's wake... ____________________________________________________________ Gripping the empty plugsuit to her, Misato screams at the thing before her. "Give him back! GIVE ME BACK MY SHINJI!" A moment later a gurgling sound comes from Unit-01 and in a flash of purple light and a spray of LCL, it ejects a body which slams into Misato, knocking her to the floor. Shaking her head, Misato looks down. "Shin...ji?" Two tired blue eyes with slit pupils look up at her as a small smile crosses a black furred muzzle. "Mi...sato-san..." Up in an observation room, Gendo for once is completely speechless as his mind goes blank. Beside him, Fuyutsuki blinks before rubbing the back of his head. "I... take it that this wasn't part of the scenario?" Closing his jaw, Gendo grunts. "No." Inside Unit-01, Yui metaphorically blinks in surprise. 'That... was unexpected...' Then she mentally faceplams. 'Great... now everyone is going to think that I'm obsessed with unicorns...' A few hours later finds Misato leaning back in the chair she's currently occupying, as she glares at her friend who's in a biohazard suit. "Is all this really necessary Rits?" Looking from where she's looking over something on a computer screen, Ritsuko sighs. "Misato, Shinji was brought back as something not human, and yet intelligent. You were exposed to the LCL he was in so we're keeping watch on you both. We can't have something like... what happened happen to the rest of NERV." Misato's scowl deepens as she gestures at the black winged unicorn staring off into nothing. "Look at him Rits! Does he really look like a danger?!" Though the suit's faceplate, Ritsuko gives Misato a look. "Well, he did throw around those Section 2 agents like rag dolls somehow. And one of them is still in the hospital..." Wincing, Misato shrugs. "Well, they did try to... er... attack him. And it's not like he was in a stable state of mind since he had just realized what had happened." Ritsuko shakes her head until she looks at the screen and sighs in relief as she reaches up and pulls off her hood. "Okay, the results just came in and the Magi have confirmed that there's no biological agents we need to worry about." Getting up, Misato bangs on the window catching the Section 2 agent's attention. "HEAR THAT MORONS!? THERE'S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!" The two agents look at each other for a moment before they open the door, only for Misato to grab a key ring from one of them and go stomping back into the room. As she heads over to her transformed charge, however, her expression softens. "Shinji?" Since he doesn't look up, she sighs before unlocking the shackles around his legs. Gulping a little, she then hugs him around his neck. "It's going to be okay Shin-chan. I promise..." __________________________________________________________ Standing in front of the drink machine, Misato slowly sighs as runs one hand down her face. 'Oh Shinji...' Suddenly two arms wrap around her causing her to scowl before her elbow shoots our and hits the person in the ribs causing them to let go. "Now is not the time Kaji." The unshaven man slowly holds up his hands while gasping for breath. "Hey Misato, I was just thinking that with Shinji back, we should celebrate. If anything, Misato's scowl grows. "Not interested Kaji." She turns back and places some money in the machine before making her choices. Kaji just shrugs before giving her a grin. "Don't be like that Misato, after all with Shinji back, there's nothing to-" He gets cutoff as Misato's arm shoots out and grabs him by the collar and slams him into the vending machine. Misato's rage filled face soon fills his entire field as view. "I will say this one last time you bastard. I. Am. Not. In. The. Mood." She soon stomps off leaving the confused Kaji before he places his hands in his pockets and follows out of sight. She soon enters the room where Shinji is still staring off into space, though his gaze is no longer so empty. Walking up, Misato swallows the lump in her throat as she gives her transformed charge a slightly shaky smile. "Hey Shinji." Holding out a can, she shows it to him. "Got you something to drink." Without a thought, Shinji reaches out and takes the drink to Misato's surprise before opening it and drinking most of it in a single gulp. Setting it aside, Shinji turns and and sets it down and gives her a small smile. "Thanks Misato..." He trails off as he stares at the can as does Misato before reaching down and grasping it despite his hoof not reaching around it. "How...?" Misato blinks before shaking her head. "Well... it's something I guess?" Outside the observation window, Kaji's jaw drops before he looks around and leaves. "O-kay... maybe she does have a reason..." After being transferred to one of the underground apartments deep inside the Geofront, Misato and Shinji are sitting at a table. Suddenly, Misato holds out a fork. "Here, try this." Sighing while rolling his eyes, Shinji shakes his head. "Do we really have to do this Misato?" She just gives him a grin. "Of course! It's for... er... Science!" She then begins nodding. "Yes. All this is in the name of science and discovery!" She then holds out the fork again. "Now, try holding this!" Shinji just sweatdrops. 'No, this is all for your amusement...' Sighing, he reaches out with a hoof and holds the fork in it without having to bend it. The fork somehow sticking to it. Misato just rubs her chin. "How the hell is it sticking when you can't climb walls..." She doesn't seem to notice the slight twitching of Shinji's eyebrow before she gets up with a grin. "Give me one second!" She soon rushes off into the kitchen causing Shinji to lay his head against the table. "Now what is she after..." A moment later the twitch in his eyebrow is back in full force as Misato holds out a pickle jar. "You... want me to hold that too, right?" Misato shakes her head. "Nope! I want you to open it." Seeing the deadpan look, she chuckles. "Well, you are still a male after all. So... opening jars is something you do." Shinji's face feels like it's going to burn off as he remembers them checking that. Finally, he sighs and holds out a hoof. "Fine... give it here." Grasping the jar with one hoof, he uses the other to open it. "Ta-da." Blinking at the slightly snarky tone, she shrugs as she grabs the fork and uses it to dig out a pickle. 'Stress maybe?' She's munching on it when she notices that his ears are rotating towards the door and he's looking at it. "Something the matter Shin-chan?" Shinji looks at her in surprise. "You mean you can't hear Asuka or Rei?" Her eyebrows raising, she turns towards the door and is about to answer when a Section 2 agent opens it. "Ma'am, the First and Second Child are wanting to see the Third." Reaching over for a beer, Misato looks at Shinji now that she can hear Asuka lambasting the Section 2 agents outside in the hall with Rei's voice barely heard, though to the Major's surprise she too is demanding to see him causing her to smile. "Well, at this point Rits has confirmed that there's nothing infectious about you so..." She helplessly shrugs. "It's up to you if they can see you or not. This whole thing is classified to hell and back of course, but..." She sighs as she takes a drink of her beer. "You three would be cleared for it anyways since it's a 'Previously unknown risk of piloting Evangelion.'" A small niggling feeling in the back of his mind tells Shinji that he should project a more regal bearing causing him to sit a little straighter. "Let them in." As the Section 2 agent goes to do so, Misato blinks at the steel in her transformed charge's voice (she herself having about to get up and do so). The determination in it having altered the timbre of Shinji's new voice reminding her of the Emperor's voice when he made his last public appearance. She then leans back in her chair. 'Heh. Maybe this might turn out to be something of a good thing after all if we can change him back and he can keep his new attitude...' A moment later after pushing aside the Section 2 agent, Asuka storms into the room with a superior look on her face. "Seems that that you made it again baka." She then snorts. "You would not believe the lies they were... telling... us..." She trails off as her thoughts grind to a halt with the sight of the nervous looking winged unicorn sitting beside Misato. A moment later Misato places a hand on it's shoulder as it bites it's lip. "It... wasn't a lie Asuka..." Rei then walks into the room and, upon seeing Shinji, nods unfazed by his current appearance. "It is good to see you okay Ikari-kun." That snaps Asuka out of her daze. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN OKAY?! LOOK AT THAT!" As Shinji flinches, Rei just gives Asuka an even stare. "Pilot Soryu, what is the matter? We were informed of the situation. It is still Ikari-kun." Shinji gives her a thankful look and Misato is about to say something when Asuka explodes "THAT THING THERE IS NOT SHINJI! IT IS NOTHING MORE THEN A FREAK! A... A FREAK OF NATURE! A MON-" She gets cut off as Rei takes a few steps over and slaps her. Asuka's head stays turned to the side as Rei glares at her with anger. "You will not speak of Ikari-kun in such a manner." Seeing Shinji hanging his head, Rei turns to go to him and do... something as her instincts are telling her when Asuka grabs her shoulder and goes to spin her around. "How dare you-" Asuka suddenly finds herself being held a foot off the ground in a purplish field of energy. With wide eyes, both girls turn to see Shinji standing there with his horn glowing the same color and his wings flared to the sides giving him a quiet air of menace as he trembles with pent up emotions. "PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW YOU TH-" Once more she finds herself cut off as Shinji speaks in a quiet, steely voice. "Leave Asuka." Red in the face, Asuka starts shouting. "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME!?" Shinji just gives her even stare, his soft voice cutting through the air like a knife. "I've had it Asuka. I can deal with being called a pervert. A baka. And everything else. But... a monster?" He gives her a glare causing her to flinch. "Leave now before I do something that I'll regret." He drops her and she falls to the floor shaking her head as she trembles. "N-no... you can't be the baka..." Shinji just shakes his head. "I'm... still me Asuka. Just... different." Asuka just keeps shaking her head. "NO! I refuse to believe that!" Before anyone can say anything, she takes off past the Section 2 agents who had their hands on their firearms (and ignoring Misato's glares). A moment later once her footsteps fade, Shinji falls to his knees shaking as he begins to break down. "What... what am I? Was she..." Totally lost, Rei looks over at Misato only to see the Major is not much different. Suddenly remembering a scene she saw outside school one day, Rei takes a few steps over and gets on her knees before wrapping her arms around Shinji's neck causing him to freeze. "It's okay Ikari-kun... I know that you're not a monster or a freak. You are Ikari-kun." To her surprise, Shinji leans into her as he fully breaks down. She just stays there holding him as he let's it out... A few hours later finds both Misato and Ritsuko are inside Gendo's office. Watching the two women before his desk, Gendo takes a moment before speaking. “Dr. Akagi. Have you gained any further insight as to the Third Child’s… transformation?” Clearing her throat, Ritsuko begins as she looks over some papers. “Well, Commander, the Third Child’s transformation into a Equine-“ She gets cutoff by Misato. “Winged Unicorn.” Whipping her head around, the blond scientist glares at her friend. “What?” Misato just gives her an innocent look. “Winged. Unicorn. That is after all what he is now.” Ritsuko just takes a breath. “The Third Child’s transformation into a Equine.” She stops for a moment to shoot a short glare at Misato who smiles back. “Seems to be a complete one. Biologically, for all intents and purposes he’s no longer human. Though it seems his mitochondrial DNA and some of his human DNA still remains, but they’re genes that have nothing to do with appearance and we have no idea as to how long they’ll last.” Flipping to another page, she sighs. “His brainwaves are also… strange.” Gendo’s reaction to this is to simply raise an eyebrow. “Is there any contamination that we need to be worried about.” Misato clinches her fist while glaring at the man. ‘You are a fucking cold hearted bastard aren’t you!?’ Shaking her head, Ritsuko spares a glance at the Major before sighing. “No Commander. His DNA checks out as non-angelic in nature and more then that, he does not have a Blue Waveform Pattern emanating from him.” She then gestures at a screen showing some data. “We’re assuming that the changes in his brainwaves we’re observing are due to the changed structure of his brain. Almost a secondary mind, but that of a horse.” Running her hands through her hair, she takes a breath. “We humans are predators by nature. Horses and other Equines are prey animals. It’s to be expected that having both mindsets in the same body would produce odd brainwaves.” She then flips a page. “There’s several other physical changes we’re still figuring out. Such as the fact that his bones, while seemingly hollow, are also just as strong as if they were solid. Another being the high amount of Electromagnetism that is being produced inside his body.” Fuyutsuki raises an eyebrow at this. “Could that be connected with his telekinetic abilities?” Ritsuko just throws her hands into the air. “I don’t know! It’s possible but…” She grips the notepad in her hand hard enough for it to shake. “Everything about this situation is simply impossible!” A moment later, Gendo speaks up. “Be that as it may. I expect a report on what happened immediately.” Dr. Akagi just nods as she grimaces at the thought of all the work she’s going to have to do. “Yes Commander… Gendo's expression doesn't change. "And also make sure to check as to whether the Third Child can still pilot Unit-01." ______________________________________________________________________________ The next morning as his eyelids begin fluttering, Shinji slowly comes to. ‘What…’ His eyes then widen before closing as he desperately fights not to cry as he remembers what had happened the night before with Asuka. “Damnit…” He stills as he feels a stirring against him before jerkily moving his wing up to reveal Rei curled into his side. ‘Er… when… wha…’ Feeling her snuggle deeper subconsciously, his wings suddenly snap wide open as he heavily blushes. A moment later he tries to bring them back flush against him, only to find they’re as stiff as a board. ‘Move damn you!’ He stills as he hears Rei’s voice. “Ikari-kun, is there a reason why your wings are stiff?” Shinji rapidly tried to think of a way out as his mind races. “Um… I…” Curious, Rei reaches up and runs a hand along the wing above her, a part of her mind marveling at how soft and warm it's feathers feel only for Shinji to twitch. A moment later she’s alone as the bathroom door slam causing her to blink. ‘Seems Ikari-kun’s speed has increased.’ Walking up, she knocks on the closed door before trying it and finding it is locked. ‘And seems that he can lock things as well.’ Hearing the sink on, she knocks again. “Ikari-kun, would you like me to bring you some food? I do not believe it to be a good idea for you to leave yet.” Shinji’s trembling voice drifts out from behind the door. “Ye-yeah, that might be for the best. Thank you Ayanami.” Rei just nods. “You are welcome Ikari-kun.” Turning, she leaves, though she raises an eyebrow at the snoring Major spread out across the couch. Back in the bathroom, Shinji is looking at the running water with a sigh. “Just my luck…” After a moment of concentrating, his horn lights up helping him to splash his face (all of which he does instinctively). Upon finishing, he turns off the water and pulls a paper towel out of the nearby dispenser and uses it to dry his face while mumbling. "This is a nightmare..." He suddenly stops as a silky voice makes itself know. "Hm... yes, in more ways then one." Looking around the washroom, Shinji gulps a little only for the voice to pop up again. "Oh, stop that you foal." Licking his lips, he looks around again. "Who... who's there...?" He bites his lip for a moment. 'Oh Kami, please tell me that I'm not going crazy...' The voice once more pops up. "No, you're not going crazy and enough of that." Shinji blinks as his eye catches something and he looks back at the mirror to see his scowling vestige. "What the..." The image of him (with a more feminine look he notes) smirks. "Now then... since we're going to be sharing this body..." The image rolls its eyes with a long suffering sigh. "No, I'm not one of these 'Angels' that you're so worried about foal. Now then... it's time to explain some things..." __________________________________________________________________ Walking into the cafeteria, Rei walks towards the breakfast selection before looking them over. 'Now, what can Ikari-kun eat...' Looking over the meat and then eggs, she walks to the cereals cocks her head to the side. 'Can horses eat cereal?' Pondering this for a while she reaches over and grabs some bran. She also grabs a muffin for herself and some fruit salad for Shinji as well as a small container of Miso for Misato. Paying for it and some drinks, she walks back towards Shinji's room, deep in thought as to her recent actions. 'Why am I acting different towards Ikari-kun?' Frowning, she looks up. 'He is the same person. Is it because he looks different?' She suddenly stops as a confused expression crosses over her face. 'He is different. He is now unlike the others... like me.' Blinking at the strange thought, she starts walking once more. 'He is not human, like me.' 'His original body was lost and now he is in a new one... like me.' 'He is... unique. Like me.' 'He is... like me? Yes.' She thinks back to the night before and feels a flash of anger towards the Second Child. 'She... hurt him. Does she see him like me? As something not a person?' At that thought, a even bigger flash of anger rushes through her before being supressed. She then remembers how she felt when she saw him break down. 'My heart... it hurt? Why? Was it because... I failed to protect Ikari-kun and thus he has had this happen?' 'Yes, I failed.' Her eyes narrow in determination as she strides past several NERV personal. 'Never again. I will not fail Ikari-kun again. I will protect him.' Her facial expression blanking as she passes the Section Two guards, she walks in and notices Shinji looking at her in surprise. He trots over. "Here, let me help Ayanami." Before she can say anything, his horn glows some as do the objects in her arms before they float out of them and are placed on the table. "There we go." Noticing the expression on Rei's face, he blinks some. "Um..." Rei just walks over and looks at the objects on the table curiously before blinking and looking at Shinji. "A most useful ability." Her eyebrows raise as Shinji grimaces and lifts a hoof to look at it. "Well, I suppose that I should have gotten something useful from this..." Rei just reaches over and lays a hand on his shoulder causing him to look at her as she gives him a kind look. 'He is like me. Different from the others. Alone. Unique. I will help you Ikari-kun...' > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned by Gainax and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. "Interesting..."- Nightmare talking. "Why me..." -Ordinary speaking 'And so it begins.' -Nightmare thoughts 'Aw hay.' -Ordinary thoughts ____________________________________________________________ Sighing as he walks beside Misato for the fourth day running, he gives her a slight glare as she smirks. "Aw, don't be like that Shin-chan!" She then wraps an arm around his neck and draws him close causing his head to be held against her chest. "After all, how many teenagers can say that they've gotten this much attention from women?" Closing his eyes as he takes a breath to calm himself (and prevent those damned wings of his from reacting), releasing it, he glares at Misato. "Misato, personal space." She just chuckles as she lets go causing him to sigh as he gives her a deadpan stare. "As to the 'Attention' that I am getting, I'm getting that due to one, I'm a winged unicorn and for some reason women keep trying to hug me. The only ones not wanting to being... Dr. Akagi and... well..." Her own eyes saddening, Misato lays a gentle hand on Shinji's shoulder. "She's just surprised and unsure of everything Shinji. I'm certain that she'll come around." Swallowing, Shinji looks away before speaking in a soft voice. "That makes one of us at least..." Clearing her throat, Misato gives him a smile. "And the other reason?" Shinji gives her a slightly grateful look before continuing in a dry tone. "Dr. Akagi seems to think of me as some kind of science project." Misato just gives him a nervous smile. "I'm sure that she doesn't." She sweatdrops as Shinji keeps giving her a dry look. "I'm sure!" Shinji just raises an eyebrow. "Riiiight. And that's why this is now the fourth day of testing right? Which will be the same thing as it has the past three which is moving stuff around." Misato just rolls her eyes. "Shinji, I'm positive that's not what's going to happen. She's going to do something different..." ************** A few hours later *********** Tapping some keys on her keyboard, Ritsuko turns back and looks over her glasses at Shinji. "Now then, if you would now move the 1,000 kg weight we have set up?" Shinji turns his head (and ignoring the wires running from the Electrodes on his body) to a facepalming Misato and gives her an look that's part annoyed and part "I told you so" causing the Major to shrug embarrassed. She then turns to her old friend and waves at Shinji. "Rits, isn't this enough? I mean, all you've had him do for the past few days is move stuff around with his magic psychic thing." The doctor's eyebrow twitches as she scowls. "We have no idea as to the extent of his abilities! And until we do, we'll continue this!" She then turns back to Shinji. "Now, if you could?" Grumbling, Shinji closes his eyes and is about to continue when suddenly he winces from a headache as he suddenly knows how to move objects outside his view. He scowls as he realizes how he knows this. 'What do you want now?' A dark chuckle rings through his mind. 'Why, the same thing you want of course. Which is for this foalishness to end. I tire of these simple exercises.' He can almost feel her annoyance through their link. 'These simple tasks are beneath Us.' He can then feel her mentally smirk. 'I know that you too wish for these... tests to finally end.' Grinding his teeth, Shinji mentally scowls. 'Fine. Now go away.' His only answer is for Nightmare's dark chuckle to fade away. Outside his head, Misato and Ritsuko watches as his horn begins to glow, brighter then it has. Looking away, Ritsuko scowls at her computer. "Piece of junk." Misato raises an eyebrow in amusement. "I don't know what all the fuss is about. Magic screws around with technology after all." Ritsuko whips around and snarls. "Magic. Does. Not. Exist!" She then gestures at Shinji. "Whatever he's doing it is not magic! It's..." She motions with her hand a little. "Some kind of manipulation of Electromagnetism! And the amount being given off is interfering with the monitoring equipment!" Misato just smirks as she gets a rise out of the doctor. "I say Tom-ato and you say To-mato." Clinching her fist and reigning in her impulse to slug the purple haired woman, she turns to the weights and frowns a little. "Seems we've reached the limit." Feeling a little disappointment, she turns to Maya and nods. "Mark down that 1,000 kilograms is-" She's cut off as an alarm rings through the base. "WHAT NOW?!" Misato jumps from her seat and is about to grab Shinji when a Communication window on a nearby screen opens up revealing the Commander's scowling vestige. "Doctor Akagi. Are you running any tests that I should be aware of?" Gulping, Ritsuko shakes her head. "No Sir! Just what we agreed on." Gendo raises an eyebrow as he watches her over his clasped hands. "Truly?" After she nods, his next words throws Ritsuko's. Misato's and Maya's heads for a loop. "Then would you mind explaining why the Destroyer in the Geofront's lake is currently 300 meters in the air and glowing purple?" He then glances to the side and nods. "Thankfully it seems to be back in the water now. Please inform me the next time that you do such a... test." The window then blinks out of existence as the three women turn to a smirking Shinji who looks slightly tired and has a raised eyebrow. "Well Doctor Akagi? Was that heavy enough?" At her slow nod, he sighs and turns to Misato as his stomach growls. "Can we go get something to eat? I'm famished." Misato just laughs as she snaps out of it and waves for Maya to detach the electrodes as Ritsuko is still out of it. "Sure Shin-chan. Pretty impressive." Maya walks over and shakes her head as she starts with the ones on his body. "She's right you know Shinji-kun. That is impressive." Blushing a little at the praise, he looks away. "Um... thanks." Misato just chuckles as he does so while Maya looks at him curiously until she has the last ones off. She then blushes a little herself while looking nervous. "Um, Shinji-kun? Do you mind if I..." Thinking that she wants to hug him or feel his wings, Shinji sighs. "Go ahead-" His eyes widen as she runs one finger along the length of his horn. "Wow... it's so smooth..." Shinji's only verbal response is a choking sound moments before his wings shoot out stiff causing all the women to look at them (including Ritsuko who's snapped out of her shock). Sadly for Shinji, it's Misato who makes the connection and collapses laughing. "Oh God! I can't believe... your horn... wings..." Maya blinks before she notices Shinji's almost glowing face through his fur and her own eyes widen as she pulls her hand away. "Oh, I am so sorry Shinji-kun! I... I... Eep!" Ritsuko just facepalms. "Great... how am I going to write this into my report..." Shinji just covers his face with his forelegs as Misato howls with laughter even more and Maya looks like she would like nothing more then to vanish through the floor... Just a few minutes later though, Shinji is hanging his head, as seconds tick by he slowly lowers it until it’s on the table. “Why did they have to get called away by the Commander now of all times.” His statement is punctuated by his stomach growling as Maya giggles, setting up a kettle as she does so next to the table her and Shinji are going to be sitting at. “Well, you did lift a Destroyer out of the water Shinji-kun. No one knew that you were going to do it so…” Shinji shrugs as Maya begins to get the items together to make tea. “I said I was sorry.” As the kettle boils, he starts waving his hoof through the steam coming out of it with a bored expression before turning towards Maya. “I just wanted all these lift tests to stop.” Maya shakes her head as she grabs an instant ramen package from a cupboard, snorting a little as Shinji groans at the sight of it. “Sorry Shinji-kun, Ramen is not good for horsies.” She looks away as he glares at her. “Really… I’m not really a horse as is since I have a horn and wings.” He then gives her puppy dog eyes nearly causing Maya to give in. “How about we call it an experiment to see what I can eat?” Lips twitching, Maya shakes her head before placing her hands on her hips. “No Shinji-kun.” Shinji just grumbles as he looks away. “I’m just getting sick of vegetables and fruit all the time.” He then sighs. “At least I can still drink tea.” Maya rolls her eyes as she sets up the cups just as the kettle clicks showing that it’s finished boiling. “Well that… some… thing…” She trails off as she stares at him noticing something causing Shinji to raise an eyebrow. “What?” She just shakily points at his hoof above the kettle. “ Shinji… your hoof… the steam…” Blinking, Shinji looks and raises his eyebrows in surprise as he notices that there’s a small cloud of steam gathered under his hoof looking much like a normal cloud. Pulling his hoof towards him, he turns it upwards to have a closer look, the cloud doing the same. “Huh. That’s interesting.” As usual, Nightmare’s voice pops up. ‘Only to you. It’s simple Pegasus magic. Foal’s play for one such as we.’ Shinji rolls his eyes and is about to think something back when he notices Maya rushing to the door. ‘Now what…?’ Opening it, Maya looks at one of the Section 2 agents and points at him. “You, I need you to go and grab several hot plates from the other labs along with… coffee pots.” Blinking at the odd request, the agent grunts before leaving to do as told. Maya then turns to look at Shinji. “Shinji-kun, I’m going to-“ She gets cut off by the Alicorn in question. “Need me to have those electrodes placed on me again so I can do more of…” He waves his hoof at the small cloud beside him. “Right?” Maya nods before biting her lips as his stomach growls again, right before leaning out the door and pointing at another Section 2 agent. “I want you to head up to the cafeteria and grab several vegetable egg rolls. And maybe a tofu dish as well.” Grumbling, the agent heads out as Maya turns to give a shocked Shinji a smile. “Well, just because you are currently on a vegan diet doesn’t mean that you have to have normal vegetables and fruits you know.” A moment later her breath is knocked out of her as Shinji hugs her tightly. “Oof!” She just pats him on his back as she blushes at the feeling of closeness. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Continuing to pat him, she smiles. ‘Well I guess that put him in a better mood…’ She then blushes again. ‘And his fur is so warm and soft…’ She snaps out of it as she hears the door open and looks over to see an agent looking in with a raised eyebrow before he leaves causing her blush to skyrocket. “Um… Shinji-kun…?” Shinji finally snaps out of it and twists his head to find his face next to her’s with them looking at each other. The reaction… is predictable as his wings shoot out fully stiff. “DAMMIT!” Maya just collapses into giggles through her embarrassment as she watches Shinji go over to a table and bang his head on it. Though she does get a small ego boost... _________________________________________________________________________ Stomping back to the room, Ritsuko scowls at Misato. “For the last time Misato! MAGIC DOES NOT EXIST!” Misato for her part just grins as she places her hands behind her head. “Neither do winged unicorns… oh wait.” Still grumbling, Ritsuko walks past the agents outside the room and sees Maya typing at a computer. “Maya.” Whipping around, Maya smiles. “Hello Sempei. I was just finishing compiling some data from several tests I just ran with Shinji’s help.” She then snickers a bit. “I think that he’s tired out though.” Misato just waggles her eyebrows. “And what kind of tests did you run to tire him out? Hmm?” At Maya’s blush, Ritsuko just rolls her eyes. “Ignoring the Major’s dirty mind for the moment, you know that you should inform me first.” Maya winces a little and rubs her neck. “Well… I was thinking that I should do it now so you would have less work…” Ritsuko just sighs. “Thank you. Just be careful…” She trails off as she notices Shinji in the middle of the room, beside her Misato has her own jaw dropping. Because there in the middle of the room is Shinji sleeping… on a cloud hovering several feet above the floor. Misato just shakes her head. “I…” Snapping out of it fully, she sees Ritsuko staring emptily ahead. “Rits?” Reaching over, Misato snaps her fingers in front of the doctor’s face. She then gives her a small slap and gets no response causing her to look over at a confused Maya with a grin. “Well congrats. I think that you broke her…” ___________________________________________________________________________ Sighing as he lays back in the room, Shinji shakes his head as he looks at a reflection of himself only for it to transform into a smirking Nightmare Moon. ‘What do you want?’ The reflection merely laughs before looking at him with a glint in her eye. ‘Why foal, it’s simple. I want control of the body for a bit. Not long as I am willing to accept one night a month.’ Shinji’s eyes widen as his nostrils flare in anger. ‘WHAT!? LIKE HAY!’ He then scowls as he realizes what he just said. ‘This is all your fault and I am not letting you hurt Misato or any of the others.’ Nightmare Moon just smirks. ‘Who ever said anything about hurting them foal? I merely want out a for a bit.’ She sees Shinji is about to cut the connection and her next words stop him. ‘And I am willing to offer to help you heal that friend of yours… what was his name? Toji?’ Trembling as emotions war within him, Shinji’s mind flashes back to that horrific day as Nightmare’s eyes narrow. ‘In fact… I will even throw in his sister if that is what you wish…’ Shinji’s eyes are wide as he can almost hear her whispering in his ear. ‘Don’t you want that horrible, horrible wrong committed against him fixed? Hm? And for little Mari to walk once more?’ Her voice becomes even more silky as he’s frozen in place and can swear that he feels her breath against his ear. ‘I can make it all happen you know… all you have to do… is give me control for one measly night a month. I promise not to harm anyone you know. Just say the word…’ Shinji suddenly lashes out and strikes the mirror with one of his hooves shattering it. Shaking in rage, he looks down as Nightmare’s mouth appears in the shards on the floor, each one cackling madly. ‘Oh! Such a strong colt you are!’ As it fades away, he turns as two agents bust in. They both back up though at the look in his eyes before his eyes soften as he looks away and shakes his head. “Sorry, some kind of… nightmare.” Without a word they holster their weapons and leave, only for a familiar blue girl to walk in with her arms full of paper and books. “Ayanami?” Setting the items down, she looks at him and then at the mirror. Seeing that, he looks away. “Sorry it’s…” He then looks at the shards and his horn glows as they reform into the mirror. “There we go.” Walking up to the now repaired mirror, Rei runs her hand across it with a strange look on her face. “Fascinating…” She then looks at Shinji. “Does Doctor Akagi know that you can do this Ikari-kun?” Shinji winces as he remembers doing the same to a glass that was dropped… only for Ritsuko to scream in frustration and grab the glass. She then locked it and herself in her lab for the next several hours. “ Er… yeah. She, um… was surprised?” Rei just blinks and cocking her head to the side before nodding. “Very well then.” She then walks over to the couch with the papers on it and grabs some. “I have brought your homework with me.” Furrowing her eyebrows, she gives Shinji an inquisitive glance. “May I ask why you wished for me to bring them to you? I was under the impression from you and Suzuhara-san that neither of you were much interested in doing such things.” Wincing at the mention of Toji and remembering Nightmare’s offer, Shinji sighs. “I’m… bored.” He makes a sweeping gesture with his hoof. “I’ve been stuck here for nearly a week now and I’m bored out of my skull and even schoolwork is better then that.” He then smiles at her. “Thanks for coming by to help me catch up by the way.” Rei simply nods. “It is of no issue.” She then lays a hand on his shoulder. “Now Ikari-kun. Where do you wish to start?” To her surprise, Shinji appears to grasp the concepts of the work easier then he did and asks less and less questions as they go along. Eventually, he stops while Rei makes a note of it. A few hours later, Shinji leans back and spreads his wings to stretch them. “Ahhh. There all… done?” He blinks as he notices that he really is done. “Okay…” Hearing a book close, he sees Rei place the book on the desk and look at him. “Is there anything else you might wish to do Ikari-kun?” Thinking it over, he gets up and walks over to a nearby cupboard before grabbing a deck of cards. “Want to play a card game?” Later that night, he sighs as he looks over the blue haired girl as she slowly sleeps. “Thank you Ayanami.” Reaching down, he uses his mouth to pull the blankets up more to more fully cover her. He then steels his expression as he walks back to the mirror and stares into it, only for Nightmare to appear, once more smirking. ‘So then foal, have you thought of my offer some more? Hm?’ Shinji stares at her for a moment before narrowing his eyes at her. ‘Do you swear not to harm any of my friends?’ Nightmare’s eyes light up at that. ‘Do not worry, I won’t harm any of your little friends. Especially not those delicious mares you keep.’ Seeing his wings flare a bit, she chuckles darkly. ‘Hit a sore spot did I? Very well. Just the same, you have my word that I will not harm any of them. But I will protect us.’ At Shinji’s slow nod, she grins. ‘Very good. Oh, and this will hurt.’ Shinji only has time to widen his eyes before a red hot piercing pain shoots through his head nearly making him cry out before blackness claims him. __________________________________________________________________________________ Walking around and releasing magic, Shinji ignores the form of Nightmare in the mirror watching him curiously. ‘Now what foalish thing are you doing now I wonder?’ Shinji just shoots her a glare before a pulse of indigo erupts from him, blanketing the room in it’s glow for a moment. ‘Oh, and here I thought that a colt of your standing could tolerate a little pain.’ Shinji just grits his teeth. ‘When the pain feels like something being jammed through your skull, a feeling that I am familiar with, I don’t think it could be considered a little pain.’ Nightmare just shrugs before he continues. ‘As for what I’m doing, Doctor Akagi’s equipment keeps malfunctioning whenever I use magic. And with the monitoring equipment that my Father installed…’ Nightmare’s eyes light up as she grins. ‘Oooo! Not such a boring little colt after all!’ She ignores the glare he shoots her in favor to leaning her head on her hoof. ‘Now then, are you ready?’ Sighing and knowing that he might have made a deal with a devil, he nods. ‘Yes.’ A moment later, he vanishes and reappears in a flash of light. Looking around, he finds himself in a hospital room where a small girl is laying in a bed. Slowly walking up, Shinji smiles before closing his eyes and laying his horn on her as his magic does it's work. His work done, he turns only to stop as a small voice speaks up. "Pony...?" Turning, he sees the girl sitting up in the bed rubbing her eyes before looking again, a bright smile crossing her face. "Wow! This is a great dream!" Thinking quickly, Shinji smiles before dropping the tone of his voice a little. "Hello little one. I am so sorry for waking you." The girl's face lights up. "You talk! A talking unicorn!" She moves as if to get up but stops as her face falls. Slowly walking up, Shinji gives her an inquiring expression. "Is something wrong Little One?" She slowly nods causing Shinji to smile. "May I ask what it is?" The girl slowly nods still looking down as a tear drips. "I... I forgot. I can't walk..." Giving into his new instincts, Shinji gives her a short nuzzle. "Why don't you try Little One? For me?" Watching as the pony backs away from the bed, the girl bites her lips before slowly moving to the edge. Seeing the being give her a comforting look as well as motioning her to try, the girl closes her eyes before hopping off the bed, her legs supporting her. Opening her eyes, she smiles as tears drip from it. A moment later, she moves and hugs the pony. "Thank you." Tearing up slightly himself, Shinji nods as he wraps his neck around her's. "It's okay Mari..." His eyes widen as he realizes what he just did. Mari's expression becomes one of amazement. "How... how do you know my name?" Thinking quickly, Shinji smiles. "One of your brother's friends wished very hard for you to be healed. So I came and did so." A few minutes later, he slowly tucks her back in and gives her one last nuzzle as she drifts off to sleep. "Have a good night Mari. Sweet dreams." He turns and is about to leave when Mari whispers one last thing causing him to stop in his tracks. "Thank you Mr. Shinji..." Blinking rapidly, Shinji's smile grows. "You're very welcome Mari." His face then becomes serious. 'Now... one left to see...' Finishing with Toji, Shinji nearly collapses from tiredness when he hears the door opens and he freezes as a familiar female voice performs a whispered shout. "What the!?" Whipping around, Shinji is confronted with the sight of Hikari standing there with look of incomprehension. "What... I... you..." Looking around and knowing that he doesn't have enough energy for a teleport, Shinji shuffles first one way and then another. The whole time Hikari follows with her eyes until he walks up to her (which causes the class rep to lean back) and waves a hoof in front of her face. "You do not see a winged unicorn. This is all in your imagination." Hikari just blinks before her eyes become hooded and she crosses her arms while tapping her foot. "Isn't your voice a little too horse for a Jedi Mr. Ed?" She then leans close causing Shinji to back up a step as he looks for a way out. "And why do you sound..." Her eyes widen and Shinji starts panicking until his ear is grabbed. "Ikari Shinji, is that you?!" Shinji just hangs his head and nods. "Yeah, it's me Hikari." Letting go of his ear, she looks him over in shock. "What... happened to you...?" Suddenly she blinks as she realizes something. "Is that why Asuka..." Seeing him flinch, she feels bad and hugs him, causing him to stiffen for a moment until he relaxes. "How...?" Swallowing, Shinji sighs as he looks away. "Something... happened with the EVA and I turned into this. And Asuka... didn't take it too well." Hikari just tightens the hug. "I'm so sorry Shinji." She then let's go and looks him over. "So why are you here? Is it because of..." Shinji just smiles. "He's going to be okay Hikari. Don't ask how, but he is." Confused, Hikari just nods. Shinji however feels his magic is back enough and gives her a smile. "Anyways, I have to go." He glances around. "Can't be caught so if you could keep it quiet?" Hikari smiles and gives him a nod. "Sure Shinji. See you around?" Shinji sighs and shrugs. "Who knows?" Smiling, his horn starts to glow. "Anyways, have a good night Hikari." Hikari's eyes widen as he vanishes in a burst of light before grinning. "Incredible...." She then notices something about Toji and her hand flies to her mouth as she can see his missing limbs have returned. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Hikari looks out the window with happy tears in her eyes. "Thanks Shinji..." _________________________________________________________________________________ The next day, he awakes to find a slightly amused Misato standing before his cloud. “Oh, hey Misato… something the matter?” Still crossing her arms, she sighs and shakes her head. “Rits wants to see you. Something about a medical miracle?” Gulping, he gets off only to be drawn into a hug as she whispers into his ear. “I am very proud of what you did Shinji. Very proud.” Once outside, Shinji looks at her nervously only for her to roll her eyes. “Toji had monitoring equipment in his room and we caught you. Also, nothing’s going to happen as the cover story is an experimental new treatment given to them because of Toji’s status as a former EVA pilot.” Shinji just nods as they continue on… Sighing as he lays down after a battery of tests (or as he thinks of it, punishment) Shinji’s eyes slowly close when he’s interrupted by a familiar voice. ‘Well child. I do believe it’s time for you to uphold your end of the deal?’ Grimacing, Shinji sighs. ‘Yeah, I guess so. But what are you going to do?’ Nightmare just chuckles. ‘Don’t worry foal. Leave that up to me. And do not worry, I won't do anything with our body that you would not truly approve of.’ Before he can say anything, he gets knocked out as his body rises, now with aqua colored eyes. Looking itself over, his body sighs. ‘A male. Oh well. Easily fixable I suppose.’ Shinji’s horn glows for a second and then there’s a flash and where Shinji was, is a beautiful woman with indigo hair and aqua eyes with a long black dress. Looking herself over, she smirks. “Very good… Much better.” Glancing down at the now empty cloud bed, she waves her hand a perfect double of Shinji appears. Chuckling, she glows. “Now then… time to see what this nightlifehas to offer..." And in a flash of light she vanishes. An agent pokes his head in a moment later and seeing Shinji, relaxes and closes the door once more while grumbling about needing to fix the monitoring equipment again... > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned by Gainax and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. "Interesting..."- Nightmare talking. "Why me..." -Ordinary speaking 'And so it begins.' -Nightmare thoughts 'Aw hay.' -Ordinary thoughts ________________________________________ Appearing outside, Nightmare takes a breath of air before scrunching up her nose. 'Well, no compliments on the smell of this place.' Glancing around, she starts walking down the alley she's found herself in when several grinning men walk out of the shadows with vicious grins, one opening his knife with a snick sound as he gestures at Nightmare. "Well, well, well. What do we have here boys? Seems a broad out for a stroll in our territory." He then looks her up and down and licks his lips as the others begin to surround her. He then leans towards Nightmare who's watching with a bored look. "Tell ya what Honey bunch if you give us some…" He looks her over again and chuckles. "Fun, we might let you go. That or any valuables you have." Nightmare just shakes her head and darkly chuckles, a predatory look on her face. "How about you give me your money and I let you go and forget about showing you my… displeasure…" Shoving down the unease in him, the man gestures at her. "What are you waiting for? GRAB HER!" Nightmare just laughs as they charge her. A few minutes later finds the injured leader trying to back up while gripping his obviously broken arm as Nightmare walks towards him. "Wha… what ARE YOU!" Nightmare smirks and cocks her head to the side before her hand lashes out and grabs him around the face, easily lifting him off the ground as dark amusement dances in her eyes. "Why…" She ignores how he's struggling and gripping her arm as she digs her nails in and leans close. "I'm your worst nightmare." A few moments later she emerges from the shadows of the alley and into the street with a wallet in her hand with the other flicking something off. After taking the money from the wallet, she throws the wallet into a nearby garbage can before shoving the money into a disguised pocket while ignoring the sounds in the alley way behind her. "Now… with my financial situation solved, I wonder where I should go…" Cracking her head to the side, she slowly walks down the street to where she can hear loud music... ________________________________________ It doesn't take her long to reach her destination as she finds herself across the street from a nightclub. Cocking her head to the side, she slowly smiles. 'Now then… this looks interesting…' Heading over, she uses some old fashioned charms mixed with magic to get the Bouncer to let her in ahead of the rest of the line. Walking into the club, Nightmare smirks as she gives it an interested look over. 'Yes, this will do quite nicely.' She then notices that several people who she knows as NERV employees from her current host's memories are also around causing her to raise an eyebrow as her smirk grows. 'Yes, this will do nicely indeed.' She leans back a little against a pillar as she takes note of how they're dancing. She then hears something causing her to glance over as Misato is pulling an annoyed Ritsuko into the club while followed by a nervous Maya. 'Well now, seems that this night just became interesting...' Getting up from her position, she slowly moves onto the dance flow while fluidly dancing around those there. Slowly, she maneuvers herself close enough that she can overhear the conversation between the three as Misato grins at Ritsuko. "Come on Rits, staring at a glass for hours on end isn't going to make it do anything." The doctor just glares at her friend. "I was trying to figure out if anything was different!" Misato just shrugs. "Whatever you say Rits. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were trying to hog as much time with Shinji. What with the... medical checks you put him through at first." Seeing Misato waggle her eyebrows, Ritsuko scowls before slapping her upside the head. "Only you could think something like that! Besides, if anyone here would think of performing bestiality it would be-" Whatever else she was going to say is cut off by Maya. "Xenophilia." The two arguing women turn to the third (who eeps) with a confused look before saying the same thing. "What?" Blushing, Maya hangs her head. "Bestiality is when you... um... have sex with an unintelligent non-human. Xenophilia is when you have... relations with an intelligent non-human." Misato blinks. "Huh. I did not know that." She then gives the other two a wicked look. "Of course, with him being a horse of sorts..." She gets the reactions she wants as Maya goes completely red and Ritsuko sputters. "MISATO!" Misato just waves them off before looking around with a frown, causing Ritsuko to sigh. "You're looking for Kaji, aren't you?" Seeing Misato nod, Nightmare narrows her eyes. 'Now, now. We can't have that now can we...?' Looking around herself, she finds the unshaven man waiting at a nearby bar. 'Gotcha.' Making her way over, she sits next to him with a sultry look before turning to the bartender as she remembers a drink Shinji had to prepare for his uncle and aunt. "Give me a screwdriver." She can almost feel Kaji looking her up and down before he gives her a roguish wink after looking around. "Hey there. Haven't seen you around." Nightmare gives him a throaty chuckle before answering. "Well, I recently arrived here due to new opportunities." Not showing his suspicion, Kaji gives her a raised eyebrow. "Really? Didn't think that there were many around here. Opportunities that is." Nightmare cocks her head to the side as she receives her drink. "There's opportunities everywhere if one waits long enough. Or knows what they're doing." Seeing that she has Kaji's attention focused on her, she slowly weaves her magic to make it where he won't really notice anything going on around them. Taking a drink, she sets the glass down and leans towards him, manipulating the body she's in to produce pheromones. "So... got a name handsome?" Kaji just chuckles before holding out his hand and giving it. He then cocks his head to the side. "You?" Nightmare smirks. "Akumu. Tsuki Akumu." As they continue talking, she weaves another spell to make things look slightly different. A few moments later Misato walks up and punches Kaji hard enough to knock him from the chair. Looking up he waves his hands as Ritsuko and Maya walk up. Laying a hand on Nightmare's shoulder as Misato verbally lays into Kaji, the doctor gives her a questioning look. "Are you alright? You looked pretty uncomfortable there." Nightmare just gives her a smile. "I am thank you." Giving Kaji a glare, she sighs. "He couldn't take a hint." Ritsuko gives a nod as she glares at the unshaven man. "Color me unsurprised." Noticing Maya giving her glances, Nightmare gives the mousey technician a heated look causing her to blush and look away making the spirit smirk internally. 'Seems that my host being a male has made me more... appreciative of some things.' She then internally chuckles. 'Somehow, I don't think that I'll mind...' Watching as Misato stomps up while Kaji walks away dejectively, Nightmare's internal grin nods. 'Just as planned...' The night goes on, the four women talk while Misato and Ritsuko drink (Nightmare not being bothered by the alcohol and Maya drinking lightly). After the Major and doctor leave, Nightmare notices Maya get up to leave. 'Oh, can't have that.' Predatory smile on her face, she walks up behind Maya and slides her arms around her waist. "Leaving so soon Maya-san?" Gulping, Maya nods. "Ha... hai Tsuki-san, I have work tomorrow and..." She gets twisted around so that she sees Nightmare's pouting face causing her blush even more and try to look away. "And... um..." Nightmare gives her a playful shake before looking upwards with a thoughtful look. "I think Akagi-san is your boss, isn't she? And please... call me Akumu." Maya slowly nods while looking down. "Well... yes. Both her and Major Katsuragi..." Nightmare gives her a throaty chuckle. "Well, judging by their actions tonight, I don't think that they'll mind much... Do you?" Maya just shakes her head very fast as Nightmare takes a sniff. 'I love it when they're unattached...' Leaning down, Nightmare whispers into the technician's ear causing her to gape before Nightmare begins grinning as she pulls her out onto the dance floor... ________________________________________ Walking through the hallways towards Ritsuko's office the next day, Misato massages the headache from her hangover. 'Ugh… Fucking Kaji.' However, she isn't watching where she's going and nearly runs into Maya who's coming out a nearby office with an armful of folders and paperwork. "Whoa! Careful there!" Taking a moment to steady her, Misato smiles at the tech. "You okay?" Maya nods as she moves the paperwork in her arms around a little. "It's okay Ma'am." Maya then looks the Major over in concern. "Are you okay Ma'am? You… don't look too good." Misato chuckles before wincing. "I think that I had a little too much fun last night." She then cocks her head to the side and gives Maya a quizzical look. "What happened to your ear? It's all red at the top?" Seeing Maya go red and her eyes widen, Misato blinks as her hangover addled mind works through it. 'Wait a second…' Maya for her part gulps before smiling as she readjusts the paperwork. "I… got bit by something on my ear last night…" Misato raises an eyebrow before shrugging. 'Nah, this is Maya after all. She's too shy to do something like that.' Shaking her head, Misato sighs. "Anyways, got to talk with Ritsuko, you heading the same way?" At Maya's nod, she starts walking. The mousey technician however slips behind Misato and blushes as her mind goes back to what had happened the night before… ********************* Flashback *************************** Unlocking her door, Maya sighs before jumping a little as two arms encircle her waist as warm breath tickles her ear. "Mmm… I really enjoyed tonight Maya-chan. Shame it has to end though…" Maya looks down and sighs. "Me too Akumu-san. But… I got work in the next five hours and-" A deep throaty chuckle interrupts her. "Hey now, don't be so sad." Behind her, Nightmare smirks. "I fully understand." Maya blushes heavily. "Th-thank you." Nightmare's smirk only widens. "No, thank you." She then takes a sniff. "Has anyone ever told you how delectable you look when you blush. It's simply… adorable." Maya is about to say something when she jumps as the woman behind her gently bites her ear. "Eep!" A moment later she's twisted around and pinned against the door as Nightmare places a hand on either side of her head and presses her body against her's. "U-um…" Reaching up with a finger, Nightmare gently brushes a stray hair away from Maya's brow. "Hm… I'm going to be back in a month. How about we… do this again?" Maya just nods as she trembles slightly, feeling like a rabbit in front of a lion, though liking it at the same time. Nightmare just smiles as she pulls closer. "Good…" A few minutes later, Nightmare walks off leaving a breathless Maya behind her as she heads down the hallway with a sway in her hips. "See you in a month Maya-chan…" Maya for her part is still stunned as she slides down the door with a wide-eyed look and a silly grin on her face. After a few minutes, she gets up and goes inside her apartment. Closing the door behind her, she punches the air above her with a wide grin. "YES!" ************** Flashback End ************************ Shaking herself free of her daydream, Maya (with a slightly silly grin on her face) practically skips into the small lab set up to study Shinji and his abilities. She doesn't notice as Shinji's wings shift uncomfortably as he looks away. "Hello Sempai! I got what you asked for." Looking up from her terminal, Ritsuko nods as she takes a deep drink of her coffee. "Thank you Maya." She raises an eyebrow and is about to comment when a knock at the door catches her attention. "Now who could that be…" As Ritsuko walks towards the door, Misato heads towards Shinji with a cup of Ritsuko's coffee in her hands. "So Shin-chan, how have you been doing today?" Grateful for the distraction from both the memories running through his mind's eye and Nightmare's cackling, he sighs. "Bored." Misato is about to comment when a wrapped object is thrown on the table next to them as Ritsuko smiles. "Well then, not for much longer. We'll be running a few new tests soon." Raising an eyebrow, Shinji levitates the package over to himself and examines it before looking at the doctor with an incredulous expression. "It's a plugsuit." Ritsuko nods. "Yes, yes it is. We'll be doing some tests with the EVAs to see if you can Sync with them still." Now it's Misato's turn to give her an unbelieving look. "He's a pony Rits." Ritsuko raises an eyebrow as she sips her coffee. "Yes and? It's been adapted to his body type. Grant you the wings were an issue but…" Noticing that even Maya is now staring at her, she blinks. "What?" Blinking at the suit, Shinji looks from it to Ritsuko and then back. "Um… Doctor Akagi…" She raises an eyebrow while leaning back and having a triumphant smile on her face. "Yes Shinji?" He looks back up at her with a deadpan expression. "I thought that the Sync ratio improved if there was less between the pilot and the, um… LCL?" She blinks. "Well, yes…" He then gestures at himself. "Um… isn't the fact that I'm… uh… naked good enough?" He then reaches up and rubs his neck. "You know, all I got right now is fur and…" Before Misato's amused eyes, she watches as Ritsuko does the impression of a goldfish for several moments. "Yeah, you know I'm thinking the same thing unless you have a… certain like for things like Plugsuits that is…" Snapping out of it, Ritsuko turns a glare on her smirking friend while trying to think up an excuse. "I had it made because… wet fur!" The other three all blink and say the same thing. "What?" Ritsuko slowly nods sagely. "Yes. I did it so that Shinji wouldn't have to worry about his modesty as wet fur would reveal a little more then I think that he would like." She shakes her head. "Imagine how little modesty that he would have with his fur plastered right against his body." All three women turn and stare at Shinji who's gaping and has a red tinge visible through his fur. After a moment, Ritsuko shakes her head as she clears her throat. "Yes, well." She then waves at the plugsuit. "Anyways, try it on." Shinji just looks at the still packaged plugsuit and sighs before looking at Ritsuko. "And how am I supposed to put it on exactly?" He holds up a hoof and raises an eyebrow. "No hands remember?" Ritsuko blinks for a moment as her eyes move back and forth rapidly before taking another sip of her coffee as she looks away. "Use your.. Telekinesis." Sighing, Shinji does so and a few minutes later is standing of them in his plugsuit. Looking behind him, he can see that the "armor" that was there on his back now has two long holes for his wings to fit through. His tail is also coming out of a hole right where it is on his body. Shifting around for a moment, he frowns. "It feels… weird?" Misato just smirks as she takes a sip of coffee. "Well maybe it's because you've gotten used to not wearing clothing. I know that after I spent a week naked once it felt weird to be wearing something again." She hides her smirk behind the mug as she takes another sip while Maya goes red, Ritsuko sputters, and Shinji's wings pop out a little. 'Oh, so easy.' She then gives him a thumbs up and a wink. "Still, looking good Shin-chan!" Shinji just hangs his head a little and groans. 'Do you really hate me that much God for killing your Angels?' Hearing dark laughter in his mind, he sighs. 'Never mind…' It's only a few days later that finds Shinji staring at Unit-01 in his plugsuit, an unreadable expression on his face. 'Is what she said true Mother… are you…' He nearly jumps as a white gloved hand is laid on his shoulder. Turning, he can see Rei there with an odd expression on her face. Almost one of… 'Worry? She's worried about me?' he slowly smiles. "Hello Ayanami." She slowly nods. "Are you… okay Ikari-kun?" Shinji slowly nods and chuckles. "Yeah, I think that I'm getting more okay as time goes on." He turns back and looks at his EVA . "Ayanami?" He slowly turns and gives her a smile. "Thank you. For everything that you've done." She just nods. "You are welcome Ikari-kun." She blinks for a moment as he mumbles something. "I am sorry but, what was that?" Shinji takes a deep breath. "Ayanami, we've been friends and comrades for a while now, right?" She nods. "So why don't you call me Shinji then? You've earned more then that." Right after he says this, Ayanami's eyes widen as Shinji glares mentally. 'What the hay was that!' Nightmare just chuckles. 'Why, I only gave you a little push foal. And it seems that the mare likes it.' Shinji just mentally snarls before turning back to the outside. Seeing the shocked look on Rei's face, he's about to say something when she looks slightly away. "Very well… Shinji-kun." She then smiles. Shinji blinks at the sight of a slight pinkish tone. 'Is she…' His attention is soon caught by Ritsuko walking towards them. "*Sigh* Looks like the test is about to start…" ********************** Unit-01 ***************** Reclining back while breathing in the LCL, Shinji rolls his eyes as Nightmare complains. 'This is truly disgusting and not fit for us!' Shinji grumbles a little. 'Get used to it.' Suddenly he perks up. "Sorry Doctor Akagi, I missed that." The doctor just rolls her eyes as she looks down at the terminal in front of her. "I was asking if anything was different." Closing his eyes, Shinji nods. "As a matter of fact yes." Ritsuko looks up with a blink. "Really?" Shinji slowly nods. "Yes, this chair is less comfortable then it was." Cracking one eye open, he's greeted with the sight of Ritsuko with her eyebrow twitching while Misato is in the background trying to smother laughter. 'Got you.' Feeling something, he closes his eyes while his horn glows almost unseen in the cockpit. 'Mother? Is that you?' The presence stops and begins to withdraw only for him to yell out mentally again. 'MOTHER!I know that's you.' It slowly comes back and he can hear a sigh. 'Hello… Shinji…' He then sighs. 'Why were you trying to hide? I got so much to ask!' He receives the feeling that Yui is looking away. 'I know and…' She trails off and suddenly he can feel anger. 'Who's that with you! Are you the one who-' Nightmare snorts. 'And?' Yui mentally growls as Shinji listens to both. 'You took away my son's humanity! You-' She soon gets cut off by Nightmare. 'Please. I made your son something greater then a mere human. He is a god.' She darkly chuckles and her next words cause Yui to recoil in shock. 'And here I thought that you of all people wouldn't mind…' And with one last laugh, Nightmare vanishes into the depths of Shinji's mind. After a few moments of silence Shinji speaks up. 'So… um… lovely weather we've been having lately…' He mentally blinks as he hears Yui facepalm… ******************** Unit-00 ********************* Blinking as he leans back, Shinji rolls his eyes at Ritsuko causing her eyebrow to twitch. "Okay, as I said the last time. It smells like… Ayanami." Seeing the grin on Misato's face, he taps his nose. "Horse's sense of smell Misato." Misato raises an eyebrow before smirking. "And how do I smell Shin-chan?" Eyes wide, Shinji looks around, only to have a communication window pop up with Rei watching curiously from the cockpit of Unit-02. "Um…" Rolling her eyes, Ritsuko waves her hand. "Don't worry Shinji, with the amount that she drinks, I can guess." Ignoring Misato yelling at her, Ritsuko looks over the Sync scores and frowns. "Odd. Last time Unit-00 rejected you and now…" Typing something, she turns back to Shinji. "Anything else?" Shinji blinks before looking upwards thoughtfully. "The LCL does feel thicker for some reason…" Ritsuko blinks before scratching her head. "It shouldn't…" **************** Unit-02 ******************** Shaking his head as he can hear Asuka from inside Unit-01 complaining. Tuning it out (however much it hurts) Shinji becomes thoughtful as he looks around. "Is there a different LCL mixture in here?" Looking up from the odd question, Ritsuko shakes her head. "No, it's the same as what's used in the other EVAs. Why?" Shinji just grimaces. "Because it feels very thick for some reason." He then wiggles around a little. "And the flow of it is pretty strong, I can actually feel it through my plugsuit. Not to mention that odd smell..." He takes another sniff. "Is that perfume?" Catching a feeling of playfulness, Shinji is about to use his magic again when he hears Asuka screaming in rage and sees Unit-01 struggling to break free of it's bonds… ________________________________________ Grumbling as he dries himself, Shinji sighs. "That had to be the oddest Sync test that I've ever had…" He then blinks as he shoves a corner of the towel into his ear using his TK. "And with that time in the lake, that's saying something." Shaking out his wings, he smiles. 'Thanks for giving me the info for that cleaning spell by the way. Don't know how I would have gotten the LCL out of my fur otherwise.' He suddenly freezes. 'Why does that thought not bother me any more…' Hearing a chuckle, he glares. 'You did something to my mind, didn't you?' Hearing the slight worry, Nightmare snorts. 'Ah, but that's the best part. I've done nothing to you.' She then smirks. 'In fact, it's all you.' She then begins to laugh. 'After all! Who was the one who felt that he did not fit in with other humans, hm?' Scowling, he cuts her off before returning to drying. After a bit, he becomes frustrated as the towel is not longer working as well. 'Dammit…' Not wanting to ask Nightmare for a drying spell, he then looks around as his eyes run over various things like the hand dryers. Suddenly stopping, he turns and looks more closely at the hand dryers. Walking over to the ones along one wall, he looks at them. 'Hm… not a hair dryer but…' Looking around, he levitates several balls of paper towel and uses them to activate the dryers all at once. Then, using a bit of the knowledge he's been gifted, he starts gathering the hot, dry air into a ball in front of him. After a few moments, he notices how big the ball has gotten as he didn't stop pressing the buttons. His eyes widen as he realizes that it's becoming unstable until… ************* Outside *********** Rolling her eyes, Misato looks at her watch and sighs. "He's taking more time to get ready then Asuka for Pete's sake!" Maya slowly shrugs as she bites her lip. "Well… he does have all that fur to dry." Misato shakes her head and is about to say something when the door flies open with a bang before drifting close. Not thinking, she rushes into the male change room. "SHINJI!" Looking around for him through the pieces of paper floating down, she doesn't notice Rei or Ritsuko come in behind her and Maya. "Shinji! Where… are…" Maya's eyes widen as she catches sight of Shinji. "…Oh… my…" As the tech stuffs a fist into her mouth to keep from giggling, Misato doesn't bother as she leans against a locker for support as she nearly collapses laughing. "Oh! Oh please!" Ritsuko holds up one hand and leaves (riotous laughter soon heard thereafter) as Rei blinks, her lips twitching slightly as there is Shinji… except his fur is all puffed out giving him the appearance of being a plush. "Oh, please. Don't stop on my account. Do go on." Misato just shakes her head. "I'm so sorry Shin-chan… it's just that…" She takes another look and this time does collapse onto the floor laughing. "Oh! Oh! This is too much! HAHAHAHAHA!" After a few moments, Misato raises her hand as she gets her laughter under control. "I got an idea, wait right here." Shinji blinks and tries to get his fur down (to his failure) to turn and blink as Misato walks in with an odd looking brush on her hand. "Misato… what are you…?" Before he can say anything, Misato's right there with the brush on her hand. "Don't worry Shinji! I did spend some time on a farm when I was younger." Shinji opens his mouth only to close it with a snap as Misato begins brushing him. "Now, hold still…" In the doorway, Ritsuko gives her longtime friend a disbelieving stare. "Why would you have those…" Misato just nods her head towards Shinji, who's fighting between enjoying the feeling of being brushed and being mortified at Nightmare's running commentary. "Well… after Shin-chan changed, I made a few online purchases and billed them directly to NERV." She then blinks as Rei walks up. "Yes Rei?" She blinks for a moment and then stares at the brush. "Would you happen to have any more?" At Misato's smirk, Shinji's stomach plummets. 'Ah… Buck me…' Later that night as she's walking into the apartment, Misato sighs as she runs her hand down her face. 'Oh Shinji... why is it always you...?' Hearing a noise, she narrows her eyes before slowly drawing her gun without a sound. 'Asuka is over at Hikari's, Shinji is in NERV...' Slowly making her way to the kitchen, she whips around the corner to see Kaji digging in her fridge. "KAJI!" Leaning back out, Kaji gives her a roguish grin. "Hey there Katsuragi." Getting out of the fridge, Kaji pulls out two cans of beer as a stunned Misato puts her gun away. "With everything going on, I thought that we should... talk." A sad look flits over his face too quickly for Misato to catch... ________________________________________ Two days later, Shinji is waiting in his room when he looks up from his book causing him to frown as he catches the time. 'Where is she...?' He gets up and is about to head to the door when it opens to reveal a frowning Ritsuko. "Doctor Akagi? Where's Misato?" Ritsuko looks uncomfortable for a moment before shaking her head. "Misato's in solitary confinement for now." She backs up a little as Shinji rears back, his nostrils flaring. "WHAT?" Seeing her expression and smelling a little bit of her emotions, he soon calms down and steps towards the still nervous doctor. "Sorry about that Doctor Akagi. I've... been stressed lately." Shinji ignores the snort in the back of his mind as Ritsuko waves him off. "It's okay Shinji. Stress can get the better of us all." She soon widens her eyes as Shinji nuzzles her slightly making her turn slightly red. "Uh... Shinji?" Blinking, Shinji jumps back a little. "Sorry about that Doctor Akagi. Don't know what came over me." Ritsuko just lets out a breath before clearing her throat. "Yes, well... Must be some of your new instincts asserting themselves then." Shinji nods before stopping and giving her a slight glare. "You still haven't said why Misato is in confinement." Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Ritsuko sighs. "The Sub-Commander's been abducted and Kaji is the main suspect. And, of course due to their relationship..." Shinji scowls. "Misato has suspicion fall on her." Ritsuko's grimace is answer enough. Shinji then turns and looks at her pleadingly. "Isn't there something that you can do though? You know that Misato wouldn't be involved in something like this." Taking a moment to run her hand through her hair, Ritsuko hisses. "Don't you think that tried?" Massaging the bridge of her nose, Ritsuko begins to turn. "Anyways, I thought that I should be the one to tell you..." Shinji's thoughts race before he looks up at her before she reaches the door. "Wait! Can't you bring her here?" Scowling, Ritsuko turns and has to bite down a scathing retort. "Shinji, as I said, I can't do anything." She then sees the expression on Shinji's face as it's one she has seen many a time on Gendo's face. 'What are you...' Shinji gives her a small smirk. "Doctor Akagi, correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be more efficient to have both me and Misato in the same place? After all, this apartment is fully secured and guarded and having her here would free up more people to look for the Sub-Commander." Seeing that she's about to say something, he pushes on. "And you know that it would be impossible for me to hide anywhere and that Misato would not leave me behind." Ritsuko stares at him for a moment before a smile slowly grows on her face. "Very well Shinji, I'll give it my best shot. But no promises." She soon leaves as Shinji nods. Not long after she leaves, Shinji lays on the floor while holding his head in his hooves. 'Dammit Kaji... what are you thinking...'A few hours finds the Alicorn pacing through the small apartment when Shinji suddenly stops as his ears turn towards the door and a relived smile crosses his muzzle. 'She managed it… Good.' A moment later a handcuffed Misato is escorted into the room with three Section 2 agents and Ritsuko. Shinji just glares first at the handcuffs and then at the agents before projecting a little bit of leadership as he steps towards them with his head held high and wings spread. "Now then, take off those handcuffs." The agents hesitate for a moment causing Shinji to glare at them. "Now." Hurriedly, they do as he says and soon leave Misato there with Ritsuko and Shinji. After a few moments of watching her rub her wrists, Shinji sets up to the Major. "Misato?" Misato looks up at him with slightly reddened eyes before throwing her arms around his neck. "Thank you Shinji. Rits told me that it was your idea." Shinji looks around in panic, only to still with her next words as she buries her head into his shoulder. "Please… just…" Slowly nodding, Shinji wraps one foreleg around her. "Sure." After a few minutes, Misato pulls away and wipes her eyes with her sleeve. "I… just have to go to the washroom for a minute. The cell they had me in was dusty." Shinji nods a little bit. "Yeah, they don't clean them that often after all." Once the door closes and he can hear the tap, he turns to Ritsuko. "Thanks. For what you did." The doctor just shakes her head before sitting down on the couch. "Please, don't mention it." Looking nervous for a moment, Shinji sighs. "My father?" At her shocked look he taps his nose. "Horse's sense of smell." Wincing, Ritsuko nods as Shinji blows out a breath. "Don't worry, I won't say a thing to anyone. I really appreciate what you've done." As she nods, the bath room door opens revealing Misato. "Got the dust out?" Blinking for a moment, Misato gives him a shaky smile. "Yeah." Looking around, she slowly sighs. "So… anything new to do?" Shinji thinks for a moment before a smirk crosses his face as he hears Nightmare whispering to him. "Well…" Seeing that the two women are looking at him, he gestures with his head to Ritsuko as he uses his TK to bring him a juice can from the kitchen. "I was thinking that since Doctor Akagi was here that she could tell me some embarrassing stories from your misspent youth." As he winks at the smirking doctor, Misato's jaw drops before she raises an eyebrow as she gives him a look. "Really now? You do know that I have plenty of dirt on you, right?" Shinji slowly nods with a straight face before looking at the ceiling while taking a sip of his juice. "Most of which you've told I believe if some of what I'm hearing around the base is true." Misato's jaw drops once more as Ritsuko starts to laugh. After a moment, Misato stops up to Shinji and puts him in a headlock. "Come here you!" Shinji struggles some as he sets the juice down. "No! Not that, anything but that!" Misato's grin becomes slightly crazed. "Too late! KASURAGI NOOGIE!" Ritsuko just laughs harder at the sight of Shinji trying to escape. As the hours go on, Shinji mostly sits there as Misato and Ritsuko try to one up each other in embarrassing stories about the other. Eventually though, everything that had happened catches up to Misato and after crying for a bit, she falls asleep. Laying her on the bed, Shinji slowly closes the door and walks over to the sink before filling several pots with water and setting them on the stove to boil. After a minute, Shinji stares at the pots. "Doctor Akagi?" Hearing her perk up from where she's getting ready to leave, Shinji continues. "If you ever need an ear for something, I really don't mind." Ritsuko is silent for a moment before sighing. "I used to do that for her back in collage." Shinji slowly nods. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure that she doesn't know or realize, but some nights…" He sighs. "Some nights she gets drunk and rants. I just stand there and let her go on." He sadly smiles as he starts gathering steam into clouds. "It made me feel… needed. Wanted." He looks towards her. "If you ever need to rant about Father to someone…" Ritsuko looks at the floor for a moment before walking over and giving him a hug to his surprise. "You're a good person Shinji. Never think otherwise." Pulling away slightly, she clears her throat and shakes her head. "As to your offer… No thanks. It's… something that I deal with." Walking towards the door, she stops. "Oh. And Shinji?" Seeing that she has his attention, she gives him a nod. "After tonight, I think that you've earned the right to call me Ritsuko." With that she leaves a shell shocked Shinji standing there. As she's walking down the hallways, her mind drifts back to the conversation and she ponders the enigma that Shinji has become. 'Hm… I wonder… Is he affecting the emotions of those around him...' Two days later, Shinji is pondering something himself as Misato is rummaging around in the kitchen for snacks. Nightmare suddenly pipes up with her usual tone. 'So foal, what is the matter now?' Shinji shakes his head as he sighs in frustration. 'I don't know. I can't shake this feeling that something bad is happening.' Nightmare is silent for a moment before speaking again. 'And this feeling… is it getting better or worse as the day goes on?' Shinji just scowls. 'You know something.' As silence only greets him, he rolls his eyes. 'Worse.' He suddenly frowns as his eyebrows furrow. 'I think… it has something to do with Kaji?' He then blinks. 'How did I even know that?' Nightmare chuckles a little. 'Seems that you have gained a new ability foal. One common to us Alicorns, greatest of the immortals.' She then gives him a mental smirk. 'The closest thing that you can understand it is as a form of precognition. But one that's only works for those close to us. Not for ourselves.' She then sneers. 'Though why this Kaji is close enough to you for it to work is beyond me.' Shinji just shrugs as he watches the kitchen. 'Anything that we can do about it?' Nightmare chuckles as a mental grin grows on her. 'Yes. I can handle this foal while you stay here. Otherwise there may be… issues. Can't have you disappearing and this time an illusion wouldn't work.' Gritting his teeth, Shinji nods. 'Fine. What do I have to do?' He could almost feel Nightmare's smirk of triumph before she begins. 'Head into the washroom and give me control. I'll handle everything from there.' She then gives him a mental version of a superior look. 'If I can do anything, I will.' Heading into the washroom, Shinji hands over control to Nightmare as his face gains her smirk. "Very good little foal. Now then, this will feel odd for a moment.' Shinji is about to say something before his vision swims and he's suddenly looking at Nightmare in her true form. Looking down at himself, he's now back in control of his body. He then looks at the other Alicorn sharing the bathroom with him. 'What the…' He opens his mouth only for Nightmare to shove her hoof into it as she glares while hissing. "Quiet foal!" She looks herself over and snorts. "Now then, just head outside. When I return for us to recombine, you will know." She then scowls. "Sadly, I cannot live separate from you for long, but still." With one last look of distain, she vanishes. Sighing, Shinji decides to ignore the bad feeling and leaves the washroom just in time for two Section 2 agents to enter the apartment They're about to say something when Misato walks over and lays a hand on Shinji's shoulder. "Well? Is there an issue here?" And like that and without a word, they leave. Shinji just gives Misato a smile as Ritsuko walks in with a smile. "Misato, I got some news, you're free to go." She chuckles a little at their looks of shock. "The Sub-Commander just showed up safe and sound." Misato just lights up before grabbing Shinji and hugging his head tightly to her chest as she jumps around in happiness. "YES!" Suddenly, she calms down and looks at Ritsuko seriously. "What about…" At her friend's head shake, she sighs as her mood drops once more… only to rise a little as Shinji gives her a hug. ________________________________________ Standing near the lit furnace, Kaji smiles and slowly turns as he hears footsteps. "You're late." The plain clothed man in front of him snorts in derision as he pulls out a gun and raises it. "You're nearly not worth this bullet." Anything else he's about to say is moot as the gunman's eyes roll into the back of his head and he collapses knocked out. Kaji blinks a little, the confusion apparent on his face. "Well… that was unexpected." He then looks at the shadows and gives a lady killer grin. "Of all the people I could have expected… you never made the list Akumu." Nightmare in her human form steps out from the shadows with a raised eyebrow. "Normally I might ask how. But right now I have better things to do." As he watches her walk over to the body, Kaji opens his mouth only for her to grab the gun and in one movement (using Shinji's memories of training) pulls the gun up and shoots Kaji in the arm. Staring at his arm in shock as he grabs it, Kaji turns and looks at her. "You shot me!" Nightmare raises an eyebrow before dropping the gun and walking over with a smirk towards Kaji, who's trying to back up. "Of course I did foal." Before he can move however, she's right there with her fingers digging into the wound causing him to bite back a scream. "Oh do be quiet. Tis' only a flesh wound." She then gives him a raised eyebrow. "I'm trying to save you." Biting back another scream as she pulls the bullet out and throws it into the nearby furnace, he snarls. "The hell! You shoot me and then rip open the wound and that's supposed to save me!" Her expression shifts into one of amusement before walking over to the unconscious gunman and laying her hand on his head. "Yes." With her other hand, she gestures at the gun and the blood on the floor. "He'll think that he shot you and then dumped your body into that furnace over there." Kaji just snorts. "Yeah, sure." He then gives her a deadpan look as she starts walking towards him through the beams of sunlight coming through the spaces in the building. "He's going to know that he didn't shoot me…" He trails off as he catches something from the corner of his eye and looks at it. Turning back to her, he frowns. "You're like the kid, aren't you?" Stopping for a moment, Nightmare turns to where he was looking only to see that it's her shadow cast in the sunlight. But where it should be a human woman, instead it's a winged unicorn's shadow. Shaking her head, Nightmare laughs. "Ah! I had forgotten about how her light could burn through my illusions." She then smirks at the frowning triple agent before snapping her finger as the gunman raises from the floor, his eyes unseeing. Then with a flick of her finger, some of the blood pooled on the floor gets transferred to the man's clothing. "Now then… time to go." Laying a hand on Kaji's shoulders, she soon vanishes with him. A moment later, the gunman blinks before snorting as he salutes the furnace. "Burn in hell you bastard." Turning, the man smirks as he throws the gun in the furnace as well and starts walking away… ________________________________________ Sighing as he lays back, Shinji looks over at a nearby clock with a frown. 'She's running late...' Suddenly releasing a breath he did not know that he was holding, he walks into the bathroom in time for Nightmare to appear. "... How did it go?" Giving him a steady stare, Nightmare looks away with a sigh. "There was a gunman there and as soon as he had left, there was no sign of Kaji except for some blood near a open furnace." Not glancing at him as she can feel the sadness radiating from him, she internally shakes her head. 'You're not yet ready to know the truth Child. You are too open and it would place you and those close to you into danger as well as him.' Seeing him stiffen, she raises an eyebrow. "Problem Child?" Looking around, he takes a breath. "Nightmare, I thank you for trying, but I need to leave now." Smirking, she recombines with him as his horn lights up. 'Well now Child, are you truly going to tempt them?' Scowling, Shinji closes his eyes. 'Let them try and stop me.' He almost stops at the dark purr, but continues on and in a flash of light, reappears inside the now messy apartment. Looking around, he has to suppress a moan. 'Misato...' He then stiffens as he hears something, a fact that Nightmare comments on. 'Seems that one of your mares has found something out. Are you not going to go to her? Hm?' Shinji mentally glares at Nightmare. 'She's not mine, she's her own person!' His only answer is for Nightmare to laugh. 'Believe that if you will foal! But I know that she is, or will be, yours...' Angered, he starts walking towards the kitchen where he can hear the sobbing when he notices the answering machine's light is on. An ominous feeling clinches around his heart as he presses the replay button to listen to the message. After it's done, though, it's all he can do to not throw it against the wall. 'That... that...' Feeling the rage from her host, Nightmare sneers. 'That... was designed specifically to hurt. To fuel her anger.' Privately she adds: 'Perhaps I should not have spared him... but then, he has unintentionally done the work we needed...' Coming to grips with the emotions rushing through him, Shinji starts walking to the kitchen and stops. Before him is a shaking Misato surrounded by various bottles of beer. Swallowing, he takes a step forward before whispering. "Misato...?" Her head snapping up, Misato's eyes widen in surprise. "Shinji..." Realizing that he's not a hallucination brought on by too much alcohol, in a flash she's there hugging him. "Shin... Shinji... Kaji... he..." Wrapping one forelimb around her, he pulls her close as he gives into his instincts and nuzzles her neck. "I know... I heard the answering machine." Misato's answer is to merely try to burrow even more into the embrace as she falls to her knees. Shinji just holds her closer as he sits, wrapping his wings around them both... ________________________________________ Sitting on a bus bench, Gendo watches the various shoppers as they go about their business until the man who was to shoot Kaji appears from the crowd and sits beside him. "Kaji is no longer an issue." Blinking rapidly, the man scowls. "Yeah, the bastard's dead. And thanks again for telling me where he was. He told those fucks where my brother and friends were hiding years ago. Too cowardly to hold out." Spitting to the side he snorts. "World's a cleaner place without him." Once more not actually acknowledging him, Gendo continues to watch the shoppers. "And the evidence?" Leaning back, the man smirks. "All gone into the incinerator. Even the gun. I heard the building caught fire." He glances at the stone-faced man next to him for a response only to get none. Sighing, the man shakes his head. "Anyways, don't worry about the pay. Keep it." Pulling out a cigarette, he lights it before continuing. "Putting that bastard in the ground is payment enough. Gendo just grunts. "Very well." A moment later the man shrugs before getting up and leaving Gendo there. Only once he's disappeared into the crowd does Gendo reach up and tap his ear, activating the ear piece. "Liquidate him at the earliest opportunity. He is no longer an asset but a liability." There's a hiss of static before he gets an answer. "Yes Sir. We're following him now and will wait until he's outside city limits." There's another pause. "Also, the Third Child has left the base. We managed to track his energy signature to Major Katsuragi's place of residence." A moment passes. "Is the area secured?" Through the ear piece the agent's voice once more comes through. "Yes Sir. As soon as we realized where he had gone, we sealed off the area." Getting up, Gendo readjusts his glasses. "Then it is of no farther consequence." "Yes Sir." ________________________________________ Slowly coming to the next morning, Misato winces from the headache she has as a soothing dull thumping sound nearly lulls her back to sleep. 'Wait... dull thumping... that sounds like...' Her eyes snapping open, she nearly closes them immediately, but it's enough to tell her what she needs to know: She's sleeping in bed next to Shinji. 'Okay Misato... don't panic. Now... let's see.' She does a mental checklist as she goes over her condition. 'Okay... well, Shinji's still sleeping next to me, and in my bed. However, the fact that I'm still fully clothed is good... Though I can't see Shinji taking advantage. So what happened last...' And like that, the floodgates open as she remembers last night as the floodgates of her memory opens. 'Oh... Kaji...' Fighting back tears, she buries her face into the soft fur of her former charge, his wing over her like a security blanket... > Omake #1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned by Gainax and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. “Well now…” -Evangelion telepathy ____________________________________________________ All was quiet in the EVA cages as the only ones on duty was the night shift and they went out of their way to avoid the area at night when alone. Some of them reported that the EVAs sometimes moved and other times made noises. All dismissed by the day shift as their imaginations getting the better of them. So it was that no one was around when Unit-02’s eyes flickered as did the others, their thoughts somehow reaching each other as Kyoko starts off. ‘So… why exactly did you turn your son into a unicorn again Yui?’ Unit-00’s eyes flickered. ‘Pegacorn.’ Both of the other spirits focused on her as one thing comes from them. ‘What?’ Unit-00 just rolls it’s eye. ‘He’s a winged unicorn. The proper term is a “Pegacorn”. You really should do some research sometime.’ Yui’s spirit scowls. ‘Kind of hard to do so Naoko when the damned computers you designed won’t let me log on!’’ Naoko gives the barest of shrugs, which still causes the catwalk to quiver. ‘Not my problem that they’re still hung up on that bastard husband of yours. Besides, knowing you, all you'd use it for is porn.’ Naoko then gives a small metaphorical smirk. ‘And you’re avoiding the question. How does one screw up that badly?’ Yui’s scowl just grows. ‘Fuck off Naoko.’ Naoko cackles some. ‘Ooo! Seems someone is a little angry.’ Both of their attention is caught as Kyoko snarls at them. ‘Will you two knock it off.’ Yui just sighs. ‘I have no idea as to what happened. One moment I’m releasing him and the next he’s a pegacorn thingy.’ Silence falls for a moment before with a slight groan Unit-02’s head tilts minutely to the side. ‘You really don’t know?’ The feelings of frustration coming from Unit-01 and it’s growls are answer enough as Kyoko focuses on Naoko. ‘Naoko, mind giving me the data from the incident in question?’ Unit-00 blinks a bit. ‘Sure, but why?’ Not waiting for an answer, Naoko gives Kyoko the data. As she processes it, she mumbles. ‘Yui is the genius geneticist. You’re the computer expert. Me? I’m the master of AT Field Theory. None of you come close to knowing as much about the Spacy-wacy physics of it.’ Yui gives her the most incredulous look possible. ‘”Spacy-Wacy”? Seriously Kyoko?’ As Naoko leans back in Unit-00’s core with a smirk, Kyoko shrugs. ‘Don’t see you… hello!’ The restraints on Unit-01 creak as it straightens some. ‘You got something Kyoko?’ Kyoko grins. ‘But of course! I am THE GREATEST MASTER OF AT FIELD PHYSICS! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!’ Silence once more descends until she sighs. ‘You guys are no fun at all… like that baka of a daughter of mine. I swear, if I was her I would have taken that boy and then-” Yui just screams at her. ‘KYOKO!’ The soul in question just waves her metaphorical hands. ‘Yeah, yeah. Whatever Yui.’ If anyone had been there and could have seen it, they would have been treated to the disturbing sight of all four of Unit-02’s eyes rolling. ‘Don’t get your armored panties in a twist. Anyways, the answer is simple. There’s now two souls in the same body.’ There’s a few moments of silence as Yui processes this when she screams . ‘WHAT!? THERE’S AN ANGEL INSIDE MY BABY!?’ Naoko blinks. ‘That actually sounds kind of dirty you know.’ Yui turns to her. ‘FUCK YOU, YOU GREEN EYED BITCH!’ ‘WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME YOU PURPLE SLUT!?’ Kyoko just sighs before yelling. ‘WILL YOU TWO JUST SHUT THE FLYING FUCK UP!?’ Once they go silent, she sighs again. ‘Thank you.’ She then becomes serious. ‘Yui, there’s nothing to worry about. Whatever it is, it’s not an Angel. Whatever it is though, it’s AT readings are off the charts.’ Naoko blinks. ‘Wait, then why didn’t they catch it?’ Kyoko rolls her eyes again. ‘Has anyone ever been returned from an Evangelion before?’ The other two ponder this for a minute before Naoko grunts. ‘Point.’ She then sighs. ‘By the way, they’re going to test Shinji’s Sync scores in a week. And they’re thinking of doing a cross-Sync test.’ Kyoko grins a little. ‘Ooo! Nice.’ Unit-02’s eyes light up a little as the grin turns saucy. ‘I think that I finally figured out how to send images and sensations to people Syncing with me if they doze. Mind, my daughter seems to ignore them, but I think if Shinji was the one…’ Unit-01’as eyes glow as Naoko’s voice takes a teasing tone itself. ‘Really now… How… interesting…’ Kyoko sighs. ‘Yeah, the only issue is that with him being a pegacorn, it would be bestiality.’ Ignoring the steam coming from Unit-01’s closed mouth, Naoko rolls her eye. ‘Xenophilia.’ Kyoko blinks. ‘What?’ Naoko sighs. ‘Sexual relations with a non-human sapient would be xenophilia. Bestiality is if he was non-sapient.’ Unit-02 gives the barest of nods. ‘Did not know that. Of course-’ She gets cut off by Yui screaming at her in rage. ‘KEEP AWAY FROM MY SON YOU RED HAIRED WHORE!’ Kyoko gives her roll of the eyes. ‘Really Yui. We’ve been in these things for ten years almost. A woman’s got needs you know.’ She then focuses on Naoko. ‘You know Naoko…’ A little bit of her tongue pokes out. ‘If you can somehow manage a connection between us I’m willing to share…’. Naoko metaphorically grins as Yui rages in the background. ‘Good idea! I’ll see what I can do.’ Unit-01’s eyes glow with unholy rage as it glares at the other two EVAs. ‘I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!’ > Chapter 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned by Gainax and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. "Interesting..."- Nightmare talking. "Why me..." -Ordinary speaking 'And so it begins.' -Nightmare thoughts 'Aw hay.' -Ordinary thoughts ______________________________________________________________________________________ Grumbling as his alarm goes off, Shinji snarls for a moment as his sleep fogged mind tries to figure out why he set it. All of a sudden it comes to him causing his eyes to shoot open and his muzzle to be split by a massive grin as he sees the time. "Nearly forgot about that!" Nightmare just sighs. ‘Now what is it that you want to do foal?’ Having gotten used to her moods, Shinji’s grin doesn’t falter as he looks around before pulling out a backpack. ‘I’ve been planning this for three days! Ooooh… I can’t wait!’ Raising a metaphorical eyebrow as her host licks his lips, Nightmare rolls her eyes. ‘I don’t know what you wish to accomplish with this foal as you’ll be caught.’ Shinji snorts some. ‘Nope! I got this timed perfectly!’ Feeling the question from his roommate, Shinji chuckles. ‘I managed to get the schedule for the cafeteria shifts with my clearance.’ He then frowns. ‘Got to find a better way to use a computer then using telekinesis on a pencil to do my typing…’ Sighing, Nightmare gives him a look. ‘And how, prey tell, does knowing the schedule help?’ Shinji’s small grin comes back. ‘There’s a two hour opening when the cafeteria is closed and no one is there inside it. Now, normally where the food is kept is locked to keep people out, but such things won’t bother me.’ Nightmare gives a slight grin as she appears in the nearby mirror. ‘Ooo! And the little colt takes his first step into a life of villainy.’ Shinji just scowls as he places the pack across one shoulder, shifting some at how uncomfortable it feels. ‘I’m just getting fed up with what I am eating is all. Eating things like grains and oats all the time gets tiresome.’ He then blinks before turning to the mirror with a thoughtful frown. ‘Are you sure that it’s okay for me to eat that?’ Nightmare rolls her eyes with a ever suffering sound making Shinji glare at her. ‘Of course I am foal!’ She then grumbles. ‘I miss so many foods that I used to eat…’ Shinji shrugs a bit before sighing. ‘Well… maybe later I’ll see what I can do.’ A moment later, he disappears. A few minutes pass before he reappears with his pack bulging with what’s inside. Placing it on the ground, he turns on the stove and sets ups cooking implements and supplies as his mouth waters. ‘Oh… I can’t wait…’ Five hours later finds Dr. Akagi looking over various notes as she looks up at the Section 2 agent before her. "So, anything of note happen during the night watch?" The Section 2 agent just shrugs. "At around two hundred hours the Third Child did a teleportation into the cafeteria’s kitchen. Video shows him grabbing various supplies using his telekinesis before teleporting back to his current residence and cooking it up." Ritsuko nods a bit before stopping. "Wait… what did he grab?" The Section 2 agent raises an eyebrow before answering. "Various things such as eggs, bacon, ham, some sausages… Miso, ramen noodles and such. There was enough for at least three people and he ate it all." Ritsuko’s eyes nearly pop from her head at hearing this. "WHAT!?" A half hour later finds her pacing in front of Shinji who’s looking on with a guilty look while Misato is trying to keep calm. "Third Child, do you have any idea as to what effect those foods can have on a normal horse!? Horses are not meat eaters and cannot digest those foods easily!" Shinji just takes a breath before cocking his head to the side. "How do you know that whatever I am can’t eat meat?" Misato just gives him a raised eyebrow before massaging her nose as she closes her eyes. "Shinji, you’re basically a horse." Shinji just shakes his head. "I did do some research on it you know. I mean, look at my eyes." He gestures at them. "Both face forwards like they do on predators and omnivores not like they do on herbivores let alone on normal horses. I even have small canines, once more, like something that’s not a pure herbivore." He uses a hoof to pull up his lips showing the small, nearly unnoticeable canines. Dropping them, he then shrugs. "Besides, I haven’t had any issues from eating what I did." He then smiles as he stretches his wings some. "I also don’t feel as lethargic as I did." Ritsuko blinks a bit a she starts to mumble. "Well maybe that might because you need food that has a higher amount of calories…" Seeing Shinji’s smirk, she glares. "That still doesn’t make what you did any less idiotic! We have next to no idea as how your body processes food or what you can eat!" Shinji just blinks. "Well then, it’s a good thing that I started out small with only bits and pieces." Now Misato is giving him an icluderous look. "Shinji, you ate enough to feed about three people. How is that starting small?" She blinks a little as Shinji blushes and mumbles. "What was that?" Sighing, Shinji repeats himself. "I said that maybe you and the other should watch your meals. I’ve been grabbing small pieces without you noticing to see how it effects me." Ritsuko just rubs the bridge of her nose. "Still Shinji, you should have discussed this with us before hand." She jerks back a little at his glare. "Don’t you think that I’ve tried to discuss it?! But every time that I do, you guys wave me off with a ‘That’s not what horses eat Shinji.’ Or, ‘But Shinji, horses can’t eat that.’" He then shakes a little. "I AM NOT A HORSE!" Misato nearly falls back a little from the yell as Shinji goes into a small rant. Ritsuko sharing a look with her before they both wince as he shouts that he was, and still is in his mind, a human. ‘We really haven’t been treating him as a human… have we?’ Walking over to his still ranting form, Misato sighs as she hugs him around his neck. "I’m sorry Shinji, I should have thought about how this was affecting you…" Calming down some, Shinji lets out a breath as he wraps his neck around her’s. "I’m sorry for acting how I did but… it’s just that it’s been over a month now and its like no one is listening to me." After a few minutes of thought, Ritsuko nods her head. "Very well Shinji. I’ll have some modifications done to your diet. And maybe we’ll have a look at what you can and can’t eat. However…" She trails off a bit as she gives him a glare that causing him to shrink back a bit. "No more stunts like this, you got it? If you want to try something that you would have normally eaten outside of what a horse can, come to me and we’ll try a small sample to see if you can digest it first before you have a meal of it, okay?" She then sighs a bit as she shakes her head as she sees his ears droop. "I don’t want to see you get hurt, okay?" Shinji swallows a bit before hanging his head as he nods. "Yes Doctor Akagi…" ____________________________________________________________________________________ Using his magic to quickly don his plugsuit, Shinji grimaces as Nightmare keeps bothering him. ‘So it seems that these “Angels” have finally returned to do battle with us. It shall be most interesting to see how they match up with some of the foes I remember.’ Shinji just scowls as he floats the two head pieces onto his head and into his hair. ‘You’ve seen my memories of fighting them, why not take them seriously?’ Nightmare just darkly chuckles. ‘Because the memories of mere mortals are just so malleable. A few minutes can change some parts of a memory.’ Shinji rolls his eyes as his horn lights up. ‘Oh, so I suppose that we won’t have that problem?’ He stumbles a bit at Nightmare’s answer. ‘Of course not foal, for have you not listened to what I have told you? We are not mortal.’ Shinji just blinks. ‘Wait… that wasn’t a joke…?’ Hearing her mocking laugh echoing though his mind, he growls. ‘Never mind, I’ll deal with that later.’ He then teleports to where Unit-01 is currently held, and gets into the cockpit in time to hear Asuka disobey orders and launch. ‘Dammit Asuka…’ Settling in, he sighs in the LCL, his horn softly glowing as he feels a familiar presence. ‘Hello Mother.’ He can feel her smiling as she answers. ‘Hello Shinji-kun.’ A moment later the smile becomes a scowl. ‘Hello Nightmare.’ Nightmare grins from her spot inside Shinji’s mind. ‘Aww, no nice greetings for me? That hurts, and here I was thinking that we might be friends.’ Some of the techs look over to hear Unit-01 seemingly grinding its teeth. ‘Bitch.’ Ignoring the laughter from the spirit, Yui sighs as she turns her attention to Shinji. ‘How do you stand her?’ Shinji's just shrugs a bit. ‘I’ve had practice dealing with Asuka.’ Yui once more grimaces. ‘Ah, yes… her. And how are things going there?’ Shinji grumbles a bit. ‘She’s calmed down quite a bit there. At least now her glares can’t pierce AT Fields…’ It’s at that point where Asuka starts screaming. “ASUKA!” As they’re listening in, Yui mentally shakes her head with a scowl. ‘Foolish girl, she needs to get out of there now!’ Shinji slams a hoof down on an armrest hard enough to dent it as he glares towards the surface. ‘Damn you and your pride Asuka…’ Nightmare, however, just closes her metaphorical eyes. ‘It’s attacking her mentally… just like he would do.’ Those words cause the other two to “turn” towards her as Shinji blinks. ‘He? Who’s “He”?’ Nightmare just nods as her eyes open in a glare. ‘Yes. Discord.’ Now Yui starts to glare. ‘And who is that?’ Nightmare snorts. ‘A being so powerful that even that “ADAM” creature might not have been able to fight him. Only my previous host and her sister, wielding the Elements of Harmony, were able to seal him.’ Yui blinks at this. ‘Couldn’t they have killed him?’ Nightmare shakes her head as Shinji continues to stare at the coms in the cockpit, Asuka’s shouts and yells coming over it. ‘No. Discord was a being of pure chaos, to kill him might well have unleashed just as much destruction as this world’s Second Impact. And neither sister would risk that.’ Shinji suddenly glares at where he knows the com screen. “Let me go out in Unit-01!” Both Yui and Nightmare are torn from their conversation as they watch as Fuyutski leans forwards. “Forget it! With the Angel’s ability to attack a pilot’s mind it’s too dangerous! And we have no idea as to what that might do you in your current state!” Gendo just slightly nods. “Yes, we can in under no circumstances allow Unit-01 to be touched by an Angel.” Yui just grits her teeth. ‘Damn you Gendo…’ Shinji just shakes his head. “BUT THAT WON’T HAPPEN IF I’M NOT DEFEATED!” Gendo just tells him that they have no guarantee causing Shinji to slam his hoof down again causing the armrest to be dent still farther. “BUT IF WE DON’T DO SOMETHING NOW THEN ASUKA WILL DIE!” He blinks as Gendo agrees before sending Rei to Dogma to retrieve a “Lance”. ‘A what now?’ Yui narrows her eyes. ‘The “Lance of Longinius”. A legendary relic that was used against ADAM.’ Nightmare raises an eyebrow. ‘So a weapon capable of harming a god. How… interesting.’ She then cocks her head to the side. ‘And it seems like he’s had to admit to another lie.’ Shinji’s mother just mentally sighs. ‘Yes. Only a being from ADAM with a active S2 core could trigger Third Impact if it was to touch Lilith.’ Maya’s watching the readings as Rei prepares to fire the Lance when her monitor lights up. “I’m getting a massive energy spike from the Angel!” Misato whips around and stares at her. “WHAT!?” Shinji can only watch in horror as a second beam from the Angel floods over Unit-00’s form as Rei begins screaming, the first lightening some as it concentrates on Rei making her drop the Lance. “REI!” He then turns to the communication monitor. “LET ME SAVE THEM!” Gendo just shakes his head. “No, it’s too dangerous. Rei, do as you have been ordered.” Shaking, Rei nods. “Ye-yes… sir YAAAGH!” The beam suddenly intensifies drowning out all thought as the Angel sees her intentions. Shinji just growls as he hangs his head. ‘Dammit… There’s got to be something that I can do…’ Nightmare just leans back in his mindscape with a smirk, her eyes closed. ‘Ah, but there is.’ Shinji’s eyes widen. ‘There is!? What is it!?’ Yui gives her a suspicious glance in the shared mindscape as Nightmare asks if the EVA truly does have the same power source as the Angels. ‘Yes…’ Her glance becomes a glare as the dark spirit chuckles. ‘Why are you asking?’ Nightmare just grins. ‘Because if we activate it and channel the energy into Shinji then he might have the power to do what he just thought of doing.’ She hears Shinji gasp making her laugh. ‘Oh yes!’ Her eyes then darken some. ‘However, doing so comes at a price.’ Shinji grits his teeth as he sees Unit-00 stagger some. ‘What’s your price?’ Nightmare laughs. ‘Oh! It’s not a price for me, but rather for you Ikari Shinji. And it is a heavy one.’ Sensing the confusion, she continues. ‘You see… in order to gain the power you need, you must sacrifice any chance of ever becoming human once more.’ ‘WHAT!?’ Nightmare laughs. ‘You see child, at the moment your form is currently in flux. There is a small chance that you might naturally become human again. But the amount of power needed will permanently freeze the flux in place, turning you into a Alicorn for good. There will be no turning back from this if you make this choice.’ She then closes her eyes. ‘So… what is worth to you more? Your humanity, or your mares?’ Shinji just trembles for a few moments as Yui argues with Nightmare. Their argument ends though a moment later. ‘Do it.’ Nightmare’s grin widens. ‘I’m sorry, what was that?’ Shinji just scowls. ‘I said, “Do it”.’ Yui just shakes her head. ‘Shinji, look there must be an-‘ He mentally yells at her. ‘THERE IS NO OTHER WAY!’ He then takes a breath. ‘I don’t care what I need to do if it saves them.’ All is silent before Yui sighs. ‘Okay Shinji-kun.’ Slowly, the S2 organ begins to glow as it comes online. “And Shinji-kun? I am proud of you.’ He just nods. ‘Thank you Mother.’ Just as Gendo is about to order Unit-01 into battle, one of the techs suddenly starts shouting. “UNIT-01’S POWER LEVELS RISING! WE’RE GETTING SIGNS THAT THE its S2 ORGAN IS ACTIVATING!” Eyes wide, Gendo looks at Shinji to see him glowing and twisting in his seat. “Pilot! What are you doing!?” Shinji just opens one eye and glares as he feels the almost painful feeling of power filling him. “I’m… doing… what’s needed!” Gendo grits his teeth as he sees Shinji’s back arching as the window fills with light before cutting off. “Section Two, I am ordering you to subdue the Third Child with any means necessary.” Down in the holding bay, several Section Two agents armed with tranq rifles enter just in time to see the Entry Plug disengage. One of them is about to say something when it explodes revealing Shinji with an aura around him. Shinji takes a breath of fresh air as he looks around in some shock. ‘This… this feels…’ Nightmare just purrs. ‘Indeed foal. What you are feeling is the power inherent to being an Alicorn.’ She then frowns. 'Sadly, this is temporary as this power will run out leaving you with slightly more then you had.' A moment later, Shinji has to duck as a dart nearly hits him. He then turns to the Section Two agents. “Third Child, you are to stand down by order of the Commander. If you do not, we are authorized to use force.” Shinji just narrows his eyes before looking to the side and seeing the tunnel to the launch Shute open and shakes his head. “You’re going to have to catch me first.” Leaping up onto the railing, he jumps and unfolds his wings, taking to the air as the memories that Nightmare is sending him tell him to. Flying down the tunnel at high speed, he makes a sharp turn at the end and heads upwards as the doors begin closing. He slowly gains more and more speed as he sees the last armored door to the outside nearly closed. ‘We’re not going to make it.’ Nightmare’s eyes widen with glee. ‘Do you truly think that such a thing shall stop us?’ This is shown as it closes and locks… only to explode outwards as Shinji bursts through it and into the storm outside. Down in Central Dogma, Ritsuko has her jaw dropping as she shakes her head. “Tha… that’s not possible! A biological of that size hitting it at that speed should have been splattered!” Misato just blinks in surprise. “I... guess that he’s tougher then he looks?” Seeing the stares, she shrugs. “What?” Outside, Shinji upon seeing the Lance swoops down, both it and his horn becoming enveloped within a purple glow as he shoots upwards, soon entering the clouds as he begins ascending. As he does so, he starts squinting both from the fury of the storm as it unleashes it’s might against and him as well as his still rapid acceleration, a cone of sorts beginning to surrounding him. Down below, Maya is gaping at what her monitors are telling her. “He’s… he’s about to break the-“ All of a sudden Tokyo-3 is lit up as a massive rainbow explosion occurs, shredding the storm around it and traveling outwards in a ring shape. “Sound… barrier…” She then shakes her head. “He’s still accelerating. Mach 1.8, Mach 2.3, Mach 2.9.” Shigeru starts watching own monitors. “He’s also still ascending. 60,000 feet, 68,000 feet, 73,000 feet.” Makoto turns. “I’m reading a White Waveform pattern from the Third Child.” Fuyutski just blinks as he narrows his eyes as he mumbles to himself. “A White Waveform Pattern…” As Shinji reaches 120,00 feet, the Angel finally turns it’s attentions to him, letting the other two go as it baths him in light making him squint against it as he feels a pressure build up within his head. Deep inside his mindscape, Arael, taking the form of as child version of Asuka, slowly turns. “You’re not a Lilium…” It soon faces a smirking Nightmare moon. “Of course not Little Thing, for I am something far greater.” She then grins revealing a mouth full of not horse teeth, but many rows of fangs. “And you were a foal to try and face me where I am at my strongest.” Her eyes flash just as she charges at the Angel. In Central Dogma Maya turns to look at a stunned Ritsuko. “Senpai! I’m getting fluctuations in the Angel’s AT Field. It’s as if…” Her shoulder slump. “It’s as if… he’s counter attacking it.” Ritsuko just slams her hands down on the console. “This… this is impossible!” Misato’s hand slowly comes up and clutches at the cross. “Shinji-kun…” She swallows. ‘What have you become?’ Up in space, Shinji snarls in the vacuum as he lines up. ‘DIE!’ And one final burst of magic, he flings the Lance at the distracted Angel with all his might, piercing it. A moment later it seems to explode into particles of light as the Lance continues onwards. For his part, Shinji is panting in the non-existent air as he slows and stops. Hanging there, he blinks. ‘I… did it?’ He then grins. ‘I DID IT!’ After a moment, he slowly twists in space as his expression turns from one of victory, to one of awe as he beholds all of the planet below him, the ring of rainbow light still tearing through the dying storm. Deep in his mind, Nightmare has a grin of satisfaction as she nods. ‘Look upon this sight young Prince and never forget it. For this is what you are defending…’ > Chapter 5 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned by Gainax and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. "Interesting..."- Nightmare talking. "Why me..." -Ordinary speaking 'And so it begins.' -Nightmare thoughts 'Aw hay.' -Ordinary thoughts _____________________________________________________________ Two days after the battle against the Fifteenth, Fuyutski and Gendo are in his office. Sitting at a table over looking a chess board, Fuyutski moves one of the pieces. "So what are you going to do about your son." Slowly reaching over, Gendo moves one of the chess pieces. "A few days locked up and some tests being run on him should be enough." Raising an eyebrow, Fuyutski moves a Pawn. "I would have thought that you would be dismayed that he may have caused complications." Gendo moves another piece. "Some may see what occurred as a complication. However, the Scenario is still on track and we are even now ahead of the old men." At this, Fuyutski looks at him in surprise. "How so?" Watching as the old man moves a piece, Gendo considers his next move. "All our goals were met in the battle. The Lance is out of reach of the Committee for the foreseeable future. The Angel was defeated as was planned. And the Second Child is continuing her downward spiral. And whatever happens will cause the Third to become more malleable to our wishes. And, as we foresaw, Unit-01 was not directly involved. So, in a sense he did obey orders." Watching as Gendo moves a Knight, Fuyutski shakes his head. "I still fail to see how we came out ahead in this." Gendo smirks. "We have a better idea of what the Third is capable of is one." He watches as the former Sensei moves a piece. "The fact that he actually participated in the battle will increase the emotional impact of when the Second reaches the end of her rope due to him not having acted in time to prevent damage. And now we know that the S2 core that Unit-01 absorbed works." He then picks up the Knight and examines it a bit before using it to remove a Bishop. "And the old men..." __________________________________________________________________ Deep within the bowals of several Supercomputers, twelve black monoliths are gathered for a meeting hidden from prying eyes. SEELE 10: Something must be done about the Third Child. His very presence is a threat to our path. SEELE 07: And this... White Waveform Pattern is the most disturbing. Only they might have such a pattern. SEELE 03: Do not speak of such blasphemous things here! SEELE 01: Enough. 12, what have your researchers found? SEELE 12: Something most interesting. SEELE 04: Oh? How so? SEELE 12: As you know before his... unfortunate demise, Agent Ryoji managed to smuggle some tissue samples from the Third Child's current form. And while the attempted cloning failed, we discovered something else. *Murmurs* SEELE 01: Quiet. We did not expect the cloning to work, but what came of the attempt 12? SEELE 12: We used a special nutrient bath to cause the cells to grow. And while the most they would form is a lump of flesh, the cells themselves turned out to be biologically immortal. At no time during the experiments did they show signs of the normal wear and tear cells have which shows as aging. *Quiet* SEELE 01: Immortality... SEELE 06: And with his powers and abilities... Could he be what we are seeking? *More murmurs* SEELE 12: I have a theory on it. SEELE 01: Yes? SEELE 12: As you know the Third Child, having been human contained as do all children of Lilith the Fruit of Knowledge. We know that he had already been absorbed when Unit-01 devoured the S2 Core of the Fourteenth. Or as we know it, the Fruit of Life. It is possible that his exposure to both has caused his transformation. SEELE 03: You are treading a fine line with what you are suggesting Twelve! SEELE 07: Is he? Earth is an accident. Two Seeds were never meant to be on the same world. Or else what might come of it could equal them. The Third could be proof of what we are seeking! A being that partook of the fruits of Knowledge and Life! Perhaps through him we- SEELE 01: No. We shall continue along the path set out in the scrolls. SEELE 07: But One! SEELE 01: Enough. However, I do see an opportunity here. We shall continue to monitor the Third Child and Gendo's False God for farther developments. This... transformation may be of use when the time comes... _______________________________________________________ Watching as Fuyutski takes the Knight, Gendo allows his smirk to grow. "They shall be distracted by the current situation of the Third Child allowing us to better make our moves under the radar. To them, he is the tempting fruit just out of reach. All the while they take less notice of the fruits below." Fuyutski just shakes his head. "Still, with his current emotional state and how he's been pushing the boundaries..." He then frowns as he shakes his head. "And now that he has killed an Angel outside his EVA..." Gendo makes another move. "His current emotional state of turmoil is of no consequence at the moment and only helps for when the final steps are taken." He then moves a Pawn capturing Fuyutski in Checkmate. "As for him killing the Angel, he did so with the Lance, which is currently unrecoverable. It is highly unlikely that he could kill an Angel any other way now without an Evangelion. And the illusion of control can itself be a form of control. ." He then picks up the Knight he sacrificed. "After all, a Pawn who has been promoted to a Knight is just as useful as a sacrifice for the end game as the original Pawn would have been..." He then sets it down on the board as the light glints off his sunglasses. _______________________________________________________________ Walking into the medical wing, Misato hands a mug of coffee to a silent Ritsuko before looking towards the bed where her charge is lying. "So how is he doing?" Taking a sip of her coffee, Ritsuko looks at the clipboard in her hand. "Considering that he somehow not only broke the sound barrier under his own power, but was going faster then Mach 4... not to mention how he breached the atmosphere and entered space while surviving not only the lack of air but the cosmic radiation, one shotted an Angel, and survived re-entry with out any real protection... He's doing just peachy." Noticing the trembling of the mug in her friend's hand, Misato rolls her eyes. "You seem tense for some reason." A twitch develops in the resident mad scientist's eye as she gives the purple haired major a glare. "Tense? Tense? TENSE!?" Panting, Ritsuko turns to her old friend with bloodshot eyes. "Tense is how I am during and before a battle with an Angel. Tense is how I am when I'm trying to repair the EVAs as fast as possible. This? This isn't me being tense. This is me trying to cope when the world has gone fucking insane!" She then motions to Shinji. "Everything he did in the last battle is goddamn fucking impossible and I have been up for the last 72 hours trying to figure out what he did and how!" Ignoring her friend ranting, Misato turns back and looks into the room to see her charge still softly sleeping and in a nearby bed is Rei simply watching him do so. Her thoughts slowly turn towards what had happened after Shinji had defeated the Angel... ****************** Flashback *********************** Mouth hanging open, a part of Misato's brain refuses to believe what she just saw. 'He... he just killed an Angel without an EVA...' Shaking herself out of it, she starts listening in as Maya speaks up. "Just received word from NASA, they're reporting that the lunar seismographs just reported an impact in the southern lunar hemisphere." She then turns and looks at the Commander. "Sir, the Magi calculate that there's an 88% chance that the impact was from the Lance." Aoba just shakes his head as he looks over his own monitor. "The ring of energy that the Third Child created has now expanded beyond the original radius of the storm and is still expanding. Reports coming in from the west coast that they can now see it approaching." Shigeru grimaces a bit. "Damn, did the kid create a mini-impact or something?" He clamps his mouth shut as Misato and Maya glare at him. Ritsuko then sighs as she slides her open palm down her face before leaning towards Maya. "Maya, contact the space agencies and tell me who might be in the area for... pick up or when the earliest possible time might be." Misato just nods. "Yeah, and let whoever does pick him up know that he'll likely be hungry and thirsty." Ritsuko gives her oldest friend a saddened look. "Misato, you know as well as I do that he's dead." Whipping around, Misato glares at her. "I refuse to believe it until we have proof Ritsuko!" Ignoring Maya typing away, Ritsuko slams her hand on the console next to her. "Dammit Misato! Even though it seems that he survived the ascent into orbit, he would die within minutes of being exposed to space. No air and radiation likely got him." The two glare at each other for a few minutes before Maya speaks up. "Um... Sempai?" Turning to her, Ritsuko raises an eyebrow. "Yes Maya?" The mousey tech swallows as she knows her superior would not like what she just did. "I realigned one of the microsats under our control so that I could take some readings from Shin- I mean the Third Child." Ritsuko tightens her lips some but nods for her to go on. "And... um... this is what I got." With a few more taps, an image appears on one of the large main screens and Ritsuko's clipboard drops from now nerveless fingers as her's and several other people's jaws drop. "It's... not possible..." Maya just shakes her head as she looks at the readings displayed. "It is Sempai. We're reading that Pilot Ikari's vitals are still there and he is in fact surviving." Up on the screen the beeps from a heart monitor as well as the spikes and dips from brainwaves can be seen. "From data gathered it seems as if Pilot Ikari is not in distress at all." Ritsuko tries to say something only to fail before she shakes her head. "How could he be surviving let alone thriving..." Misato is about to say something when Aoba's eyes widen. "Ma'am! The Third Child has changed direction and is currently on a descent path." Misato whips in his direction, her face paling. "What?!" Shigeru nods as he checks his own monitor. "I have confirmation ma'am. The Third Child is on a deorbit and will re-enter the atmosphere above Beijing in three minutes. Probably site of impact is Tokyo-3." Narrowing her eyes, Misato turns and heads for the exit only to stop as the Commander demands to know what she is doing. Taking a breath, she looks at him. "Sir, I am going to make sure that Shinji is okay once he lands." The Commander stares at her for a minute before nodding. "Very well. I expect you to place him in custody as soon as possible." Grinding her teeth, Misato just manages to hiss. "Yes Sir." Leaving, she scowls. 'Damn bastard. Shinji just saved his and the other pilots' lives and he gets arrested in return.' She then frowns and sighs. 'But Shinji did disobey a direct order no matter the outcome...' Speeding up into a jog, she soon reaches the elevator and beings to ascend to the parking garage. Once there, she gets into her car and heads out. Fifteen minutes later finds her getting out of her car after driving it as close to the battlescene as possible and jogging the rest of the way to where the two EVAs are slumped against the buildings. Almost there, she looks up to see a small purplish light trailing smoke and flame as it get closer. As she's running, she watches it slam into a partially water-filled crater creating a cloud of steam. Reaching it, she holds her arm up across her face as she tries to peer into it. "Shinji-kun? Are you okay?" The world itself seems to hold its breath until Shinji's voice drifts out of the steam. "Misato-san?" Misato watches as first a small shadow appears which rapidly becomes an exhausted looking Shinji as he leaves the steam, scorch marks and tears covering his formally prestine plugsuit demonstrating the sheer heat and force it was subjected to. "Shinji?" Giving her a tired smile, Shinji nods. "Hey." Seeing Misato rush towards him, he gets up on his back legs and holds out his forehooves in a "Stop" gesture. "Um... I'm still pretty hot Misato." As if to prove the point, once he gets back down on all fours, one of his hooves hits a puddle causing it to hiss making Misato wince as she can just about imagine what would have happened had she hugged him. She then sighs. "Shinji... I'm sorry but..." He interrupts her with a sad smile on his face. "You have to take me into custody." He then shakes his head at her surprise. "I knew it was coming." Frowning, he gives her a pleading look. "Can I... at the least check on Asuka and Rei first? Make sure that they're okay?" Misato looks at him with a wry expression as she crosses her arms before gesturing at the steam coming from the wet ground around him. "Well, somehow I doubt that I could place the cuffs on you without burning myself." Shinji for his part has the decency to blush. "Um... yeah..." Shaking her head, Misato gestures for him to follow. "They're this way." The two speed up as they move among the hunks of debris and torn up streets, Shinji using TK to splash himself with water (of course, the rapid cooling along with all the other damage causes his plugsuit to start to fall apart, exposing among other things one of his flanks). It's not long until they come to the site and find only Rei there. Laying a hand on Shinji's shoulders, Misato gestures at Rei. "Go on Shin-chan, go check on her." He just smiles at her and nods. "Thank you Misato." He trots over to where the First Child is sitting with a lost expression on her face. Reaching her, he starts trying to get her to speak only to get no response. Sighing, he pulls away for a moment and then frowns. Misato can see a slight glow from his horn only to turn (along with the other personell on site) to see as Unit-00 and Unit-02 suddenly tip over. "What the..." Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, she can see a even more exhausted looking Shinji pulling away from where he had touched his horn to Rei's forehead. 'Wait... did he just...' To her surprise, she watches as Rei blinks and cries a bit before hugging Shinji around the neck. Giving them a few minutes, she eventually walks towards them. Grimacing, she sighs as they turn to her, Ritsuko and Maya coming up behind. "I'm sorry Shinji, but..." He simply nods. "I know." Turning to Rei, he gives her a nod. "Take care." The doctor and her assistant finally reach them only for Maya to give Shinji a sad smile. "Hey." Shinji gives her a nod as two Section Two agents walk into view with cuffs. Misato scowls a bit before giving Shinji a wink. "Hey, I wouldn't worry much. After all, you're the most talented protector we have." Shinji chuckles a bit. "Yeah, I guess so..." Seeing him trail off as his eyes widen, Misato is about to say something when a flash of light comes from his exposed flank. When it disappears, there's the image of a shield made out of an AT Field with the Lance of Longinus crossing it on his flank. "What they hell?!" Shinji just blinks as he stares. "What... do... you... know..." He then begins swaying and before their shocked eyes collapses to the ground as his eyes roll into the back of his head. "SHINJI!" ********************** Flashback End **************************** Seeing Ritsuko calming down, Misato cocks her head to the side. "That reminds me... what's with those tattoo things of his...?" Grumbling, Ritsuko looks over her notes. "They're no tattoos. That much I can tell you." She then looks at Misato. "It's imprinted into his fur and the fur will change color when moved just so that it's in the same position... WHICH DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE ALONG WITH HIS GROWTH SPURT!" That catches the Major's attention. "'Growth Spurt'...?" Ritsuko sighs before gestures at the large amount of IVs attached to the pilot. "Did you think that those were for show?" Seeing the sheepish look on the Major's face, she scowls. "For some reason his body mass is growing, that's all we can do to keep up with it." Misato blinks at this. "How much are we talking here..." Not saying anything at first, Ritsuko pulls out a cigarette and lights it before taking a deep drag. "When he was first transformed, his mass was roughly about the same amount as a adult man. Now?" She shakes her head. "His mass and size is actually approaching actual horse size." She then checks a monitor. "Seems to have slowed down though so we're not talking a Clydesdale in size." She then looks back at the sleeping Alicorn. "That's why we're still keeping him sedated. Otherwise the term 'Growing Pains' would be putting it mildly." Misato just shakes her head. "Shinji..." In the background, the radio starts playing. "In Weather news, the cold front currently passing through Hokkaido is still bringing record lows not seen since before Second Impact..." _________________________________________________________________ *Three Days Later* Head pillowed on her arms, Misato grumbles as a mosquito lands on her nose. She winkles her nose a little to try and dislodge it before it bites her causing her eyes to fly open as she smacks herself in the nose. A moment later, Misato and the chair fall backwards and hit the floor causing her to groan. "Augh... dammit..." Looking over to where Ritsuko is sleeping, Misato snorts as she sees the keyboard pressing into her face. Shaking her head, she looks into the room with the now much larger Shinji and raises an eyebrow as she sees Rei there peeling an apple causing her to frown. "She still there?" She then looks back at her long time friend, a expression of amusement crossing her face as she reaches up and scratches the tip of her nose. "Maybe I should wake her up..." The decision is taken out of her hands a moment later as Maya bursts in. "SEMPAI!" Ritsuko snaps into wakefulness as she jerks back. "Not the steel shackles, use the leather!" Fully waking, she blushes as she realizes what she shouted out. Coughing into her hand, she looks over at the fully red faced Maya. "Er, yes Maya. You needed something?" The room falls into silence as Misato tries (and fails) to formulate a response to what she heard and Maya tries to snap out of it. Finally, the Tech manages to do so. "Er... right!" Still red faced, she walks over to the nearby computer. "May I Sempai?" Nodding, Ritsuko rolls her chair back. "Go ahead Maya." Maya licks her lips as she reaches into a pocket and pulls out a disk and inserts it into the computer. After a moment she starts typing as she begins to explain. "Remember how you wanted to see what effects that... er..." Misato grins. "Rainboom." Ritsuko looks at her disbelieving alongside Maya. "A what?" Misato just shrugs as she gestures in the air. "You know, it was a sonic boom that created a rainbow wave thingy... so... rainboom." Slapping herself in the face, Ritsuko takes a moment to calm herself before looking at Maya. "Anyways, you were looking for effects..." Maya finishes typing and finally takes a breath. "Well, biologically, there seems to be no change in the area. In fact, it seems like there were no effects from it." She then looks at her superiors. "At least at first." That causes both of them to straighten as Misato asks the question on bother their minds. "What did you find?" Swallowing, Maya brings up the screens. "At first, I couldn't find nothing locally. So I expanded the search." She then sighs as she runs her hand through her hair. "Running through the Magi, I found the size of the... rainboom's shockwave that was created." Misato is about to do a victory gesture when a globe comes appears on the screen, a red circle expanding outwards from Tokyo-3 causing her to drop her arm. "What in the world..." Ritsuko blinks and works her mouth as it keeps growing. "Maya... this... this is impossible..." Maya just shakes her head. "Sorry Sempai, but I used reports, satellite images, and various instrument stations and..." Turning, she watches as the circle having expanded over most of the globe, starts shrinking as it reaches the far end. "Best that we can tell, whatever it was it managed to encircle the globe at least twice if not more." To punctuate it, the circle reaches where Antarctica was and becomes a pin-prick before expanding again in the direction it just was coming from. "After that, I had the Magi trawl through reports looking for anything odd..." Misato grimaces. "You found something." Maya nods before sighing. "Yeah, a lot of somethings." She then types and an video of a small town starts. "This is a village in Iceland. They recorded this approximately two days ago." Misato frowns as she watches it, something in the back of her mind telling her there's something seriously wrong with what she is seeing. It's Ritsuko who realizes it first as her hand covers her mouth. "Is that... snow!?" Misato's jaw drops as she tries to comprehend it. "What the hell?!" She then looks at Maya with a disbelieving look. "That... there hasn't been a snowfall in almost fifteen years..." Maya just nods. "We're seeing meteorological effects that have not been seen in various areas since Second Impacts occurring." She continues typing and brings up a picture taken from orbit. "However, this is the biggest place of change." Misato swallows hard as she sees a place she revisits in her nightmares appear in a satellite photo. "Antarctica..." Ritsuko spares a glance for her before looking over the photo and seeing gray clouds over part of it. "Snow?" Maya grimaces a bit. "Some, but not quite." She brings another photo. "As of five days ago, seismological probes detected submarine earthquakes through out the region. At the same time, various volcanoes in the area began extruding magma. What we were just seeing is the ash clouds. And then there is the 'Dead Sea'." She looks at her two superiors with a serious expression. "Since the rainboom reached it, the dead sea's size has decreased by 0.045%. Now that may not sound like much but..." Ritsuko shakes her head. "That's almost a kilometer..." Nodding, the Tech turns back to the computer. "Yeah, and according to the data, it's continuing to decrease in size and more then that, we found this..." She brings up another picture showing small bits of ice. "Those weren't there a week ago. Somehow, the area is starting to freeze in the very southern region right over the pole..." As Ritsuko starts freaking out, Misato turns and looks through the observation window at her charge, a shocked look on her face as she whispers. "What exactly have you become Shin-chan...?" _____________________________________________________________________ *Meanwhile In Russia* Walking down a hallway, a man comes to a pair of doors and swipes a card opening them. Entering a small room between the door he just came through, he goes through the various scans before waiting as the door opens and then heading down another long hallway. Finally, he reaches his destination. Not too long after, he's in a room looking down into a glowing orange tank. "So Doctor... how goes the... Project?" He then gives the small man fiddling with a pencil. "With what happened to the Third Child and current events, we must buy the time we need to bring about our... paradise." He then snarls as he slams his hand down in the darkened room. "With every moment that blasted Ikari solidifies his position." The scientist licks his lips before nodding. "Da, this I know." He then gestures at the tank. "The samples you obtained for us helped immensely." He then reaches up and pushes his glasses up. "With some work, we managed to merge them with cells from the Angels." The man just grunts. "I better see results Doctor. We could have used those Dummy plugs..." The Doctor just nods, sweat beading on his forehead. "I cannot deny the truth in that. But we needed the S2 organs as they are the right size and we cannot produce the ones the Angels used nearly as quickly." Staring at a monitor, the man nods. "How soon for the first unit?" Glancing at some papers, the Doctor's lips twitch a little. "With the accelerated growth, perhaps as little as a month." He then frowns. "I do wish that I could examine the Third Child. The knowledge contained in his body..." The man just glares at the Doctor causing him to flinch. "He is of yet possibly needed." Gulping, the Doctor shakes. "Da, I understand..." The man just falls silent as he looks at the monitor which had an image of a black orb the size of his fist with flesh slowly growing around it. He then chuckles. "Magnificent..." He grins as he shakes his head. "I wonder how you will react Ikari... and what information we might gain about the Third Child from the... tests..." He then smirks. 'Soon...' __________________________________________________________________ Grunting as he slowly wakes up, Shinji slowly opens his eyes only to sigh as he notices the canvas above him. “Still here…” A moment later he throws off the heavy sheets and steps out of the bed and looks around, taking in the room that is a mixture between modern, medieval European, and Japanese. He starts grumbling as he preens his feathers, the movements coming to him naturally after so long. “At least she let me choose some of how it looks…” Not too long afterwards finds him walking down the narrow, stone hallways. The only sound being his hooves against the stone floor as he passes various banners showing his battles, pictures of his friends, and finally statues of Units -01, 02, and 00 around a door (his EVA being in a recess above the door and the other two beside the door itself). Opening it and walking in, he notices Nightmare waiting at a long table with what appears to be food all along it which she gestures at. “Come Young Prince. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Shinji silently regards her before looking at the food, bathed in moonlight. “Why? None of this is real.” He then glares at her as she smirks. “All this is a dream. A figment of my subconscious that you made real here.” Nightmare seems to blur for a moment before appearing beside him, her muzzle close to his ear. “Does it truly matter young one? This is after all just as real as anything, even if it’s all in your head.” Stamping one hoof down, hard enough to make the ground quake, Shinji turns to glare at Nightmare, who’s smirk grows. “How much longer before I can wake up!?” Nightmare gives him a small nuzzle before pulling away with a smile. “Soon Little Prince.” She starts sauntering back to her original spot as she continues talking. “But that would not be today, or tomorrow.” All of a sudden, all the anger drains out of Shinji as he follows her. “I just want to wake up and see my friends and Misato again.” Nightmare is silent for a moment before she sits and a chair materializes next to her. “And I can understand that young one.” She then frowns as she looks at him as he sits down. “However, the changes currently happening to your body and magic are extremely painful.” She then shakes her head as her magic wraps around a pastry. “It is best that you sleep for now or else you might go mad with the pain.” Buttering up a piece of toast and placing some egg on it, Shinji shakes his head. “That’s what you say, but like I keep telling you, I am no stranger to pain.” Snorting, Nightmare gives him a look, “Ah, colts.” With an amused look, she shakes her head. “Always trying to prove their worth.” Ignoring her companion’s glare, she takes a bite of her pastry before continuing. “To be truthful, while you, yourself, are no stranger to pain, if you were awake it would feel like that time the Fifth Angel nearly boiled you alive combined with the feeling of your body being ripped apart and remade.” She then calmly sips at her tea as Shinji winces as this is the first time she’s given him a description. “From the memories I saw, when my previous host and her sister went through the change, they nearly went mad from pain.” Shinji then frowns. “Since you’re being talkative… why bring me here? Why not simply let me go unconcuious and then wake up as if no time has passed?” Nightmare then raises an eyebrow as she watches him drink some juice before leaning forwards. “I had many reasons… not the least of which is for you to gain more experience as an Alicorn.” Seeing that he’s about to say something, she holds up a hoof. “And before you say anything, all of your experience here can transfer over.” Now it’s Shinji’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “And that’s all?” Lips twitching, Nightmare chuckles as she bites down on a juicy pear. Swallowing, she gets close and holds her chin up with her hooves. “The other reason was so that you could get more used to me and I to you.” She then smirks. ‘Which is why I made time here move faster…’ Shinji blinks for a bit as he chews some more and then nods as he swallows. “I… see…” He then tilts his head. “That… makes sense I guess…” Afterwards, the two lapse into silence as they finish eating before the two head out onto a balcony revealing that the castle is on the lookout that Misato took Shinji to. After a few moments, Nightmare notices a pensive look on her host’s face causing her to frown. “Is there something the matter Little Prince?” Shinji shakes his head and sighs. “No, there isn’t…” Nightmare just gives him a knowing look. “We share the same mind Little One. And we have had enough time that I know how to read you.” She then moves closer to him as she tilts her head to the side. “Tell me what bothers you.” She then stops when she’s close enough to whisper. “You have had something on your mind for days now.” Shinji opens his mouth only to close it as he sighs and looks up at the moon. “I’ve been thinking… about how I can no longer be human.” Nightmare raises her eyebrow as she frowns. “Having second thoughts about what you did?” Shinji shakes his head as he looks at the other Alicorn. “Never. Rei, and despite everything Asuka, are worth the sacrifice.” He then hangs his head as he closes his eyes. “It’s just… when this war is over, what am I supposed to do?” He then raises a hoof and looks at it. “I’m not human and I can never fit in now.” He then slams his hoof down as a tear leaks from his eye. “I never belonged before and now… now it’s worse… What… what future do I have…?” Nightmare watches for a moment before quietly closing the distance and wrapping one wing around Shinji as she holds him close. “Even though you might not believe this Little One, I am sorry for what I have put you through. But your future will be what you make it. You are no longer bound by humanity and so you can rise as you please. You are now free to make your own way.” She then softly nuzzles him as her voice drops to a whisper. “And I shall be here with you every step of the way." Feeling warm and safe for once in a long time, Shinji lets it all out as Nightmare holds him close. _______________________________________________________________________ Much later, as another day ended in Shinji's mindscape, Nightmare finds herself sitting next Shinji's bed softly singing as he sleeps. "...Hush, foal, darkness will rise from the deep, and carry you down into sleep. Foal, the darkness will rise from the deep, And carry you down into sleep." Finally finished, she takes a moment to draw the covers more over him and then gives a soft smile as she watches him with her head tilted to the side. 'Such an odd feeling this is. Why? Why do I care?' She gets no answer from the sleeping Alicorn and so she turns to leave only to stop with her eyes widening as he mumbles. "Mom..." Stiff, she slowly turns back to him and stares at him in shock. 'Did he just...' She watches him for a moment before she blinks and leaves in thought. 'Mom...' Walking out, she makes her way through the darkened halls as she thinks it over. 'Why would he call me such? I am not...' She stops before a thought occurs to her. 'Or am I?' Her smile slowly turns into a grin as her pace picks up. 'Did I not create his current form? Did I not bestow upon him all the power of an Alicorn? My power? The vessel his soul inhabits was crafted by me after all in my image. Does that not make him my foal?' Nearly reaching her destination, she chuckles darkly. 'And now I finally have that which neither Celestia nor that foalish Luna has. A Foal of my own. An heir.' Reaching her destination, she steps out onto the balcony as the cool night air surrounds her, the new moon in the sky above as she gazes at the lights in the city below. 'In time my young Prince, all this shall be yours. You and they may not yet know this, but the time will come when they turn to you and you shall answer. And so you will rise above them and so take your rightful place.' Sensing something, she turns to two lights and frowns. "Now we cannot have you two getting bad dreams, can we?" A wave of her wing and the two, Misato and Rei from her memory, suddenly calm down as they drift off into peaceful sleep. 'Rest you two. For my... son, cares for you both and so I shall protect you for him until he is able.' She then focuses on another and glares as she smirks. 'Ah yes. You.' She then chortles some. "You had your chance with him. And you threw it all away for a foalish plan." She then sneers. "And so he is now mine and mine alone." Flapping her wings, she takes flight as she glides into the darkness. 'Now to begin to lay the groundwork for my little Prince when it comes time...' And a moment later, there is nothing there as her laughter drifts away into nothingness on the wind... > Chapter 6 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned by Gainax and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. "Interesting..."- Nightmare talking. "Why me..." -Ordinary speaking 'And so it begins.' -Nightmare thoughts 'Aw hay.' -Ordinary thoughts ________________________________________________________________________ Shinji panted as he dodged yet another blow from Nightmare, only to be tripped up by a broken piece of furniture that she had magically moved into his path. He began to scramble to his feet only to stop when the other Alicorns horn appeared at his throat. "Yield." After a few moments in which the only sound that was made was that of their respective breaths, he sighed. "I... yield." Once she had backed off, Shinji stood up and grunted as he rotated his wing with a wince. "Do you have to be so rough?" Nightmare raised an eyebrow before she replied. "Of course I do." She then walked over and gently nuzzled his hurt wing as the pain vanished. "Those who would be your enemies would not be gentle with you in a battle and so me being gentle in these practice fights would be nothing more then a disservice to you." Shinji couldn't help himself as he felt a slight warmth in his chest at the fact that she did care for him in her own dark way. 'Though I wish that it didn't involve pain like it does...' A moment later, confusion set in as their surroundings blurred and seemed to melt away, only to be replaced by a balcony that overlooked the darkened version of Tokyo-3. As always, Shinji gave it a glance as there were only a few lights on at the moment before Nightmare walked past him. He then noticed the two pillows with a low table, on top of which sat a pot of steaming tea and two cups. Nightmare then motioned at one pillow as she laid on the other. "Come and sit with me for a bit Little Prince." Still highly confused, Shinji did as she asked and laid down on one. As the silence between the two stretched on, Shinji busied himself as he poured a cup of tea for both him and Nightmare. He then floated one to her, where she took it and sipped with a nod of approval. Shinji then cleared his throat. "Did I do something... wrong?" Nightmare blinked and raised an eyebrow as she hid a flash of anger toward several people. "Wrong?" She hummed to herself as she stared into her tea. "Not so much wrong as an area of some concern to me." If she noticed his shocked look, she didn't show it as she took a sip. "As usual Little Prince, you continue to impress me and exceed my expectations in my training of you in your abilities by a decent margin." Shinji looked away with a slight blush from the compliments. "We-well, I've been here for what feels like months now and there's not much else to do..." Nightmare just smirked to herself behind her cup of tea. "Be that as it may, you have nonetheless shown remarkable improvement in the areas needed. Even with flying, your skills have come far indeed as you no longer need to rely on instinct alone." She then sighed as she set down her tea. "But within recent days your rate of progress has slowed some. I would have normally thought it due to you reaching a plateau of sorts. However, I can sense that this is not so and it has another cause. So tell me Little One, what is it that troubles you so?" Shinji sighed as he placed his tea down and looked at the floor, only to have his chin lifted as Nightmare raised it with her hoof. "Come now Little Prince, is this about your mares?" Shinji scowled and gave her a slight glare. "I told you, they're not my mares-" Upon having realized what he had just said, Shinji looked away. "Um... that is, uh..." The larger female Alicorn laughed some which caused the younger Pony's face to heat up even more. "Ah! I thought as much Little Prince. So it is thoughts of them that has troubled your thoughts then?" After he turned, the former human gazed at her before he shook his head. "I know that you keep telling me that it will be a while yet before you can let me wake up, it's just..." He hung his head a little. "I really miss them..." Nightmare watched him for a moment before she sighed. "There is indeed a way for you to contact them..." Shinji's head snapped up at that, slight hints of betrayal that lurked in his eyes that caused the larger Alicorn to flinch and her heart to hurt some. "I thought that you said that you couldn't wake me up yet though!?" The older of the two snorted softly. "Correct, Little Prince. I did say that." She then gave him a slight intrigued look. "However, I never said that you would have to wake up to do so, now did I?" Confused to no end, Shinji cocked his head to the side as one of his ears flicked and his eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?" The female of the two hummed to herself thoughtfully. "What am I talking about indeed..." She then gestured at the darkened Cityscape. "Tell me something Little Prince, what do you truly see? Do you know?" Shinji frowned before he looked himself in time to see some lights be turned on while others are turned off. "I see a dark city at night with some lights on in the buildings..." He then glanced at her as his frown deepened. "Why?" Nightmare slowly shook her head and smiled. "No, Little Prince, what you are actually seeing is the dream realm's version of Tokyo-3." She continued as she ignored his startled jerk. "Each of those lights you see? Each one is a sleeping person. When one appears, that is when they fall sleep. When they disappear, that is them awakening." As he stammered, Shinji looked between the city and Nightmare. "Bu-but... wh-what does this have to do with me talking to them and why bring it up now..." His eyes then narrowed as he snapped his attention fully onto Nightmare. "Unless..." Nightmare slowly nodded. "As I have told you before, you underestimate your rather high intelligence when you use it." Shinji just blinked at that as she began to circle him. "Are you telling me that I could enter their dreams and talk to them there...?" As she stopped, Nightmare slowly eased herself down on Shinji's now much larger pillow. "Yes." She then nuzzled him as her wing stretched out across his back. "I was unsure as to how you might react to such a suggestion and so I kept quiet about it." She then gave him a sorrowful look. "And if I caused you any grief due to that, I apologize." Shinji thought about it for a moment before he sighed and shook his head. "No, you're right. If you told me back when first asked, I might have reacted badly." He then nuzzled her back some. "So there's nothing to forgive." They both then turned and looked out across the city. After a few minutes passed, Shinji turned back to Nightmare. "So... all I have to do then is... enter them?" Nightmare nodded. "In a nutshell, yes." She then shrugged some. "You already have the knowledge to do so my foal, you just need to use it." Shinji gave her an odd look at her choice of words, but the other Alicorn ignored it. He then sighed and shook his head. "I... think that I need some time to think this over first..." He then frowned as he looked at the sky. "If I go through with this... is it right? Because I would be invading their privacy in the worst way..." As she turned and nuzzled him again, Nightmare sighed. "Take as much time as you need, Little Prince. That is something that we have in abundance..." ________________________________________________________________________ As he slowly ascended the stairs into the rundown apartment complex, Shinji looked around himself with a frown. 'At least it's cleaner here in the Dreamworld.' He shuddered as he remembered how filthy it is in reality. 'Much cleaner...' He soon reached Ayanami's apartment and opened the door. 'I wonder if all the doors in this world are unlocked...' He jumped a moment later as he heard Nightmare speak up from behind him. "To ones such as you and I, they might as well be." Shinji looked back to see her sitting on the guardrail with a knowing smirk as she looked around. "Hmm... a most interesting choice for your first dream walk." She then hopped off the rail and walked over where she sidled up to him before she gave Shinji a motherly nuzzle. "And here I would have thought that you would have chosen the red maned one for this." Shinji shifted a little uncomfortably before he looked away and sighed. "I think that Rei maybe a little bit better to start with and I don't know how Asuka might take it with how she is... at least Rei might listen and forgive me if she gets angry..." Nightmare watched him for a moment before she nodded and agreed. "Yes, caution may indeed be the best idea in this particular case." The elder Alicorn smiled as she stepped into the room. "Hmm... now where are... ah, yes." As Shinji stepped in behind her, she gestured at the small lit orb that hovered over the bed, the light from which lit the room up. "Ah, it seems that you're in luck Little Prince, for here is the dreams of the mare that you seek and wish to see." Shinji walked over to the glowing orb and frowned in thought. "Is this what they truly look like?" Nightmare nodded as she laid her wing across his back, internally smirking as she felt him lean into it. "Yes, that is how we ourselves see it." She then nuzzled him softly. "Most amazing, is it not Little Prince? It appears as something so small and vulnerable looking as a soap bubble, and yet it's not." She then looked at him as her head cocked a little to the side. "Do you know how to enter a dream, Little Prince?" The Alicorn colt slowly nodded, still mesmerized by the orb. "Channel my magic through my horn and touch the dream with it, correct?" After she nodded, he moved to step over to it before he stopped. Nightmare raised an eyebrow at this in question. "Is something the matter Little Prince?" Her eyes widened some as the slightly blushing Ikari nuzzled her like a normal colt would to it's mother. She then smiled as she nuzzled back. 'Mmm... soon my foal, soon the world shall see your greatness as I do.' As he pulled away, she gave him a amused look. "And what was that for?" Shinji smiled a bit as he rubbed the back of his head. "To say thank you. For everything." He then walked up to the orb and looked over his shoulder. "I'll see you later." Nightmare then watched as his horn lit up with magic and he touched it to the orb before he vanished in a burst of light. After a few moments passed, Nightmare glanced around and grinned. "Well now, with that taken care of it's time to visit Maya-chan and give her a very realistic dream..." As her wings rose slightly, the dark Alicorn vanished from sight. ________________________________________________________________________ As he shook off the sudden disorientation of having entered a dream, Shinji looked around and raised an eyebrow at the sight of Tokyo-3 bathed in the light of a bright sunny day. 'Rei dreams of Tokyo-3?' He then caught a glimpse of himself in a window which caused him to raise both eyebrows. 'Why exactly am I dressed as a Prince...?' It was then that he heard rapid footsteps toward his position and he turned as a shout made itself known. "SHINJI-DONO!" Shinji felt his jaw drop a little at the sight off Hikari in what could only be called a cross between samurai armor and a school girl's outfit. "Hikari? What the hay..." She soon reached him and bent over as she gasped before she bowed. "Shinji-Dono, you must run! The Red Devil approaches!" Shinji's frown twisted into a strange hybrid of amusement and confusion. 'The "Red Devil"? She couldn't mean...' His thoughts are cut off as he hears evil laughter that ranged through the air and caused the fur on the back of his neck to stand on end. "What the hay was..." He turned and his mind froze at what it saw, unable to believe it. "BWAHAHAHAHAHA! AS PROMISED PRINCE SHINJI, I, THE RED DEVIL HAVE RETURNED!" For there is Asuka... In a more evil looking and outlandish version of her plugsuit... Complete with devil horns, tail and wings. Oh, and a pitchfork too. Couldn't forget about that. A pitchfork that she pointed at him as she laughed again. And so, Shinji did the only thing that he could. He facehoofed. "Oh, I do not believe this..." Asuka, or the Red Devil if you would prefer, gestured at the ground with her pitchfork. "ARISE MY FAITHFUL MINIONS! ARISE AND DO THE BIDING OF THY DARK MISTRESS, ME! CAPTURE PRINCE SHINJI AND BRING HIM TO ME SO THAT I MAY SPIRIT HIM OFF TO MY EVIL LAIR OF DARKNESS WHERE I SHALL MAKE HIM MY ETERNAL SLAVE!" The shadows on the ground then coalescence into blank faced beings who bore a startling resemblance of a cross between Section Two agents and those clay monster things from a 90s Sentai that Misato had forced him to watch once (and claimed that the Americans had ruined). Suddenly, Hikari was in front of him as she pulled a zambato from inside her shirt that was longer then she was tall... somehow. She then faced the mob before she looked back at him. "Run my Lord! This One shall buy thyself some time!" Shinji just watched as she ran into the mob scattering minions left, right, and center. He then tried to say something, only to find himself dogpiled and soon tussled up like some hunk of meat. "Oh... this is getting beyond ridiculous now..." He then watched as Asuka went into an evil villain monologue about what she was going to do to both him and Hikari (who he was trying to look away from as she was tied up in a certain way). "Never mind..." However, at just that moment, a glowing golden lasso wrapped itself around the minions and before they were yanked back and thrown into the horizon. Then a knife freed Hikari from her bindings. "Aww..." Shinji stared at her for a moment before he closed his eyes. "Oh come on..." Asuka, however, turned and snarled. "SO! YOU ONCE MORE TRY TO FOIL MY EVIL PLANS BY APPEARING ONCE MORE MY NEMESIS! WONDERGIRL!" The Alicorn just blinked at the sight of what appeared to be Rei in a red and blue swimsuit with an eagle on the chest and the bottom and skirt being blue with white stars. The silver bracelets and the golden tiara with the red star in the middle not to mention the long red boots completed the look. '...' He then twitched as his wings strained against the bindings that bound them before he started to hit his head on the pavement. "I! DO! NOT! BELIEVE! THIS!" What followed was a battle right out of a comic book as the two superpowered girls tore into each other. Which ended when Rei grabbed Asuka by the hair. "HEY! NO FAIR WITH THE HAIR!" She then swung the red head around like a shotput before she let go causing Asuka to fly into the back of a police paddywagon whose driver (Toji) closed the doors and got into the driver's seat with Kensuke as the passenger. Snarling as it drove off, Asuka stuck her head through the bars as it grew to many times its original size as she shook her fist at Rei. "I WILL DEFEAT YOU ONE OF THESE DAYS WONDERGIRL! YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE LAST OF ME! DO YOU HEAR ME!? I SHALL RETURN!" Rei ignored this as she ripped off the ropes that bound Shinji and picked him up bridal style as she flew off. Hikari just sniffed as she looked around. "Now who's going to tie me up..." Shinji twitched within the albino girl's arms as he heard that. He was stunned though when Rei looked down at him with a soft smile. "Do not worry my prince, for I shall always be there to protect you as I promised." Shinji rubbed the back of his head a little as he blushed. "Um... you do realize that this is all a dream... right?" Rei just nodded as she closed her eyes happily. "Yes." She then opened them and looked back at the Alicorn in her arms as her smile grew. "And this is a good dream." Her eyes then widened some as she nearly dropped him in surprise. "You really are here Shinji-kun... in my dreams." She then grew puzzled as she tilted her head cutely. "How did you enter my dreams Shinji-kun?" He stiffened a little. "I... it's a new ability that I've gained." He then sighed and closed his eyes as he expected her to get angry with him. "I'm so, so sorry for invading your privacy like this Rei, I really am. But... but I just wanted to talk to someone and so I thought that you might..." He then gulped as a tear slid out from beneath his closed eyes as what he did hit him. "I can see now that it was pretty selfish of me now, wasn't it?" Rei looked down at him in puzzlement. 'He is... sad because he wanted to speak with me?' She blinked some before she spoke, which caused Shinji's eyes to fly open in shock. "No, I do not believe that it is Shinji-kun." He then looked at her face to see her smiling at him as she hugged him, her face slightly red. "I have found that I have missed you and our talks greatly." She blushed more as she pulled away, her face lit with a smile that Shinji had never seen in the real world. "And I look forward to us resuming them even if only in our dreams." ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Meanwhile, in the real world, Maya was sitting slumped in a chair within her apartment where she had fallen asleep after eating supper, utterly exhausted from her day. Suddenly, her eyes sleepily opened as she got up in a sleepwalker-like trance as she made her way into the kitchen and tore a piece of paper off a notepad. She then wrote on it in handwriting not her own before she went to her bedroom. After she laid the note on the nightstand, she got under the covers and fell fully asleep once more as she continued the dream of her and Nightmare (in human form) were having in her apartment. She then smiled as she snuggled more into the blankets and mumbled. "Akumu-chan..." When she found the note once she had awoken in the morning, she read it and giggled from what was on it before she held it to her chest. She then read again. 'Dear Maya-chan, Sorry for not waking you before I put you in your bed after you felt asleep last night, but you just looked so deliciously adorable that I couldn't find it in me to wake you. Hope that you don't mind me not staying the night either, but there was somewhere that I needed to be by sunrise. See you soon, Tsuki Akumu.' Maya sighed with a massive grin before she suddenly squealed and fell back onto the bed... ________________________________________________________________________________ Bored, Maya was looking through an online newspaper when something caught her eye. "Another satellite launch?" She then turned to the other two women in the observation room as Shinji quietly laid on the bed they had placed him on. "That makes what now? Five satellite launches in as many days?" Misato glanced from her paperwork toward the still sleeping Shinji. "Hmm?" She blinked for a moment as it jarred something loose and she snapped her fingers. "Ah! That's right!" She then looked over at the curious computer tech. "I forgot that you probably haven't heard yet, but after the 10th and the 15th, the UN decided that we need a defense network in space to intercept any Angels up there. So they're launching weapons satellites into orbit using the heavy lifters. Russia is going to send up the biggest ones on their Energia-M boosters." She then shook her head and snorted in derision. "It's a waste of taxpayer's money to make them look good in my opinion." Maya's eyebrows raised at that in shock. "What!? But doesn't the Outer Space Treaty prevent that sort of thing?" Ritsuko softly snorted into her coffee as she shook her head. "The OST has been dead since Second Impact. There's probably dozens of weapons sats ten years and older up there now. This is just the final nail in the coffin." As she sipped her coffee though, she frowned. 'I wonder what SEELE is up to now... They have to know that no more Angels are going to be attacking from space according to the Dead Sea Scrolls...' Misato paused for a moment in her paperwork as she realized something before she looked over at the blonde doctor. "Hey, Rits? I thought that we were running out of N2 warheads? There was less then what, 1,000 in the world after the 10th?" The doctor just shrugged as she puzzled over it herself. "They must have ramped up production I suppose. or maybe they're finally pumping out new ones after realizing what we're into. A war of survival is good for lighting fires under people after all." She then shook her head. "Of course, it's also possible that they've finally got the various countries to release their stockpiles..." ________________________________________________________________________ Meeting once again deep within the computer network, the various members of SEELE regarded each other in silence for several minutes as was usual. Eventually, 01 spoke up. SEELE 01: 09, how is Project Carthage proceeding? Has there been any issues? SEELE 09: None. it has been progressing smoothly after we twisted some arms. The fools have no true idea as to the purpose of the Project and the various production facilities have secretly ramped up production of the materials and warheads we need. Even those that were decommissioned. SEELE 05: I question the need for this plan. There is too much at stake this late in the game and the possibility of discovery and the possible fallout is too great. SEELE 12: Be that as it may 05, we need to have contingencies for any... possibilities that may arise, no matter how remote. The situation with the Third Child has shown us that. And this has been worked on since Second Impact. Now is just the best time to bring it all together. SEELE 01: Carthage will only be used if after completing our great work it should happen to come undone. If humanity rejects and returns from ascension, then we are likely to be killed one way or the other. And from our dead hand, our vengeance shall rain upon those who rejected our gift. SEELE 05: Then let us hope that they do not. For they shall regret it... ___________________________________________________________________________ As she went through her paperwork after the conversation once more lulled, Misato came across one little bit that caused her to raise her eyebrow. 'This can't be right... I thought that...' She then glanced at Ritsuko. "Hey, Rits, you know anything about us getting backup?" Ritsuko glanced over from her coffee and gave her a inquisitive look. "Backup? No, besides the nearest Evangelion to completion is Unit-05 in NERV Scotland branch. Why?" Misato just smirked. "Seems that the JSSDF had a lot more up their sleeve then they let on." Now concerned, Ritsuko walked over and grabbed the paper and rapidly looked it over. "What the hell... But Jet Alone was cancelled!" The Major then tapped a section of another bunch of papers. "Not just Jet Alone..." The doctor narrowed her eyes as she set down the papers she had been looking at, which Maya picked up and began to read, before the doctor grabbed the papers and began reading. "'T-RIDEN-T'..." She then frowned as she read some of the background and raised her eyebrows. "From this, it's been in development since 2005 in case of a war breaking out. It's older then the Jet Alone project..." Maya looked over another sheet. "Well, at least with the new version of Jet Alone, they're going with a N2 reactor instead of a fission one." Ritsuko gritted her teeth some. 'Which was developed for T-RIDEN-T...' She then frowned as she read farther before she glanced at Maya's paper and nodded. "Seems that they started to really fund the projects a month after the 14th..." The same thought went through all their heads. 'They know about Shinji...' Misato then tapped her fingers on the table. "We're getting the land cruiser's pilot next month along with it. So we're going to need to modify some of the lifts for it. They're still selecting the Jet Alone's pilot right now, so there is that." She then sipped her coffee and grimaced as it was cold. "Going to be a bitch trying to set up a cross command as I can't see the JSSDF not using this as an excuse to try and pry some secrets out." The Bridge Bunny then looked at the other two women and then at the unconscious alicorn. "What about Shinji-kun then? Any Command Staff is going to have to be briefed on him..." The purple haired woman blew out a breath as she walked over to the coffee machine. "It wasn't like we could keep the lid on him for much longer though. After what he pulled?" Ritsuko snorted. "The Magi alone have had to pull no less then a hundred videos from the internet." She then grimaced. "Though it is not going to be fun for him..." She then frowned as she looked at Maya. "I thought that the Jet Alone project had been cancelled though..." Maya looked at the papers again and shook her head. "JHCI kept funding it. Apparently they went with the reactor in the prototype because it was cheaper to use it in the prototype rather then the actual N2 reactor." All three women scowled at that as derision ran through their heads. Maya then continued as she flipped through some papers. "They developed it as a support unit though. The main one is manned and the pilot can control 'drone' versions..." Having gotten her coffee, Misato walked back. "Wouldn't that be a lot of work for a single pilot though?" The blond doctor shook her head. "Depending on how good a programmer the pilot is, not really." She then sipped her coffee. "They might well be able to manage it." The Major then snorted a bit as she smiled. "Though, having more support for Shin-chan and the others isn't something that I am going to complain about..." _________________________________________________________________________ As she walked down the corridor between Ritsuko and Rei, Misato continued chatting with her old friend before she noticed Rei looking more thoughtful then usual. "Something on your mind Rei?" Rei looked between the Major and the doctor as if she was considering something. Finally, she nodded. "Yes." She then closed her eyes. "I had a most interesting dream last night. one in which Shinji-kun visited me and we talked." Ritsuko raised an eyebrow as she thought this over. 'She dreamed? That's... new.' Misato just winked. "Ah, an... interesting dream, hmm?" To both hers and Ritsuko's shock, a faint dusting of pink appeared on Rei's cheek as a soft smile did as well. Misato then shook her head as her lips twitched. 'Well, I'll be...' The blonde scientist frowned for a moment though. 'I should tell Gendo about this...' She then remembered Shinji's offer of friendship and a shoulder to cry on and couldn't help but feel like it would be a betrayal of him if she did so. 'Then again... Gendo doesn't need to know everything. And she might have mentioned it to him, so why bother bring it up?' The cyan girl then shook it off before she looked at the two women beside her. "I wonder how long before Shinji-kun visits you in your dreams?" Both of the women shared a look before they shrugged it as another example of Rei's oddness. Later that night though, as she headed for bed, the conversation drifted back to Misato as she passed Shinji's old room and looked inside. 'Oh Shin-chan...' She sipped at her beer as she leaned against the doorframe and looked at the window. 'I wonder... if the truth does come out if you'll be able to come back home.' She then smiled before she finished her beer and walked to her room, having ignored Asuka's empty room as she was staying at Hikari's. Once in bed, she propped her head on her arms and looked out the window at the full moon as she remembered what Rei said which once more caused her lips to twitch into a smile. "Are you going to visit me in my dreams tonight Shin-chan?" Still chuckling, she soon drifted off to sleep... _______________________________________________________________________________ As he walked through Misato's dream, Shinji first took note of his outfit which was obviously some sort of uniform as around him, people rushed here and there. 'Hmm... Now what's this about?' He heard a shout and turned in time to get a face full of Misato as she shoved his face into her chest. 'Hmm... it's smaller?' He then mentally smacked himself for his thoughts. 'DAMMIT!' Misato didn't notice as she kept hugging him. "You're just in time Shin-chan!" She then pulled away and Shinji just barely kept his jaw from dropping as the first thing that he noticed was that Misato was younger, just a few years older then he was. The other was her outfit, consisting of blue shirt with top buttons (undone), a red ascot, and white pants as her hands were covered with yellow gloves. On her head was a white helmet with a large red "M" on it. 'Why does that look familiar...?' She then grabbed him. "Hurry up Shinji! Or else we'll miss our start!" Shinji gave her an odd look. "Our start?" Misato nodded and stuck her tongue out. "For the race!" Shinji paled and was about to back out of the dream when he found himself grabbed and pulled. Suddenly, he was in a car and looked around as it drove out. "I need my navigator after all!" Shinji looked at her. "Navigator?" He then blinked as he looked the car over, noticing that it was white with the same red "M" as on Misato's helmet. 'This is really familiar... but why...?' Suddenly, he heard snickering and turned as Misato scowled. "Dick Dastardly..." Shinji blinked at the guy in the nearby car wearing old fashioned racing gear and the dog that snickered at them. "Grrrr..." She also narrowed her eyes as two guys in a go-cart pulled up. Both looked Italian with one wearing red and the other green as they waved. "It's a me! Mario!" The green one waved at Shinji, who waved back slowly. "It's a me! Luigi!" Shinji just leaned back and slowly sank into his seat. 'Oooh boy, this is not looking good...' The the race was on! And as they drove through the course past various things, Shinji looked over the map and blinked as he turned it this way and that. 'Why does this look like a five year old drew it in crayon...?' He then saw a ways back a van with some kind of dog eating from a box. "... A dog?" The dog blinked and looked around and with his better hearing he could hear it. "Wog? Where?" Shinji just shook his head. 'Definitely a weird dream...' He then looked at Misato and softly smiled as she laughed in pure joy and raised an eyebrow as she pressed a button and the car jumped over another. 'But she is enjoying it.' Suddenly, what looked like a fireball flew past and he glanced at the mirror to see what looked like an ice cream truck with a flaming clown head on top and a demented one at the wheels. "Uh... Misato? We got a clown on our heels..." Said purple haired woman growled as she gripped the steering wheel. "Sweet Tooth..." Misato then gestured at the glove compartment. "There's a weapon in there, use it." The alicorn raised an eyebrow and popped it open to see a stock. He grabbed it to show what looked like an oversized gun with what looked like a bomb on the end. "What the hay is this?" Misato smirked. "Davy Crockett." She then looked in a mirror as she dodged another fireball. "Now, mind using it?" Shinji shrugged before he unbuckled his seatbelt and turned around as he took aim. A moment later he fired and there was a bright flash of light and he slumped down with a disbelieving look on his face. "Misato... that was a nuke..." She nodded as flaming debris rained down around them. "Well, of course it was Shin-chan! That prick deserved it!" He just gave her a look and slowly nodded. "O... kay..." As Shinji buckled his seatbelt, he glanced in the mirror as the fireball began to dissipate. "Um... what's next?" Misato smirked and Shinji got a good look ahead at a portal. "Wait... that smirk... Misato, why do I..." They passed through and suddenly they're in a futuristic cityscape... on a track out of hot wheels. "... Have a bad... feeling..." Seeing the drop, all Shinji did was lay a hoof across his eyes as the driver of the car manically laughed. "Oh... buck me..." And then they we screaming down the sheer drop, Shinji quite literally... ________________________________________________________________________ Slowly walking across the pitstop, Misato reached the still freaked Shinji and handed him a can of juice. "Here you go Shin-chan." As she took a sip of her own, she looked around. "We're making some good time, Navigator." She laughed though. "Though you're acting just like you should." The purple haired woman caught him stiffening and raised an eyebrow as he mumbled something. "Sorry, what was that?" Shinji gulped a little and closed his eyes. "I said... I am the real Shinji..." Misato stopped for a moment and was about to say something when she remembered the conversation with Rei that day and her eyes widened as she looked at him. "Wait... Rei said that you visited her in her dream earlier... So, you're actually here?" He winced and nodded. "Yeah, turns out that I got a new ability so..." He held out his hooves a bit with a shaky smile. "Ta-da?" Shinji then had the wind knocked out of him as she slugged him in the stomach. "Oof!" The alicorn groaned a bit but before he could say anything, he was pulled into a hug as she cried into his furry neck. "I was so worried... I... I couldn't lose someone else..." He hugged her back and nuzzled her. "Sorry Misato, I never meant to worry you." She pulled away some and wiped at her eyes as she looked around with a slight grin. "Guess that I should be happy that you didn't wind up in one of my more... naughty dreams, hmm Shin-chan?" Misato then gave him a teasing look. "Though maybe you might have enjoyed it." Shinji sputtered for a moment before he shot back. "Oh come on Misato!" He then decided some payback was in order as he gave her a hooded look. "Besides... I'm a horse, you might not be able to handle it." It took her a moment to piece it together, but soon she was red in the face and sputtering as Shinji chuckled. "Feels good to get one over you." It took her nearly a minute, but she eventually got herself back under control and slugged him in the shoulder. "Bastard." But her smile belied her true feelings as she leaned back. "Just the same, I'm glad to see that you're alright." She then noticed him giving her a questioning look. "Something the matter Shin-chan?" He rubbed the back of his neck for a moment. "I would've thought that you'd be angry that I invaded your privacy..." Misato snorted and shrugged. "Maybe a little." She sighed as she looked down at the can. "Though, to be truthful, since it's you, I don't mind all that much." The purple haired girl shrugged. "Not like you don't know a lot of my secrets from my drunken rambling anyways and you've never told anyone what I've told you." Seeing the surprise, she snorted. "I've always known Shinji, but I trust you enough to know that you won't tell a soul what I've said... so this doesn't bother me much." Misato then smacked him across the back of the head causing him to wince. "Just next time as me for permission. Though you're welcome whenever you want." At his nod, she finished her drink and tossed the can into the garbage. "So then, ready partner?" Shinji finished his and sighed dramatically. "I suppose that now is time to face my death." He then shook his head. "And here I thought that you weren't angry at me..." As she yelled at him with a flushed face, he trotted ahead to the car with a large grin... After the race finished, Misato sighed as she leaned against the wall and looked at her car, with the various dints and scrapes on it. "Well, we did it." Shinji chuckled as he sipped from the juice can. "We did." He looked at her and shook his head. "I have to admit Misato, you have some exciting dreams." She nodded a bit before she drank from her own can as she looked at her car in thought. The teenaged girl then looked at the alicorn. "Shin-chan, can I ask you something?" He turned toward her with an eyebrow raised. 'I wonder if it's what I think...' Shinji slowly nodded with a smile. "I think that I know what you're going to ask Misato, but go ahead and ask anyways, I don't mind." Misato flushed some under Shinji's gaze as she rubbed her neck. "Well... we still have to do our victory lap, but with the damage to the car, that can't be done so..." She cleared her throat as the alicorn's expression became more and more amused at her embarrassment. "I was wondering if... you know, you wouldn't mind giving me a ride...?" Shinji slowly tilted his head to the side as if puzzled. "So you want to ride a stallion for the rest of the night in your dream?" The young woman just stammered and sputtered as she tried to say something. "Tha-that wasn't what I meant Shin-chan!" He just pointed to himself with his hoof as if still puzzled. "But Misato-san, I'm a stallion and you just said that you wanted to ride me." Misato turned even redder until she realized what he was doing as she spotted the slight twitch of his lips. "Oooo! You!" She then wrapped on arm around his neck as she gave him a noogie. "Come here you!" Shinji laughed some as he tried to dodge her. "Oh come on Misato!" She grinned. "Oh no, Shin-chan! I can't let you get away with that!" A few minutes later, the still laughing Misato leaned against her charge, who was out of breath and chuckling as well. She then slowly calmed and sadly smiled as she twisted around and gave him a hug. "I've missed you Shin-chan." He gave her a nuzzle, the motion no longer alien to him while to Misato it caused her to flush slightly. "I've missed talking to you Misato..." He then snorted. "Even your teasing." The young woman just laughed at this. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with Shinji?" She then shook her head. 'He's... changed.' Suddenly, she frowned in thought. 'Though somehow I know it's him...' All of a sudden Misato's eyes widened as she was enveloped in a glow and lifted off the ground. "What the..." Shinji gave a smile. "Well, you did want a ride." It was then that Misato noticed that he was no longer in his uniform before he placed her onto his back just behind his wings. "Now then, ready?" She looked around for a bit and shook her head. "Uh... where do I hold on?" As he rolled his eyes, the EVA pilot flicked his ears. "Place your arms around my neck, but be careful of my wings, okay?" Shinji waited until she had laid forward and placed her arms around his neck. "Ready?" She nodded. "Ready." A moment later he began trotting which caused her hair to fly out behind her. "Faster!" Shinji smirked. "Faster? Okay then..." And with that, his trot turned into a full-blown gallop. After making sure that she had a good grip, Shinji turned his head toward her. "This is your captain speaking, I wish to inform you that your flight on Air Shinji is about to take off. Please keep all arms and legs where they are. And thank you." And with a loud squeal from his passanger, he leaps into the air and soars off... ________________________________________________________________________ As a winded and grinning Shinji walked into the castle's main dining room, he noticed a pleased looking Nightmare watching him over her folded hooves. "Er, is something the matter mo-Nightmare." He frowned a little. 'I can't possibly be thinking of her in that way... could I?' Shinji was deep enough in thought that he had not noticed the pleased expression on Nightmare's face before she schooled it. "Oh, just wondering if you had a... pleasent time within your mare's dream, that is all." He blinked and gave her an odd look before it clicked. "WHAT!?" She chuckled a bit. "Why, I was wondering if you had a very good time while visiting her..." Her eyes became hooded. "After all... considering that you came back smiling and out of breath, what exactly am I supposed to think Little Prince, hmm?" At her smirk, Shinji felt heat climbing his neck as he knew that his face was completely red while he sputtered. "I... that is... we... NOTHING LIKE THAT HAPPENED!" Nightmare's smirk grew. "Oh, I know... though I doth think that thou protests too much." Shinji just sat down and held his face in his hooves as he groaned over her laughter. ____________________________________________________________ As she walked into the small control room, Misato grimaced as she caught sight of Ritsuko sitting at a computer and typing away. She then glanced at the clock and her grimace only grew before she pulled Maya aside. "How long?" Maya looked over at her superior and sighed. "She's been here all night according to the logs..." She then clinched her fist in rage. "If I ever find the bastards who are trying to do this I'll..." She felt a hand on her shoulder that squeezed it and looked over at the Major. "Ma'am?" The purple haired woman just sighed. "I'll take care of this Maya." She slowly strode over to her friend as she thought over the present situation. 'Oh Rits, he wouldn't blame you.' Having reached her, she placed her hand on the dead tired scientist's shoulder which startled her. "Rits, you promised me that you would head home and get some sleep." Ritsuko sighed as she ran a hand down her face. "I know, I know..." She then groaned. "But I've had to stay and deal with the attempts to release the videos of Shinji." The doctor then ran a hand through her hair. "That's all he would need, is for the world as a whole to find out about him." Misato glanced at the computer with a frown. "That bad?" The doctor took out a cigarette and lit it, the whole time she ignored the disapproving looks from other techs. "Someone is trying to push the matter. The Magi are having to seek out and block about 200 attempts an hour." The purple haired woman's eyebrows raised at that number. "That many Rits?" She shook her head confused. "I thought that the Magi were able to prevent attacks and leaks..." Ritsuko scowled as she shook her head. "Yes, attacks against them. However, the videos about Shinji are not attacks against them and considering that they're coming from places outside the Magi's network here in Tokyo-3..." Suddenly, the intercom buzzed and Ritsuko turned back to the computer. "Now..." She activated the communication for it and Commander Ikari was there. "Sir?" He watched her his glasses for a moment before he began. "Doctor, I was under the assumption that you had managed to prevent any leaks." She blinked for a moment and slowly nodded. "I have... why?" Gendo watched her for a moment before another window popped up showing a newscast in America... a newscast that showed Shinji. "Apparently, you have not." Ritsuko just stared at the screen before the window closed and she gave a small scream as she punched the desk. ________________________________________________________________________ After Ritsuko had left his office once he had finished her dressing down, Gendo smiled behind his hands. "All is going according to the scenario..." Behind him, Fuyutsuki frowned. "You're playing a dangerous game Ikari." He looked at him. "If she ever finds out that the information was released through you..." The old ex-professor shook his head. "And with what might happen to your son..." The Commander's expression didn't change from what it was. "Her response is already planned for. And as explained for her, she's only here as long as she has purpose. And once that purpose runs out..." He then tilted his head a little. "As for the Third Child, the resulting reaction to him being no longer human can only help the scenario as it would distance him from human contact. And in the end it will help to break him." The Sub-Commander watched him for a moment and sighed. 'I only hope that you know what you're doing Ikari...' With Ritsuko as she reached her office, walked over to her desk and sat down with a heavy sigh. "I am so sorry Shinji-kun..." She looked at the desk as her thoughts poured over what had happened that night when she remembered something. 'Wait... what did he mean by saying that my mother's use, unlike mine, will never run out...' She slowly glanced at the computer and turned it on. "Lets see if your notes can help me one more time mom..." She connected with the Magi, and using her mother's notes, managed to get in deep past where she was supposed to be allowed when she came across several things. 'Why would he hide how long a soul can remain in a body before it leaves...' She continued reading as her stomach slowly churned. '48 hours... a soul remains in the body for 48 hours...' She quickly cross-referenced several things and as time went on, she grew more and more horrified. 'Splintering and splicing different souls? I... what the hell were you doing and... Unit-00's soul was the test subject?' She frowned as she remembered how the memory pod was not just to copy memories and brain patterns into the clones, but also to do the same for the soul in Unit-00 as she was there for when they had placed the shards of Rei's soul into it. Suddenly, she found a video. After watching it, she sat there stunned before she ran for a nearby wastecan and puked into it. "Oh gods..." ________________________________________________________________________ From where she floated in Unit-00's core, Naoko watched her daughter through her connection with the Magi. "Oh Ritsuko... I am so sorry..." As she continued to watch her daughter sob, Naoko's form became slightly misshappen as she stopped focusing on keeping the image of her original form. As she did so, some of her hair turned blue and her skin became blotchy as some pale areas developed. Most telling though was when one eye turned blood red... "I will live to see you die Gendo..." _________________________________________________________________________________ As he sat across from her in a kimono, Shinji watched as Nightmare gracefully collected the various utensils in front of her and waited until she was done. His stern look then turned into a smile as he nodded. "Very good, Nightmare. You're becoming much better at this." While she examined the small box and the room around them, Nightmare shook her head as she adjusted her own kimono. "I must admit, it's surprising how hard this 'Tea Ceremony' truly is." She then smiled. "And yet... it is quite calming in a sense I suppose." The younger alicorn chuckled some. "Hmm, yes, it is, isn't it?" After a few moments, Nightmare asked a question that had bothered her for a bit. "How is it though that you know of this ceremony so well?" Shinji frowned a little as he raised an eyebrow. "Why are you wondering that? Being in my head and having seen my memories should have told you how." The larger alicorn softly snorted. "If you think that, then you are most mistaken Young Prince." She looked around as she sighed. "I have only looked through those memories that pertain to your current situation as well as general information as to how to act in this world." She looked him in the eyes. "Other then that, I have not pried." Nightmare then gestured around. "If I had, would not I have already mastered this?" Stunned, he thought it over some. "... No, I guess not." As she nodded, Nightmare stood up and made her way beside him before she sat back down. "Now then, would you mind indulging me?" Shinji looked at her before he closed and sighed. "Her name was Saki." Beside him, the female alicorn frowned at the sadness in his tone. "Saki?" He nodded. "She was actually one of my few friends at my sensei's." Having opened his eyes, he looked at the floor. "Saki had invited me to a tea ceremony club one day and we started to learn how to perform it." Having felt the pang of pain, Nightmare draped a wing across his back. "And something happened to her." Before he could say anything, she had quickly thought it over before she said something that went against her nature. "If it hurts and you do not wish to speak more of it, I shall understand." To her surprise though, Shinji shook his head and slowly leaned into her as her wing embraced him. "No, it's not like it's a huge secret or anything." He sighed as his eyes misted. "She was my friend for about six months before her father got a job offer elsewhere. It was a better paying job with a promotion, but he rejected it in the end because she didn't want to leave her friends... she didn't want to leave me..." Nightmare guessed where it was going, but nodded nonetheless. "But something happened, correct?" He sighed and closed his eyes. "About a month later, her and her family were found dead. A serial killer had murdered them." Her eyes narrowed in anger, the female alicorn growled. "And did they catch him?" Shinji nodded. "They did, though he died in the resulting shoot out." He opened his eyes which were filled with pain. "I have had other friends over time, but around then the economy started picking up and so their parents often had to move for better jobs and opportunities. Only her family had ignored that..." Nightmare pulled him close with her wing as she nuzzled him, Shinji not fighting it. "There, there Young Prince. I am sorry for bringing up such painful memories." She sighed. "And so, that is why you continue it? In her memory?" Shinji just shrugged. "I guess... or at least that is what I would like to think anyways. I just kind of... continued with it." They just sat there for several moments before Nightmare pulled away some. "Now then... I do believe that you were visiting another one of your mares tonight?" He rolled his eyes as he snapped out of his funk and mumbled. "She's not one of my mares... Ritsuko is a friend, that's all..." The alicorn beside him smirked. "But you are visiting her... correct?" Shinji smiled softly. "Yeah, I think that tonight she might sleep, giving me the chance." Nightmare gave him a smile in return. "Then I do believe that you should head out now and go see her..." The room and their kimonos disappeared as they stood up. As Shinji started for the door, he looked over his shoulder and gave her a nod. "Thanks Nightmare..." She just nodded. "You are welcome, Young Prince." After he had left, she moved to where she could glare out over the dreamscape version of Tokyo-3 as she focused on one area. "I suspect that you are responsible foal... When the time comes, I shall see you punished for your crimes and place you through suffering that shall seem like an eternity..." ______________________________________________________________________________ Having just entered Ritsuko's dream, Shinji looked at himself and raised an eyebrow as he was in a one piece orange jumpsuit which was unzipped to his waist and the arms tied together. On his shirt were the words 'NERV Laboratories' which caused his eyebrows to raise. 'Okay...' It was then he spotted the rest, in particular the odd oblong device attached to one foreleg that ended in a small arm which contained three prongs. On his back legs were some odd boots. "What is going on here?" Suddenly a holographic window popped up revealing what looked like a robotic version of Ritsuko who hung suspended from the ceiling from wires, though the cat ears and tails on her caused him to raise his eyebrows even more. "Ritsuko? Is that you?" She looked surprised for a moment. "Shin...ji...kun?" Suddenly, one of the odd devices attached to her had it's "Eye" light up and she screamed as bolts of lightning shot through her as Shinji's eyes widened. "RITSUKO!" After a moment of her just hanging there, she pulled back up, her eyes dulled as she spoke in a mechanical voice. "Hello [Test Subject]. Welcome to the NERV testing initiative. Please try not to die too soon for SCIENCE." Shinji growled deep in his throat. "Ritsuko..." In the back of his mind however, he sensed there was more to this, but didn't know what. He then glared. "Bring it on." The robot seemed to fight with itself for a moment before she groaned. "Sh-Shinji... don-" Another object's eye lit up which caused her to shudder and whimper before she went back to her dulled voice. "Proceed to the first test room, [Test Subject]..." As the door before him opened, Shinji steeled himself as he stepped through and found himself in a room. "Now what..." Ritsuko once more spoke up. "All you have to do is transport the NERV Laboratories Weighted Companion Cube next to you and place it on the button at the end. This test is mainly to get you used to the NERV Science Handheld Dirac Sea Device." Shinji raised an eyebrow at that. "It is powered by a mini-S2 core, not that a brain dam-damaged subject such as yourself would know what that is..." Shinji narrowed his eyes as he watched her stutter a bit before he tested it out on a wall, a large black circle outlined in orange appearing. He then shot it at the other wall which created another. 'Interesting...' The robot then continued. "The Dirac Seas are connected and allow for travel between them. Thus, you can travel large distances in a moment by stepping through them." After a few more tests, where he got the gist of what he was supposed to do, he walked to the end and placed the cube onto the outlined "Button" on the floor, though he raised an eyebrow at the strange sound Ritsuko let out. 'That almost sounded like... naw! Couldn't have been!' The door then opened and he walked through... to find a series of strange egg shaped robots alone with, of all things, golden rings in the air while the ground was covered in ramps and dips. "What the..." Ritsuko blinked slowly. "In this room, you shall find the NERV Science Rotational Speed Increase Ball, it's to your left moron." Once more, she jerked as if she had been fighting with herself before Shinji turned and saw a large hollow ball. "... It's a hamster ball..." The robot seemed to glare. "It's a NERV Science Rotational Speed Increase Ball." She then coughed. "The turrets are currently only able to shoot painfully debilitating streams of electricity at you. For this test, you must reach the end of the level inside the ball while destroying the turrets and collecting the NERV Science Quantum Ablative Rings. To destroy a turret, you must 'Jump' using the NERVSRAIB and land on top of it. The NERV Science Quantum Ablative Rings shall help decrease the amount of damage that you take by acting as an ablative armor. If you are struck, they shall explode from you and prevent most of the damage. However, you only have a matter of seconds to collect them." Shinji smirked as he walked over to the ball. "Well... time to see what this hamster ball can do..." He got in and began to run until the ball was a blue blur... _________________________________________________________________ Having had to stop and take a break, Shinji rotated his sore shoulder as first he looked around what seemed like a run-down office before he glanced at himself and winced. There were tears and cuts all across his clothing which was also scorched in places that he had narrowly dodged attacks. After he turned back around and began to explore the office, his mind drifted to how Ritsuko kept trying to help him, only to be cut off as one of the spheres electrocuted her. Angered, Shinji stomped a hoof and growled as he whipped his head around. 'I'll beat whatever this is Ritsuko...' He then frowned as a thought occurred to him. 'I hope that those groans when I beat a test don't mean that I'm hurting her...' It was then that he noticed the name plate on the desk. "Wait a second... Kasuragi Misato?" Shinji looked around and his frown deepened. "This is her office... but why..." He then saw the framed pictures on the wall, each one showed a different scene of Ritsuko and Misato together. But the other thing being that the glass in each one was shattered as well as the pictures themselves looking decayed. 'Okay... Mo-Nightmare said that your surroundings in a dream can tell you quite a bit. But what does Misato's office being all rotted mean?' Before he could think it over any more, he heard a screech that came from Ritsuko. "Dammit... I don't have time for this..." He then rushed out of the office and headed through the next test. After a few more, and having had to rush across a catwalk while shot at, he finally reached two massive doors. As he looked them over, a smirk that looked like it belonged on Nightmare's face crossed his. "Well now... time for the finale." The doors opened slightly and Shinji slipped inside to see Ritsuko as she hung. He also saw the spheres on her at which the alicorn glared. 'There you are...' It was then that Ritsuko noticed him as her eyes widened and she struggled to whisper. "Shin-Shinji...?" Shinji slowly took a few steps forward as he kept an eye out on his surroundings. "It's me Ritsuko. He scowled as she twitched from a few bolts of electricity, chains binding her body and the cores. 'Damn... whatever this is, it's serious...' Ritsuko struggled against her bindings as she stuttered. "Sh-Shinji... Get... away... from... here... before..." She screeched though as she was again electrocuted, one of the spheres lighting up as it spoke in a female's. "Must experiment for the sake of science. Advance all science." Another one, with an orange "Eye" then also spoke up in Gendo's voice, which caused Shinji's eyebrows to nearly meet his mane. "Never mind the pawns, they are unimportant and easily sacrificed." As her body smoked, Ritsuko slowly raised her head as the eyes on the other spheres all glowed. "Yes, you are right as always. We must do everything to bring about the scenario." Shinji got ready as she turned her dull, lifeless eyes on him. "[Test Subject], your journey through science ends here. We here at the NERV Testing Initiative would like to thank you before your tragic death for helping to advance science." Shinji then heard what sounded like hissing and looked up to see vents. "What you hear is extremely powerful neurotoxin that is going to cause you a painful death." Shinji growled as he saw a small shadow flit around. "Snap out of it Ritsuko! This is all a nightmare and you can be in control!" The robotic catgirl blinked dully. "A... dream...?" He just nodded. "A dream. You can conquer it!" As he saw her struggle, he grit his teeth. "I can help, but only if you let me!" There was a moment where the hissing continued as Ritsuko fought the hold of the spheres. Then, suddenly, there was a clang as the vents slammed shut. "Th-there... He-help... me..." As she obviously bit back a scream, several doors opened as rocket turrets walked out. "Th-th-think with... portals..." Shinji smirked as he brought up the portal gun. "You got it Ritsuko..." What followed was a fight as every time a rocket or bullets was sent in his direction, Shinji would dodge and open a portal, trying to get the turrets to shoot off the spheres or hit the chains. Finally, the last sphere fell off in an explosion as the chains came undone after which the turrets shut down. As Ritsuko hung there, Shinji winced from his injuries as he trotted up. "Ritsuko...? You okay there?" She swung around and nodded. "I am now, thanks." Ritsuko then looked around as if she was coming out of a daze, before she spotted one of the sphere's, the same one that Gendo's voice came out of. "Ah... there you are..." She seemed to grin viciously as an arm came out from behind a ceiling tile and grabbed it. "The Immorality Sphere... And I know just what to do with you..." Another arm came down and opened a chute, which Shinji looked down to see flames and molten metal at the bottom. The arm that carried the Immorality Sphere brought it over right above the chute as it's eye flickered. "You cannot get rid of me. I have insured that you shall always be bound to me." Ritsuko, however, was going to have none of that, as she dropped it in. "Like hell." She smirked at the screams which were suddenly cut off before she picked up the one that went on about science. "And now for you..." It looked around in a daze before it focused on her. "You can never escape my shadow. After all, you shall never be near as good as me in science..." Shinji walked up beside Ritsuko and snorted. "Like hell. Whoever you are, she's going to overshadow you." The robotic catgirl looked pleased as she dropped it into a chute, once more, her smirk grew as the scream was cut off. "And there goes another past issue... Now whose next..." Once they were all gone, Ritsuko frowned as she looked at herself. "Now then... if this is a dream and I'm lucid..." There was pneumatic hiss as part of the connection to the ceiling separated revealing a human lower torso and legs as she slowly descended to the ground. Once she touched down, her usual clothing, with a hole for her tail, appeared on her. The scientist chuckled and smirked as she looked herself over. "Well, now this is rather nice..." From where he was, the alicorn nodded in agreement. "It is rather nice." Anything else though, died in his throat as she turned to him with a glare. "Now then, perhaps you might explain how you managed to get into my dream, Shinji-kun..." After she had said that, Shinji started a bit before he glanced around. "Whatever gave you that idea Ritsuko...?" She gave him an unamused look as she ticked off on her fingers. "Usually, this nightmare has me watch while various people I know are killed, including you numerous times." She gulped some and blinked back a few tears before she shook it off. "You, however, made it all the way here and snapped me out of it. Then, there's the fact that you are currently a winged unicorn, every other time you've been human." The stallion bit his lip and looked away. "Um... maybe you're just used to it by now...." Ritsuko just gave him a level look. "I also, despite being able to control the rest of this dream, can't transform you into a human." Shinji was about to say something when she strode up with an angry look. "Why the hell would you violate my privacy like this Shinji? I trusted you dammit!" Shinji hung his head and sighed. "I thought that Rei and Misato had told you..." The robotic catgirl was about to say something when she remembered the hints that Misato and Rei had dropped her. 'Wait... they did do that, didn't they...' A sniffle caught her attention and she couldn't help but wince as she saw the saddened look on Shinji's face. "I'm sorry Ritsuko and I couldn't ask since I'm unconscious and then I saw the nightmare..." He hanged his head even lower if that was possible as he shook it. "I guess... I ruined everything huh?" Shinji then began to fade. "I'll... just leave now..." Ritsuko's eyes widened before she was suddenly in front of him, her hand on his shoulder. "Wait." He stopped fading, but didn't go back fully solid. "I'm sorry for snapping at you Shinji, I've just been under a lot of pressure and with you showing up in my dream... well, I shouldn't have." As he once more solidified, Ritsuko sat down as a chair came into existence in time to catch her. "Just next time, ask." Shinji just nodded as he sat down as a cushion appeared below him. "I will... unless you're having a frightmare..." The doctor just chuckled. "Now that is better then nothing." She then frowned. "Though how you can travel into others dreams or how you found out is something entirely different." Ritsuko narrowed her eyes. "How did you find out?" As he shifted a bit, Shinji looked at the ceiling. "Something inside just told me that I could." He felt a bead of sweat as it dripped down the back of his head as Ritsuko mumbled. "This requires controlled tests..." She then noticed his expression and smiled. "Which will, of course, be kept secret." The doctor then noticed that Shinji was examining her with a confused expression. "Something the matter?" Shinji frowned some and gestured at her. "Just wondering why a cat girl..." He saw her flush some and waved his hooves in the air in front of him. "N-not that it's anything bad I mean! You look quite good as a cat girl, I mean, it's attractive, er... I mean-" He got cut off as she started to laugh and soon after joined her... _________________________________________________________ As she woke up, Ritsuko yawned and laid there with a happy smile on her face. 'That... was the best sleep that I've gotten in years... Guess having no nights filled with nightmares helps.' She then looked around the room at the various items including several cat girl dolls and other cat memorabilia. After she yawned, she cracked her back and sighed, "Ah..." > Chapter 7 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned by Gainax and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. "Interesting..."- Nightmare talking. "Why me..." -Ordinary speaking 'And so it begins.' -Nightmare thoughts 'Aw hay.' -Ordinary thoughts ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Misato grinned from where she sat as she watched as Ritsuko poured over the readings in regard to Shinji's new dreamwalking abilities. 'This is definitely worth having to wear those A-10s to bed...' She then took a sip of her coffee before she decided to speak up. "You know Rits, you could just simply declare it to be magic and be done and over with it." The blonde scientist's eyebrow twitched as she reached out toward the Major with both hands as they opened and closed, as if they were going to throttle her. "Misato... I keep telling you... MAGIC DOES NOT EXIST!" She then jerkingly turned back to the computer screen. "There is a perfectly logical, normal, and most importantly, scientific explanation for what he did and for what I am seeing..." After she took another sip, Misato tapped her chin in mock thought as she looked at the ceiling. "What was that quote? 'Any sufficiently advanced science and technology is indistinguishable from magic'?" She then waved a hand in a dismissive gesture as she shook her head, eyes closed. "Or something like that, anyways." She had to blink, however, when Ritsuko turned back to her and hissed like an angry cat with a slightly wild look as she punctuated each of her following words by pounding on the desk. "THIS. IS. NOT. MAGIC. MAGIC. DOES. NOT. EXIST. THIS. IS. PERFECTLY. EXPLAINABLE." She then sighed and banged her head on the desk as she grumbled. "I just have to find the explanation first..." The Major just rolled her eyes as she reached over beside her and grabbed a donut. "Suuurrrrrreeeee you will, Rits. Sure you will." She then took a bite. "Meanwhile, I'll just keep watching as you prove that de nile is not just a river in Egypt." Ritsuko settled for a final frosty glare before she turned back to the screen and replayed what the sensors scattered around Tokyo-3 and its environs had recorded. 'There's two corresponding bursts of AT Field activity. One is obviously Shinji's while the other is the one whose dream he's visiting.' She then rubbed her face in tiredness as she reached out for her mug. 'I already ruled out an actual anti-AT Field like I had first though, the signs point to it not being that thankfully. Is he synchronizing his own AT Field so that it merges with that belonging to those whose dream he's visiting? Hmm... A limited form of Instrumentality perhaps? But that still does not answer why there is no connection between the two AT Fields... And how does he know what each frequency for each person's AT Field and how does he even find them...?' As she leaned back, she caught sight of Maya who had busied herself with her own project. "What do you have there Maya?" Startled, the tech jumped a little before she turned and blushed at the looks of amusement that the other two women in the room were giving her. "Sorry Sempai, I was just working on a gift for Shinji-kun that I had thought up for him. I'm thinking of giving it to him once he wakes up." Intrigued, the blonde scientist wheeled herself over to take a look at Maya's screen, at which she raised an eyebrow. "Hmm... that looks like the foreleg from Shinji's new plugsuit, but you modified it to have prongs?" Maya shook her head. "Remember how Shinji-kun was having so much trouble typing normally on a keyboard with a pen or pencil?" After she got some nods, and a expression of knowing from Ritsuko, Maya continued. "Well, those prongs actually sit a bit above the bottom edge of Shinji's hooves while they stick out and have some movement available to them. So he can use them to do things like move a mouse or click it, not to mention being able to type again without needing to hold onto a pencil. The fit means that the glove part won't move and will fit perfectly." As she shook her head in amazement, Misato smiled. "Well, I can honestly say that Shinji will love it Maya. It's a thoughtful gift after all." __________________________________________________________________________________ As the Commanding Officer of NERV 8th Branch looked down at at the entry plug submerged within a tank of LCL with wires running from it, he sighed. "So it seems that soon she'll be heading to Tokyo-3 once Unit-08 is completed." Beside him, Major Brown snorted. "Well I may be sad ter see her leave, not having her causin' trouble will be nice..." He then shook his head. "How she can be so clumsy and be an such an excellent EVA pilot..." Commander Walkins glanced at him for a moment before he looked around. "You know as well as I do that she was practically... born... to be the best EVA pilot that we could have..." He then grimaced. "And with the abilities her parents showed during the Bethany Incident, it should have worked better then it did..." He then grumbled. "Other then her, the only good thing that came out of it is that our Evangelion has an edge in being more advanced thanks to the technology recovered." The Major looked at him and then at a screen that showed the Evangelion as it was being finished. "That may be, Sir. However, if not for the funding increase we would have had to scrap her in favor of the Mass Production Units." He then noticed the time. "Ah, good. Her training's done for the day." They walked to where the plug was slowly pulled up and stopped as it opened. "Pilot Skye. You did a smashing job today, congratulations." After a few moments the dirty blonde haired girl stepped out and smiled before she saluted, her heterochromatic eyes drifted in different directs before she focused the piercing blue one on the two as the yellow one looked to the side. "Sir!" As he watched her stumble a bit, the Commander shook his head. "If I may, why did you stumble though?" He then waved a hand around at her creastfallen look. "Though the progressive spear missed, it impacted the refinery and still dealt enough damage to wound the Angel." She then blinked as she reached over and grabbed her glasses from a nearby desk before she put them on. As her eyes ceased to wonder, she pondered the question. "I just don't know what went wrong..." She then frowned as she noticed their expressions. "Is... something the matter, Sir?" He just shook his head. "Not as such, Pilot." The Commander then sighed. "You shall, once Unit-08 is completed, be heading to Tokyo-3 and placed under the same Command as the other EVA pilots." Skye thought it over before she blushed as her eyes widened. "Yo-you mean where Ikari Shinji... the Third Child is...!?" Seeing the raised eyebrow, she cleared her throat and straightened her posture. "Jus-just wondering, Sir. Professional interest and all that!" The Commander sighed and fought the urge to rub the bridge of his nose as he remembered the reports as to how... interested she was. 'And she's got those posters from that internet business run by that one student at the Third Child's school...' He then gave her a serious look. "It is." After a moment, he chuckled. "And I expect you to hold to yourself highest level while there." She nodded with a large grin. "Sir!" He then let head to the shower area, as he ignored the sounds of her bumping into things and people as well as tripping. "Whoops! Sorry! Ah! Pardon me! Eek!" The Major just sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Yes, it will be much more bloody quiet around here..." ______________________________________________________________________________ As he stood out on the balcony, Shinji sighed as he watched various lights as they flickered on and off before the sound off hoofsteps caught his attention. "Hmm? Nightmare?" He watched as Nightmare slowly strode out of the shadows, his head still cluttered with thoughts. 'I know that Misato and them have said that it's only a few weeks, but it's been a year and I still have no idea as to what the relationship between me and Nightmare is. But... But I have to wonder if this is how it feels to have a...' Seemingly unaware of what Shinji had been thinking, Nightmare continued to walk up until she was beside him. Below her, a pillow appeared as she sat down on it. "So then Little Prince, are you ready yet to head back to the waking world?" Shinji was silent for a few moments before he sighed and smiled. "I am." He then frowned as he glanced at the alicorn beside him. "Though part of me is going to miss this." Nightmare laughed a bit before she nuzzled him. "Silly colt. I will always be there for you." She then gestured around them. "And besides that, whenever you fall asleep, you shall return here." Before he could have said anything, though, she continued. "I will say that I am most pleased with how far you've gone, Little Prince." She then looked at him. "I am proud of you." Shocked by her declaration, Shinji was silent for a few moments before he leaned in and nuzzed her like a colt would normally do to it's mother. The whole time he tried to ignore the wetness around his eyes and how his heart arched a little less. "Th-thank you, mo-Nightmare..." He pulled away and sniffled a bit before he turned away. "That means a lot to me." While she was pleased with his slip up, she didn't show it as she reached over and forced his head toward her just a moment before her mane drifted over his face as it dried it. "There is no need to thank me, Little Prince." She then smiled. "It is nothing more then the truth." Nightmare than extended one wing over his back as she reached out with one foreleg in a half hug. "And the truth is that I am proud with how well you have done." The male alicorn just sat there as he leaned into the embrace as he thought back. 'Strange how comfortable I feel like this now.' As he continued to sit there as Nightmare softly nuzzled his mane, he thought back. 'I was so scared when I became an alicorn and I hated her for doing it to me. But now...' Memories of the alicorn beside him as she comforted him, praised him, and was kind to him flashed through his mind. 'Heh. Odd. I was always so uncomfortable as a human, but after I gave it up, I'm now more comfortable then I was and while I may have lost any chance of turning back into a human, I gained other things to make it up...' He reflected back on his changed relationships with Misato, Rei, Ritsuko, as well as Maya, and, most of all, with Nightmare. 'Perhaps... perhaps this time the good outweighs the bad...' It was then that Nightmare spoke up. "Are you prepared, Little Prince?" He just nodded as the two slowly faded out of view and back to the waking world... ______________________________________________________________________________ As Shinji slowly clawed his way back to consciousness, he became aware of various things as his senses switched on one by one. The first was touch which allowed him to feel the softness of the bed below him, the coolness of the sheets, and the dull ache that permeated his body. Then came smell which caused him to nearly gag at the hospital scents around him, though the slight smell of rain nearby canceled that out. Finally his hearing came back which allowed him to hear the various sounds of medical devices around him as well as the sound of a chair shifting. 'Mmm...' He then sighed as he opened his eyes slowly against the glare. "Another familiar..." However, it wasn't the sight of the ceiling tiles that greeted him, but rather two red eyes in a pale face which was framed by blue hair just inches from his own. Rei blinked as she cocked her head to the side as she regarded the now awake alicorn, their faces just nearly touching. "I am happy to see you awake Shinji-kun." She then noticed his widened eyes and raised an eyebrow as his wings snapped out. "Are you all right, Shinji-kun?" Shinji did the only thing he could... he yelped as he tumbled out of his bed which scattered the medical instruments around him. "Ow..." The First Child regarded him for a moment before she softly smiled as amusement flickered across her eyes. 'This is... most humorous...' She then cleared her throat. "Are you hurt, Shinji-kun?" As he shook his head, Shinji just groaned. "No... just my pride..." It was then he heard the door fly open as Ritsuko rushed into the room followed by Misato. "What is going on in here..." She then noticed Shinji on the floor, sprawled out with Rei leaning over the bed as she looked completely innocent. "Never mind..." While Ritsuko nursed her slowly growing headache, she steadfastly ignored Misato as she rushed around the bed and glomped the still recovering alicorn. "SHIN-CHAN! YOU'RE AWAKE!" After a minute, Ritsuko noticed how Shinji was looking at her as he silently pleaded for help as Misato tried to suffocate him to the best of her ability. "You somehow can survive in space, so no go Shinji..." __________________________________________________________________________ As she sipped at her coffee, Maya watched on screen as the Magi ran through another simulation of a horse as it trotted, then galloped, and then finally started to jump. Maya frowned for a moment before she turned to another screen and typed in some commands as wings appeared and it flapped. 'Hmm... the wings mess up the simulation a bit... but if I can convince Shinji-kun to fly with some sensors on him, then I might... But yes, that might work...' Her thoughts were interrupted as a throat was cleared behind her and she turned to see one of the sub-lieutenants of the Engineering Division standing there. "Ma'am." Maya just shook her head and chuckled. "How many times must I tell you, Hiroshi, call me Maya." She smiled as she took another sip. "I'm not that much higher ranked then you." The man just shuffled from side to side as he rubbed his neck. "Sorry Ma'am, but you are the Second in Command of the Science Divisions, so..." As Doctor Akagi's main assistant sighed, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a data stick. "Anyways, this just arrived from NERV Scotland Branch." As her face lit up in a smile, Maya took it from him and inserted it into one of the terminals and rapidly typed. A few minutes later, the simulation lost it's wings as barding appeared on it. "Thanks, this should help out a lot." Hiroshi frowned as he watched the simulation run again, the horse doing various speeds and agility exercises. "Can I ask you something, Ma'am?" At her distracted nod as she continued to modify the simulation, he continued. "Why are you looking up horse barding? Er, is it because of the Third... Child?" Thanks to having been turned away, Hiroshi did not see the anger as it flashed across her face before she shoved it under a lid. "Yes, Commander Ikari asked if I could look into body armor for Shinji-kun so I am." She noticed as the Sub-Lieutenant winced in the slight reflection on her terminal with more then a little satisfaction. "I'm mainly basing it off the old military plugsuits and derivatives that GEHIRN had looked into." As he blinked, he raised an eyebrow. "Military plugsuits...?" Maya nodded as she once more modified the simulation on the fly. "Yes." She set down her coffee and grabbed a donut as she took a bite. "Back when the plugsuits were invented by GEHIRN around 2004 or so, the various militaries were interested in whether they could be used as components of body armor or a new form of flight suit. They spent some tens of millions on them, but eventually dropped them as being too expensive as each armored plugsuit would have to be fitted for each individual soldier, raising the price." She then shook her head. "Though the new UN Flightsuits are based on them as are the skinsuits worn by astronauts." Hiroshi hummed as he thought it over. "So you're using those as a base?" She nodded as she looked over some data. "Yeah, that's why I needed the information on the barding." Maya then gestured at the screen. "If I use a design based off barding for the armored parts of the plugsuit, along with using ceramics and some of the new liquid armor for the non-armored parts, I think that I can boost the protection quite a bit while keeping the weight low." She then frowned. "I'm thinking of using a HUD projected onto lenses for the helmet though." The Sub-Lieutenant frowned a bit. "What about weapons?" He then gestured with a hand. "Unless he just uses his telekinetics to move and use them I suppose." Maya shook her head as she gestured at a screen beside her. "Nope. I got an idea for that as well." Hiroshi raised an eyebrow at the odd weapon there. "What is that...?" The Lieutenant just chuckled a bit. "That is the old XM29 OICW. It's not common now, but was used for a while after Second Impact by the Americans." She then typed an a highly modified version came up. "I upped the caliber to 7.62 and added more ammo for both the 25mm Grenade launcher and the automatic rifle." Maya smirked as she leaned back. "Not bad really for a first weapon." As he looked over the data over her shoulder, his brows furrowed. "Wait... it says something here about servos and A1 Neural Connectors?" He looked over at her in some surprise. "I thought that the A1s only worked with LCL?" Maya shook her head. "No, LCL just improves the efficency of them." She looked back at him. "The servos will be for the attatched weapons since I'm mounting them on the armor. The A1s are based on a version that was supposed to be used to help soldiers control unmanned turrets, so that should work..." She trailed off as she heard the phone ring before she picked it up. She then answered and smiled before she said goodbye and hung up. "Seems that Shinji-kun just woke up..." Maya then saved her work and stood up after she removed the data stick and logged off. "Now if you'll excuse me, Hiroshi-san, I need to go see him." She then grabbed one last donut and her coffee before she walked off as Hiroshi watched her leave. After she was gone, he sighed. "Aw man... I just had to talk to her about work instead of asking her out..." He then grumbled as he walked off... _____________________________________________________________________________ As she walked into Shinji's hospitalization room, Maya raised an eyebrow at the Major who was grinning widely. However, she didn't need to ask as at that moment she caught sight of Shinji who had such a pitiable expression that part of her wanted to squeal while the other part wanted to giggle. Maya settled for a grin of her own as she leaned over toward Misato. "What's with the expression?" After she glanced at her, Misato snorted. "Shin-chan just got the word that Rits needs to run him through tests for the next several days." At the bridge bunny's giggles, her grin only widened. "Needless to say, he's not happy..." The lieutenant nodded for a moment before she whispered. "Though I got to admit, part of me wants to go over there and hug him, what with that expression of his..." Ritsuko, from where she had stood in front of the depressed Shinji, simply ignored the quiet conversation as she put her foot down. "Now, Pilot Ikari, you will be going through these tests because of what happened." She twitched some as his large eyes got steadily larger as his ears flattened against his head. 'Keep it together Akagi... you are a scientist first, a woman second... don't let him break you... though he does look so pitiable... GAH!' As a mental version of her sprayed the bad thought with a mental spray bottle, Ritsuko cleared her throat before she tilted her head to glare at the clipboard so that she would not need to look at his expression. "You have undergone yet a farther transformation and grown in both size and weight. Therefore we need to put you though farther tests to establish a new baseline." As she glanced back at him, she internally winced as he increased that look of his. "But Doctor Akagi..." Misato giggled before she walked over and patted him on his shoulder, noting how his head is now nearly level with her own. "There, there Shin-chan. I'm sure that this time the tests will go by quicker." Shinji just hung his head as the women once more giggled, Ritsuko now included. "Aw horsefeathers..." A moment later, he whipped his head around as Maya grinned and wagged a finger at him. "Don't worry, Shinji-kun, Misato-san's right. This time the tests will be quicker." She then winked with her next words having caused his jaw to drop. "After all, we need to clear you fully for school..." He worked his jaw for a moment before he shouted, unfortunately having tapped into 'The Traditional Royal Canterlot Speaking Voice' as he did so. "WHAT!" ______________________________________________________________________ Shinji sighed as he looked down at the reinforced yoke around his neck and then at the numerous chains that led from it... Chains which would normally be used as anchors for warships. "Is this... really that necessary, Doctor Akagi? I mean..." He then looked behind him and winced at the railcar that the chains attached to where it lay on the tracks. "It all seems a little... extreme if you'll catch my drift..." With a very odd smile that caused him to shiver, Ritsuko patted him on the shoulder, a part of her mind noted how hard and compact it felt before it filed it away for her report. "Of course it is, Shinji-kun. We have to develop a brand new baseline after all for your pull strength after all." As she walked away, Shinji heard the voice of Nightmare as she spoke to him in his thoughts. 'Bah! Worry yourself none, Little Prince. For you have all the strength of the Earth Pony now...' Misato raised an eyebrow as she watched Ritsuko and Shinji. Once the doctor was next to her, she rolled her eyes before she smirked. "Isn't this a bit much?" Ritsuko frowned in thought as she wiggled a finger in one ear before she looked at where Shinji stood, chained to a railcar full of boxes of shells for the EVAs Pallet Rifles before she turned around and started looking at a clipboard, a smirk that was identicle to her friend's on her face. "Hmm... nope. Not really." From where she was looking over some readings, Maya sighed. "This is because you still have hearing issues, isn't it? And the paperwork as well..." At Ritsuko's smirk, she shook her head. "That's horrible, Sempai..." The doctor thought it over some, and then shrugged. "Perks of the jobl" As Ritsuko wrote something, Misato watched as Shinji strained at the yoke as he dug in his hooves. "Out of curiosity... how much can a horse normally pull?" Ritsuko thought it over a bit before she replied. "About four tons if they're of a really strong breed." The purple haired Major then nodded. "And what was Shinji's record the last time?" As she gave a suffering sigh, Ritsuko rolled her eyes. "About double that at 8 tons. He still won't be able to pull it, Misato. That railcar weighs about 25 tons easy. That's more then triple his last record and far beyond what any living thing that size should be able to pull." She then noted Maya as her eyes widened and the ensuring silence besides some squeaks. "... Please don't tell me that he's actually pulling it..." Misato then shrugged as she pointed in the direction that Ritsuko's back was turned. "Fine then, I won't tell you that he's pulling it... Oops!" She smirked as Ritsuko turned and saw that Shinji was indeed pulling the railcar, if only slowly. A moment later, a snap sounded through the air and heralded the end for yet another clipboard. 'Too easy...' ________________________________________________________________________________ As she walked up beside Shinji, Ritsuko raised an eyebrow as she looked out over the large pit before the group. "Is there a reason why you wanted to come to the landfill, Shinji-kun?" The alicorn glanced at her before he too looked out over the large area. "Well... this is where all the debris from the battles are tossed, right? Especially what's been close to the positronic rifles." At the look of surprise, he shrugged. "I got interested in what exactly happened with all the debris from the battles. Since the positronic rfiles have a habit of causing the debris from their hits to be mildly irradiated and the debris and cleanup equipment and vehicles used to dispose of the Angels' remains are considered contaminated, they're dropped off here." He then gestured at what looked like a part of Unit-00's melted armor from the 5th Angel. "So... I'm going to put it to use." After she tapped several keys on her laptop, Maya looked over at him. "The telekinetic lifting test, right?" Shinji smiled. "Well... among other things..." At the puzzled looked, he smiled before he closed his eyes. 'So this should work, Nightmare?' He could feel her as she nodded. 'It should, Little One. Just remember that the spell is usually used to heat things, but getting them hot enough will be difficult.' His horn a light, Shinji nodded. 'Understood...' He then chuckled internally. 'I wonder why getting Ritsuko all flustered is so amusing though...' The alicorn then concentrated. 'Okay... first the small stuff...' Misato glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. 'I wonder what he's doing...' She then felt something as it whizzed by her face and spotted a nail that was now floating in front of Shinji. "Hmm?" A moment later it began to glow a dull red as other smaller pieces of metal slammed into it. As the reddish glowing orb slowly grew in size, Misato turned to Maya. "How hot is that?" After she grabbed a thermometer gun, Maya's eyebrows nearly met her head. "Readings are saying that it's nearly a thousand degrees. Hot enough to weld." She then frowned. "Though the time it takes to get the temperature up means it's useless in battle..." The group continued to watch, with Ritsuko twitching every so often, as the orb slowly grew in size. After two hours, Maya looked at her screen again. "The orb has now reached 400 meters in diameter..." She then heard a shattering sound and watched as shards of broken glass flew out of the waste disposal dump and impacted the orb, which caused a layer of slag-like material to form. "Odd..." As she took a deep breath to calm herself, Ritsuko turned to her assistant. "Odd? How is anything about this not odd!?" Maya just pointed at the orb. "Why would Shinji-kun be covering that in melted and fused glass? It doesn't make any sense." She then gestured at Shinji in amazement. "And he's still not strained..." The purple haired Major just snorted. "That's our Shinji, if he's not doing the impossible before lunch, he's doing it before dinner." Several hours later though, she slumped back in a chair. "So bored..." As she shook, Ritsuko glared at her as she ignored the now massive orb behind her. "Shut... up..." Misato just rolled her eyes as she gestured at it. "Look at it. He's made this massive.. thing with no reason given." She then shook her head as she crossed her arms. "He just stands there and does things like crush glass and concrete before he adds that to it." She then turned to Maya. "It's what? 900 meters now?" Maya nodded. "And likely hundreds of thousands of tons." She then looked at it directly and squinted. "Wish that I has some sunglasses though. That white concrete powder and crushed glass is hard on the eyes." The mousey tech then realized something. "Wait... he's stopped?" That caught the attention of the other two women who turned and looked. Sure enough, nothing else was being added to it. Ritsuko just sighed in relief. "Good job, Shinji-kun. But let it down slowly and..." She then spotted something. "... Why are you smirking...?" Shinji's smirk then became a grin. "Because I'm not done yet..." Then slowly, the orb slowly began to move upwards. Then it began to accelerate. "..." As she shielded her eyes as it became a dot, Misato frowned. "How high is it?" Maya glanced at her screen and then to Ritsuko, whose twitching had become more pronounced. "Currently at 30,000 feet and climbing..." A few minutes later, she looked at the screen again. "A hundred thousand feet and climbing..." As she looked up, Maya frowned. "I guess it's a good thing that we have this area as a no fly zone..." She then cocked her head to the side. "Hmm... the higher it is, the faster it's moving..." She then looked again and nearly boggled. "Six hundred thousand feet..." ______________________________________________________________________________________________ As she laid back on the hood of her car, Misato looked up at a bright star-like object as it slowly crossed the sky. "So... any idea what you're calling the planet's new moon?" She glanced over at Shinji who was dozing a bit. "Shinji-kun?" He started a bit before he answered. "Hmm? The moon?" The exhausted Alicorn then yawned. "I was thinking of Tsukiyomi... or maybe Artemis myself." Misato thought it over. "Sounds good..." She then looked over at Ritsuko who was sprawled out, several bottles with her. "Man... there goes my emergency supply..." Maya just whistled a short tune. "Can't really blame Sempai, Misato-san." The Major just wagged her finger at her. "None of this 'San' business, Maya." She then snorted. "You earned that much since you haven't been rumor mongering like the rest." Misato then frowned. "Though you are taking this much better..." As she finished some last data imputs, Maya shrugged. "I work for a top secret paramilitary organization which builds and uses massive, biomechanical titans piloted by school children in order to fight a war against impossible, physics breaking genocidal beings." She then continued in a dry tone. "I'm surprised that Sempai is having issues with coping myself..." ________________________________________________________________________________ Hikari was about to leave the room and head for where Asuka waited, when she heard a voice behind her. "Class Representative?" She turned and found herself looking at Rei who watched her with a calm, detached expression. "May I speak to you?" As she nodded, the Class Representative turned. "Sure, give me one moment and-" Rei cut her off though as she laid a hand on her shoulder. "May I speak to you without Pilot Soryu?" Though confused, Hikari gestured at a nearby corner of the room out of range of the others' hearing. As she kept an eye on a slightly annoyed Asuka, she gave her a gesture to go on without her for a bit. Hikari then waited until she was out of sight before she turned and looked at Rei. "Something the matter, Ayanami-san?" She then frowned before she realized what it may have to deal with. "Is there problem with Shinji-kun?" The blue haired albino slowly tilted her head to the side. "Not a problem, or at the least not at the moment, though issues may develop." She then sighed. "Shinji-kun shall soon be returning to the school to continue his education." As she beamed partially at one of her favorite fellow students returning and at the warmth in Rei's voice, Hikari shook her head. "I should have known that one of the scientists from NERV would have figured out a way to turn him back..." She trailed off as she caught Rei as she winced slightly. With anyone else, it would have been barley noticeable, but with Rei, she might as well have yelled. "... They did turn him back, didn't they?" Rei shook her head as a slight spark of sadness crossed her face before it vanished. "No, they have not. It shall be a long time, if ever, before they have found a way to allow Shinji-kun to return to his previous state." After she grimaced, Hikari looked at her. "That's what you wanted to talk with me about then, him still being a winged... unicorn." She shook her head in disbelief. "I still have issues with even believing that." As she blinked, Rei glanced around. "Being as you already have knowledge of Shinji-kun's transformation and unlike some have not reacted... in an unacceptable manner, I feel that you may know the answers to some possible issues." As her fellow student winced as she knew what she had been talking about, Rei continued on. "I have concerns as to Shinji's learning environment... especially in light of the fact that he recently underwent a growth spurt." The class representative just raised an eyebrow. "How much of one are we talking about here..." After she had been told, her eyes widened before she glanced at the seating. "Hmm... yeah, that might be an issue." Hikari then slowly nodded. "I know that we have some specialty seating for those who are much taller or heavier then normal, but nothing like this..." Rei grimaced. "I was afraid of such." Hikari just shook it off. "But..." She leaned back in thought. "If I was to take one of the custom chairs for those taller then normal and had it modified... Takahachi-san owes me a favor and he's in the local high school taking metal working..." As she bit her lip, she slowly nodded. "It might work, need some reinforcing though..." She blinked though as Rei bowed to her. "I thank you for any such assistance that you can give to Shinji-kun, Class Representative." Her face flushed from the compliment, Hikari bowed back. "Don't worry, Ayanami-san, I'll have a look around and make sure that he's physically comfortable." She then frowned. "But I don't know how much I can help him socially. Some... students might not take things well..." The Class Representative leaned back a bit as an angry look crossed Rei's face. "They can try, but doing so shall force me to show my... displeasure in regards to such actions..." Hikari just nodded as she felt some sweat as it dripped down her neck. "Ye-yeah..." After Rei thanked her again and left, Hikari let out a breath of relief. "I thought that Shinji-kun was kidding that time that I overheard him say that Rei is scary when angry..." She then shook her head before she realized something. "I wonder if NERV has any uniforms in Shinji's size..." Hikari then blinked and shook her head. "Who am I kidding? Of course they do! After all, why wouldn't they..." As she left though, she resolved to modify some school uniforms just in case... __________________________________________________________________________________ Shinji sighed as he stood before the industrial strength hot air dispenser. 'Ah... nothing like a hot shower after sitting in the Evangelion for Sync Tests for a few hours.' In the back of his mind, Nightmare grumbled some. 'One would think that you would have spoken to her about such things, Little Prince. She is after all one of your mares.' She ignored Shinji as he twitched and shouted within his mind that Ritsuko was not one of his mares. 'Please spare me, Little Prince.' As he turned it off, the alicorn stallion grumbled. 'Like you're much better with Maya...' He stumbled some due to her answer. 'Of course I am better with Maya, after all I do not try to hide anything about our relationship... besides those parts that are rather private in any case...' She mentally smirked. 'And I must admit, though not ponies, those three are quite fetching in their own ways.' Shinji felt his face become heated as he struggled to keep his wings from shooting out. 'Sh-shut it!' Nightmare just laughed. 'Ah! And yet it is not but the truth, Little One! Why, I bet that with just a small push...' After he grimaced, Shinji looked in the mirror and saw Nightmare looking back at him. 'Please, that's enough.' She watched him for a moment and he saw her reflection as it nodded. 'Very well, Little One, but remember... you no longer need to be alone.' He just grunted as his reflection turned back to normal before he magically slipped on a belt that went across his shoulders and attached his SDAT to it before he walked out to meet Misato and the others. "Hey." Having heard the slight sadness in his tone, Misato dismissed it as being due to him having continued to overthink about his imminent return to school. "Hey, Shin-chan. Good job with the Sync Test." She frowned as a frustrated Asuka pushed past them, having shot a venomous glare at Shinji. "Unlike some..." The alicorn just sighed. "She's still angry with me about the scores?" Misato's silence was enough answer as he shook his head and slipped his in his earbuds, now modified for an horse's ear. After a moment, he turned it on and closed his eyes. After a moment, he heard the opening strings for 'Highway to Hell' and felt the need to dance and sing. Unknown to him, Nightmare leaned back in the mindscape and grinned. 'I had been wondering when this may happen...' Having heard him as he scrapped a hoof across the floor, Misato turned and opened her mouth as just as Shinji got up on his back legs, his head becoming nearly eight feet above the floor as he belted out a song. "Living Easy, living free! Season ticket on a one way ride..." As she listened, Misato didn't notice her own foot began to tap and she hummed as she watched her charge dance. Nor how those beside her began to do the same. 'Where did Shinji-kun learn English...?' "Asking nothing, leave me be Taking everything in my stride Don't need reason, don't need rhyme Ain't nothing I'd rather do" The group slowly felt the need to join him and slowly started to shuffle as he reached the end of the first bit. "Going down, party time My friends are gonna be there too, yeah!" As he reached the chorus, they jumped in fullout, acting as if the whole thing was choreographed. "I'm on the highway to hell! On the highway to hell! Highway to hell! I'm on the highway to hell!" They made their way down the hallway, other random members of NERV getting caught up in it, including the Supreme Commander and Asuka. They walked through the EVA chages in time for the guitar solo... and the EVAs heads began to bob while their AT Fields clashed in flashes of light. Finally, the last bit of the song was finished and Shinji sighed as he fell to all four hooves and walked off. "Huh. That was... invigorating..." He then walked off in thought and left the group behind as they all blinked and shook it off. Misato watched him turn a corner and looked at Ritsuko who twitched. "Huh, who knew that Shin-chan was such a good singer?" The doctor looked at her and then turned and walked into an office and locked the door before she screamed in frustration. Fuyutsuki smiled. "Mmm... reminds me of that one summer in Melbourne..." __________________________________________________________________________________ The SEELE member watched as the almost embryonic looking lump of flesh, the size of a small human child, was lowered into what looked like an insect's cocoon with the top sliced off. "So, we finally have one viable enough to be transported to where we need it." Beside him, the doctor nodded as the robotic arms pulled away and brought down the top, it screwing into place as one arm went over the seam and sprayed Bakelite to seal it. "Ja, Herr General. We shall soon see the results of our little... shall I say, project?" The Russian General just sneered. "I care only to see results Doctor. Nothing more." As he nodded, the Doctor smiled, though it was a cold one. "And so you shall see your results." The two watched as the tube attached to the cocoon, or egg, began to pump a very dark version of LCL into it. After a moment, the General asked about it. "That, herr General, is a specialty type of of LCL that my team has cooked up." His smile slowly widened. "It seems that the hybrid cells are capable of assimilating foreign DNA into them and using it. The LCL contains the genetic material gathered from many creatures on the planet. We cannot be sure, but we believe that by altering the mixture for each one, we may be able to make each creature unique." Beside him, the member of SEELE allowed himself to grin. "Good! That shall help in preventing any from tracing them back to us..." He then looked down at his ring, which looked as if it was crafted from slightly colored bands of onyx. 'I wonder how well you may do child...' __________________________________________________________________________________ As Maya leaned back in her chair and cracked her neck with a sigh, she grimaced. 'It's nights like these that make me wonder if being Sempai's assistant is worth it all...' She then reached over for her coffee, the terminals around her emptied of people as it was late at night, or rather early in the morning. Suddenly a humorous thought occurred to her as she felt her lips twitched. 'Maybe I should get an assistant myself... heh, an assistant for the assistant...' Going through the various files, Maya came across one that she had missed. 'Hello, and who are you now...?' As she read it, she took another sip of coffee. 'So Sempai asked for aerial surveys to determine what Shinji-kun's energy field might have done to the local environs?' She then saw the date. 'And it seems that she forgot to cancel them after the first two...' After a moment, Maya popped a donut hole into her mouth before she opened the files. "Well... might as well have a look..." A quick few minutes of work and she had created a program to compile the surveys and compare them. 'I wonder what the disapation rate of them is...' It took an half hour, but she got her answer... and it caused her jaw to drop. "What the hell..." She then started going through the internal sensor readings for that time and compared them. As she watched, her eyes widened. 'Okay... Sempai is going to freak out about this...' Then she noticed something else on the internal sensors. "Make that she's going to blow a gasket if what I am reading is correct..." ________________________________________________________________________________ Three days later, Maya's prediction came true as she showed Ritsuko the data. "WHAT!?" She shook her head in disbelief as she stared at the screen before she turned to the tech. "Are you positive that this is correct?!" Maya slowly nodded. "That was why I waited for three days before I told you." She sighed as she ran her hand through her hair. "I personally have problems believing it myself... but there we go." From where she had been looking over Ritsuko's shoulder, Misato gave her a raised eyebrow. "So... for those of us who are not exactly science types... what's the big deal about a colored map of Tokyo-3?" The blond scientist just shook her head. "Because of what it's showing us." She then tapped the screen. "This was, from what Maya's told me, compiled from the aerial surveys that I ordered done once we could create sensors to measure and observe Shinji's... unique energy pattern." She twitched as Misato whispered magic. "I had been expecting for it to disapate and in so doing, be able to take better stock. But..." Maya clicked her mouse and the women watched the simulation began. It started with the screen being a very light, nearly unseen pink. But it slowly began to bleed a darker and darker pink from the center of the screen, almost as if a daker liquid was being pumped into tank filled with another. "As you can see, instead of disapating as expected, the field around Tokyo-3 has slowly gained in strength with the most powerful areas being here in NERV HQ, particularly the testing areas and Shinji's quarters." The purple haired Major hummed as she thought it over. "So... it's being produced by Shinji?" As she shook her head, Ritsuko felt a headache coming on. "No, it's more like if you left a nuclear reactor exposed and the radioactive contamination from it began to spread. With Shinji in this case being the reactor..." Having spotted the panicked look from Misato, she waved her hands. "Not that we're in any danger. Nothing that I have seen or tested shows it to be harmful to life." Maya then deadpanned. "And besides, if it was deadly the three of us would know." The other two turned to look at her. "Here, let me bring up the internal sensors." After a moment, she did so. "The three of us and Rei have somehow absorbed a massive amount. If Shinji-kun was the sun and his energy field the light, we'd show up like candles..." She then brought up the EVA cages. "And the EVAs would look like car headlights." As she peered at the screen, Ritsuko stood up straighter. "Wait, the Evangelions are absorbing it?!" Her assistant nodded. "As if it were water and they're a sponge." She then gestured at a nearby cage. "As for it's deadliness, Sempai and me already used a mouse for a test subject. From what we can see, there is no effect on it, which would have shown up a lot sooner then in a human." Misato just gave a theatrical sigh. "Oh well... no superpowers for me." She then gave a pout as she looked at her hands. "And here I was so looking forward to being able to grow in size and strength as well as turning green when I got angry..." Ritsuko just slapped her face. "Dammit Misato..." > Chapter 8 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned by Gainax and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. "Interesting..."- Nightmare talking. "Why me..." -Ordinary speaking 'And so it begins.' -Nightmare thoughts 'Aw hay.' -Ordinary thoughts 'Shut it, Naoko.'- Evangelion telepathy ________________________________________________________________________________________ Misato just smirked at her friend's exasperated expression before she became serious once more. "Do we have any idea how far this has spread?" After a moment, Maya leaned back and gestured at the screen. "If we assume that the... Sonic Rainboom deposited this energy pattern wherever it's travelled, then it's possible that there's a small amount of it covering the entire Earth, but we'd be unable to sense it due to the field strength being so low." She then held up a finger. "But I did order some weather balloons sent up under the explanation that we were investigating what may be going on as the weather was fixing itself. In reality, they were carrying sensors to map out how far the strengthened field has travelled." Maya then typed a command. "Have a look for yourselves." Both the Major and Ritsuko watched as it zoomed out and felt their eyebrows raise. Ritsuko slowly reached into her pocket and pulled out a cigarette before she lit it. "Amazing... its reached as far as Tokyo-2 already... at this rate..." She then frowned before she typed in some commands which seemingly did nothing.After she spotted the other two look at her, she frowned. "I'm putting this on special lockdown. Until further notice, you report this and all of it to me and me alone, understood, Maya-chan?" Maya's jaw just dropped for a moment before she shook her head. "But Sempai, what about the Commander." The blonde doctor took a puff before she smirked. "The Commander does not need to know about this until we've gathered more data on it. Right now, it's all inconclusive to say the least. And being that it does not have to deal with the Angels, the Evangelions, or is a health risk, it's of no concern to NERV officially." Ritsuko then gestured at a surprised Misato. "And a member of the Command Staff already knows besides me." She then reached down and wrote something quickly on a piece of paper. "Read this and memorize it." Still nervous, the tech did so and after several moments nodded. Maya was then surprised to see Ritsuko hold it against her cigarette as it slowly blackened and burned. "That's how you'll be able to access this still after you log off." She didn't look surprised as Misato gripped her shoulder. "Yes?" Her eyes narrowed, Misato jerked her head a distance. "I need to talk to you." After Ritsuko nodded and moved to where she wanted, the Major hissed at her. "What the hell are you doing, Rits!?" Ritsuko gave her an even look as she continued to puff her cigarette before she answered. "I'm protecting Shinji." Seeing as Misato was about to blow, she held up a hand. "Listen. What exactly do you think might happen if the UN finds out that Shinji is spewing an unknown energy everywhere? One whose total effects are not yet well known and they only have us telling them that its harmless?" As she peered into her friend's eyes, Misato nodded. "I can see the wisdom of not informing the UN, considering our relationship they might do something to Shinji in the name of 'Safety'." She then frowned. "But what I don't understand is the Commander and why him." The silence stretched for a minute before Ritsuko sighed. "Misato, I have no idea as to how much Kaji told you or what he told you..." Ritsuko held up a hand as she spotted that Misato had been about to reply. "And I don't want to know. It's safer for you that way. However, you know that NERV has some... dark secrets within it. Trust me when I say that I do not trust the Commander not to use this against Shinji at the moment." Misato searched Ritsuko's face for a moment before she frowned. "Won't you be in danger if you keep it secret from him? Because considering..." She blinked back some tears before she continued. "Well..." Touched by her concern, Ritsuko reached up and squeezed her shoulder. "Don't worry about me, Misato. I'm far too important at the moment to worry much. Until the Angels are defeated, I have use-" Ritsuko was surprised by the slap and slowly brought her hand up and touched where it had hit her face. A moment later, she was pulled into a hug. "Don't. Don't you dare talk about yourself that way." She only sadly chuckled. "Its true though." Ritsuko then pulled away and looked her into the eyes. "Besides... I'm already a dammed woman walking." She then sighed. 'After all, one way or the other, I'm going to die. If not in Third Impact, then when the UN finds out and I get tried and suffer an accident...' Ritsuko then shook it off and patted Misato on the back. "So don't worry, I can cover for a while yet so we can figure something out." Unknown to either women, Maya had overheard and frowned as she closed her eyes. 'Sempai thinks that the Commander can't be trusted?' She then remembered the rumors and how cold the Commander was before she shook her head. 'Okay...' Maya then stifled a chuckle. 'I feel like I'm in some sort of spy thriller...' __________________________________________________________________________________ Shinji slowly sipped his can of juice before he put it down and picked up one wrapped object. "So... this is my new plugsuit then?" Across from him, Ritsuko nodded as Rei curiously looked over the package. "Correct." She then gave him a smile as she leaned forward and placed her chin on the back of her clasped hands. "Just do me a favor and don't destroy this one. They can get rather expensive." The alicorn nervously chuckled. "I'll try my best." He then looked over at the clock on the wall which Misato noticed as she nursed a beer. "She's coming Shinji. Don't worry about a thing." She then chuckled. "Kodama-san is a very good PR specialist and I know her quite well." As she saw the looks, the Major shrugged. "When I can't head out with Rits here, I take her." Misato then smirked. "She's kind of like a younger version of me..." Maya just nodded. "Yes... just one who drinks a lot less and does not have the same... appreciation for the male form, that you do." The Major then slammed her fist down. "What was that!?" Shinji just watched amused at the byplay as Rei got up and headed for the door. A few moments later, she opened it and turned back. "Shinji-kun, Kodama-san is here." She then tilted her head. "And she has brought company." Surprised, Shinji turned to look as the argument stopped and frowned as he saw the brown haired woman in the doorway. "Wait a moment..." He tilted his head some. "Kodama... You wouldn't happen to be related to Horaki Hikari, would you?" Kodama grinned at that. "Well, not too surprising as she's my little sister..." It was then that Hikari's voice drifted in. "Though sometimes I have to wonder whom is taking care of whom." She then poked her head in. "What with me taking care of all the chores..." Then Hikari focused her attention on Shinji. "Hello, Shinji-kun." His eyes widened some. "Hikari! What are you doing here?!" As she snickered at his response, Kodama shook her head. "As she already knows about you due to a hospital visit, I brought her along as she can give a younger viewpoint then I can." She then looked him over with a thoughtful expression. "Though she was right when she told me that all sorts of girls will be all over you now... something that we can work with actually now that I think about it..." Shinji just blinked at that with confusion written all over his face. "What?" He then turned to Hikari and his confusion only grew with how red in the face that she was as she looked him over. "Er... something the matter, Hikari?" She stuttered a bit before she pointed out something. "You-you're naked!" His own face now heated, Shinji shifted a bit. "Well... yes." He then sighed. "Most clothing just doesn't... feel right with my fur, which hides everything anyways." Hikari was about to say something when Ritsuko interrupted. "And he's right." She sipped at her coffee before she continued. "Shinji-kun's fur is more like that of a polar bear with the thickness of it. All clothing actually presses it right down and in this case, it would be like pressing a pillow flat." The doctor then reached over and poked his leg, her finger sinking in up to the second knuckle before it stopped. "It's actually rather fascinating considering that it's made up of two layers." She didn't notice that the others eyes slowly glazed over as she continued until Misato jabbed an elbow into her ribs. "Ow! What was that for Misato?" The Major just rolled her eyes before she turned back to Kodama. "Well, come have a seat then." After the two newcomers had sat down, she turned to Kodama. "Well, what's first then?" Kodama looked at her and sighed as she placed out a package that showed it held a blue uniform. "Here we go." She turned to Shinji and shook her head. "Your dress uniform for tomorrow." He then surprised the two Horaki sisters as he picked it up with his magic and examined it. "Uniform? I have a uniform?" As she grabbed a can of pop and opened it, Kodama rolled her eyes. "Of course you do!" She then gestured with a hand. "All Evangelion pilots have a dress uniform and I doubt that your old one would fit." She then noticed his confused expression. "Er... you did receive a dress uniform when you joined up... didn't you?" Shinji shook his head. "No, I actually haven't received one before." He then frowned. "I actually thought that the plugsuits were them." All was silent as the PR Officer digested that before she turned to him. "No... they're not." She looked at Rei. "You have yours, right?" Rei nodded and replied that she kept it in her locker at NERV. Kodama ignored Shinji's surprise as she turned to Misato. "So, Major Katsuragi... mind explaining to me exactly how it is that your charge never received one?" As all eyes locked on her, Misato chuckled nervously as she rubbed her neck. "We-well... see... I, um... forgot..." Ritsuko facepalmed and groaned. "Misato..." As the Major wilted, Maya shook her head. "I'm guessing that she never explained the rest of it then?" At his blank look, she sighed. "Just great..." Maya then pointed at him. "Besides your rank of 'Pilot', you also hold an Officer's Commission within the UN and NERV. NERV Pilots hold the Warrant Officer rank." She then tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Though with all the action that you have gotten, you might be up for a promotion to Second Lieutenant..." Shinji just stared. "I... what?" The purple haired Major turned away from her conversation. "Well, yeah Shin-chan. All of you got an officer rank, though with your record you should be up for a Promotion... except for the two instances of insubordination, though those have been dismissed thanks to the circumstances around them." Hikari then reached up and squeezed his shoulder, though she found it hard to do with his size. "That's actually pretty great Shinji-kun!" He smiled down at her. "Thanks." Shinji then frowned as he looked at the uniform. "Anything else I should know about." As she took another sip, Kodama jerked her thumb at Misato. "The Major here will have to give you a very quick rundown on how you wear the medals and awards you have gotten. Even though you never publically received them, you should still have had them given to you and therefore need to wear them with your uniform tomorrow." Shinji wracked his brain for a moment before he nodded. "Yeah, I got some at home actually." He then frowned. "Though usually I got them in a package with a note." For just a moment, Kodama scowled before she got it under control. "Anyways, we'll be having you up in front of the cameras tomorrow with in full dress. That should help a lot." She then shook her head. "And your father actually wanted to let you come however you wanted... you showing up in just your fur would have reflected not just badly on you, but on all of NERV." For a few moments, Shinji stared down at his juice can before he sighed. "This... is rather more complicated then I had thought that it would be." The PR Officer beside him snorted before she placed a briefcase on the table top. "It usually is." She then frowned as she looked at the fridge. "Would you mind if I have a drink?" Shinji just shook his head. "Of course not." He then turned to Hikari. "Er... would you like one too?" At her look of surprise, Shinji flushed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I just realized that I was being a rather bad host by not having asked either of you if you had wanted something so..." As she giggled some at his expression, Hikari nodded. "I wouldn't mind some iced tea if you have any." After Kodama made her own choice Shinji nodded and to the surprise of the two sisters, he didn't get up. Then his horn began to glow as did the refrigerator door before it opened and the two requested drinks came floating out before they came to a halt in front of the two stunned women. Feeling a little bit like being amused, Shinji showed off as he then brought over two glasses and filled them with ice cubes before he poured their drinks into them. "Your drinks, miladies." While the two boggled, Misato snickered before she teased him. "Aw... why didn't you do that for us?" Shinji snorted before he shot back at her. "Oh? Considering how often I do so for you, one would think that it shouldn't have bothered you so much." Hikari just shook her head as she snapped out of it. 'Is this the same Shinji?' She then smiled at him before she gestured at her glass. "That was amazing!" The Class Representative sipped at her drink before she smiled. "I mean, after what you did for Touji and Mari, I shouldn't be surprised, but still!" As he rubbed the back of his head, Shinji cleared his throat. "Well... I have had some practice..." The older of the two sisters smirked. "Still impressive." She then frowned as she placed her chin on top of her crossed hands. "Before we go any farther, anything else that you might want to know?" Shinji frowned for a moment before he looked up at the ceiling. "Um... if I'm an Officer, then why I getting paid so little?" It was Misato who answered this. "Actually, you're not." As he looked at her, she continued. "You're monthly stipend is actually only a part of your actual pay, most of it is simply set aside in a separate account as a trust fund for later on in life." The Major then looked at the ceiling. "In fact, if memory serves then you got a rather large amount seeing as NERV's accounting section has been investing some in the stock market. Same with the other pilots." Hikari looked between Shinji and Misato before she cleared his throat. "Um... shouldn't he have access now?" At their surprised looked, she blushed before she looked down at her glass and winced. "Well, in horse years, Shinji-kun is an adult..." As she thought it over, Ritsuko slowly nodded. "You might be right... though we still don't know his lifespan, all signs are however pointing to it being much longer then a normal horses though..." Misato grinned. "Well, certainly something to look up then to see if it makes any difference!" __________________________________________________________________________________ Once again, a while after the Day Shift had left, the eyes of the EVAs lit up as they generated passive AT Fields which when they touched, allowed them to talk. The strength of the Fields themselves was so low, even a fly could pass through them, but it was all they could do without their pilots and with the energy that they had. As it was, it was more then enough as Unit-00's eye lit up. 'I have a question for you two, have you noticed anything... odd lately?' After having heard snickers, she sighed and rolled her eye. 'I mean besides the pegacorn.' Yui blinked as she thought it over. 'Not really... why?' However, Kyoko answered differently. 'Actually, I have.' Having felt Yui's curiosity as well as joy at how the recently depressed and traumatized EVA was once more speaking, she continued. 'I have been trying to communicate with my daughter, much like how you tried with your son...' As she frowned mentally, Yui continued. 'And?' The spirit within the red EVA sighed. 'I think that I can somehow talk to her... as in, she can actually hear me speak in her head...' Kyoko mentally gritted her teeth as the other two asked how she knew this. 'Because, when we're Sync'd, I can hear her thoughts and she sometimes jolts in her seat, wondering why she heard me...' Her voice then quieted a bit. 'It scares her and she keeps pushing me away...' Naoko mentally nodded. 'Which in turn lowers her Sync ratio...' Feeling the other two as they focused on her, she gave them the equivalent of a shrug. 'It's much the same for me since I'm starting to be able to communicate with Rei. Not much right now, but I know that she can hear me whispering when in fact I am shouting.' It took a moment, but Yui realized something. 'Wait... Rei? She was always "That Ayanami girl" or "The Commander's little robot"...' Yui then let out a small release of air from the EVA. 'What changed?' After a moment, the soul in Unit-00 snorted. 'What else? Your son.' Having sensed her confusion, she continued. 'Ever since his transformation, she's drifted away from the Bastard.' Her restraints creaked as she gave a shrug. 'So I am willing to work with her more now.' All was silent for a few moments until Yui exploded. 'WHAT THE HELL, NAOKO?! HOW THE HELL WERE YOU ABLE TO MOVE?!' Kyoko agreed with her as well. 'Yes, how was that possible?!' She then titled her head some toward Unit-01. 'Yui has always been able to move her EVA but...' It was then that she realized what she had done. 'We... have never... been able... how did I just...?!' Inside the core of her EVA, Naoko gave a snort.'That was what I mean. Somehow, I found that I am able to move just a little bit. It's exhausting and needs almost all my focus for even a small bit, but it's possible...' As she hummed thoughtfully, Yui mentally shook her head. 'Now I wonder how this even possible?' Within Unit-00, Naoko smirked. 'It possibly comes down to, as have many recent things, your son's transformation.' Having felt the curiousity from the other two, her smirk widened. 'You see, my daughter's assistant, Maya, has been doing some sensor readings. Your son has been pumping massive amounts of that...' Yui helpfully answered. 'Magic.' Silent for a few moments, the EVA gave a slight nod. 'Yes... magic.' She then coughed a bit. 'It seems that the EVAs have all been absorbing it like a sponge does water. We're positively saturated in the stuff.' A small bit of pride entered her voice as she continued. 'My daughter of course used some of the tricks that I left behind to make sure that, the Bastard is unable to find out about it until they wish.' After a few moments, Unit-01 gave a small shake of it's head. 'She's taking an awfully big risk... if he should happen to find out what she's doing...' Naoko shook her head. 'He'll likely punish her, but not kill her. With her knowledge of the MAGI, she's far too important to kill.' She then frowned. 'Though I am hoping that we're correctly predicting him...' She then focused in on Kyoko. 'It's good to hear you again. Having Yui for a conversation partner gets real old, real fast. At least with you, I can look forward to an actual intelligent conversation.' Within Unit-01's mindscape, Yui's eyebrow twitched as she growled. 'Fuck you.' The spirit within Unit-00 simply smirked. 'As interesting and fun as that sounds, while I am able to move, I'm not able to move that much.' Kyoko just snorted. 'You two...' She then sighed. 'But thanks, I know that I haven't been exactly the... best company recently.' Her heart lightened, Yui smiled. 'Well, it is understandable, old friend.' Naoko echoed her sentiment. 'Though your daughter...' Unit-02's head tilted a bit. 'I know... that is part of the reason for me trying to communicate with her.' She then growled. 'That damned Angel... and that damned ex-husband of mine.' Kyoko shifted her eyes so that she could look at Unit-01. 'For all his faults, at least your husband actually waited until you were dead before he began to fuck around. And at least he didn't start trying to force your child to call their stepmother "Mother" within weeks of your death.' Yui grumbled a little. 'A lot of problems might have been solved if he did remarry.' She sighed. 'None of us have exactly chosen the best for our men, have we?' After there were murmurs of agreement from her and Kyoko, Naoko felt a little mischievous. 'I suppose that is why me and Kyoko wish that we were flesh and blood. After all, your son is more a man then those we were with.' She ignored Unit-01 as it growled. 'Why, just the things that I could teach him being a grown woman...' Kyoko rolled the upper rows of eyes on her EVA. 'Oh come off it Yui, not like anything can actually happen. Besides... even you have to admit that your son is someone that most women would kill for if they had a chance.' As Yui grumbled, she sighed. 'Honestly, I hope that my daughter realizes what she has before it's too late...' She got nods from the other two as Yui spoke up. 'Agreed... at least as a friend.' Unit-00's one eye rolled. 'Oh come off it, Yui. Are you really going to raise a voice if your son gets together with someone? Really?' She gave the other two the impression that she would have swept her arm in a wide arc. 'I don't really see a lot of choices for him after all.' Yui grumbled. 'I know, I know...' She sighed. 'I just wish that I could talk to him... face... to... hmm... I forgot about that. I wonder if he can dreamwalk into my mindscape...' She felt Unit-02 and Unit-00 focus in on her as Kyoko asked the question on both their minds. 'Wait, "dreamwalking"?' Unit-01 gave a slight shrug. 'He can enter others dreams now and talk with them. I wonder if he can do the same with me...' She continued in a quieter voice. 'I would dearly love to hold him in my arms again, even if he's a pegacorn and it's not in reality...' Kyoko gave a small grunt of agreement. 'I, too, would love to hold my tochter again and tell her that I love her...' The final mother of the three chimed in. 'Mmm... And to tell Ritsuko how proud of her I am with how far she has come as a scientist...' The three lapsed into silence until Naoko thought of something. 'You know... this brings a whole new meaning to realistic wet dreams...' Unit-01's eyes glowed with unholy rage. 'YOU PERVERTED OLD BITCH! FUCK YOU!' As the two descended into their usual scrabble, Kyoko sighed as she listened in. 'Ah... I missed this...' __________________________________________________________________________________ Leaning back against the concrete wall, the fourteen year old auburn haired girl sighed. 'Tomorrow, huh...' She then opened her eyes and looked to where various technicians were working on the massive T-RIDEN-T. 'Guess I'll be fighting the Angels sooner then I thought.' She was clothed in what looked like an average G-Suit, though upon her head and shoulders sat what looked like a high tech version of sports body armor. Her gloves too showed that it wasn't a normal pilot's suit as the area between the wrist and second knuckle of her fingers was thick and padded while there was a bracelet-like device around her wrists, from which a single plug socket extended. She then picked up her helmet and examined her reflection in the visor. 'I wonder how the pilots of the EVAs will react...' She straightened though as she heard a voice. "Lieutenant Kirishima." She jerked around and threw her hand into a salute at the JSSDF Officer who was walking toward her. "SIR!" He shook his head as he waved her off. "At ease, Lieutenant." He then stopped to watch the work being done on the colossal mech. "An impressive sight." Mana nodded for a moment. "It is..." She then frowned. "Sir? Is something going on." The Colonel sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Have you been fully debriefed on the pilots? Or on recent events?" Mana even more and slowly nodded. "All that has changed." As she blinked, she noticed the folder with him. "Sir? What has changed?" He simply handed her the folder. "Read." As she opened it, the Colonel watched her eyes widen as she read. "As you can see, that strange rainbow explosion was not, as NERV told us, a new prototype weapon against the Angels, but rather a... transformed pilot of theirs, who used a weapon in orbit to kill the 15th." Mana just shook her head in shock before she looked up. "A... winged unicorn though?" With a grunt, he shrugged. "I know, I know. I was wondering what our agents in NERV were on myself, but we got confirmation on this from various sources." The Colonel then grimaced. "As to what he is... I got some calling him what you did, others saying that he's a pegacorn, and a few calling him a alicorn. Me? I think that he's a bit of a freak myself." The auburn haired girl did not show how much she disliked that on her face, years of training having come in handy at that moment. "And my... secondary mission, Sir" He snorted. "It has not changed. Get close to the pilots and try to find out what they know. Especially Ikari. No doubtthat he knows more with his father being the head of NERV." The Colonel then gave her a slight glare. "Use any means necessary to do so." He was then quite a few moments. "I will note though that it is very likely that NERV may try to promote him to a rank above yours, if only because they will not allow one of ours to have a higher rank. Most likely Major Katsuragi will also get a promotion." Having for a long time known of the Colonel's disdain for NERV, Mana just nodded. "Of course, Sirl" She then looked through the folder again. "May I ask when the actual debrief will be?" The Colonel frowned. "Tomorrow evening at 19:30 hours. Which is after the news conference that NERV will be putting on, which according to our analysts will likely be to reveal the status of the Third Child." Mana just nodded as she looked down at the folder, two pictures in particular which showed a human Shinji and next to that photo showed his current form. 'I wonder what you're like...' ________________________________________________________________________________ As he walked toward where the press conference was going to be held with the Section Two agents alongside him, Shinji shifted some before he grimaced. 'I can't believe how uncomfortable this uniform is...' He shrugged his shoulders some only for it to not be any better. 'I think that they made it too tight.' Shinji's ears suddenly flicked and he looked around before he started walking in a different direction. Having noticed, one of the agents looked at him. "Third Child, you are supposed to proceed directly to the press conference." He just looked at them and then the clock. "I still have a half hour and I can hear crying..." Shinji then kept walking until he turned the corner and found a young, five year girl sitting against the wall as tears fell from her eyes. "Mo-mommy..." She then heard someone ask her if she was alright and turned while she wiped her tears. "No..." Her jaw then dropped as she lit up as she saw what it was. "A unicorn..." The alicorn just chuckled as he felt his lips twitch. "Well, yes." Shinji then frowned before he brought his head down to her level and spoke gently. "So then little one, why are you here and crying?" Seeing as she sniffled, he bumped her with his muzzle as his instincts had told him. "Go on..." As she rubbed her nose, she looked at the ground and shuffled a little. "Well... Mommy left me with the other kids because she's a reporter. But these two older boys were being meanies and trying to take my toys, so I ran and they chased me and..." Shinji nodded as he thought it over before he noticed that she stiffened some and turned to see one of the agents walk toward them, the man exuding menace as he did so. "Third Child, if you would proceed to the press conference I shall... return, the child to the others." Having felt her as she grabbed his foreleg and tried to hide, Shinji frowned. "I don't think that will be needed agent." He then gave a nod toward the girl. "After all, if her mother is a reporter here then she is likely already at the press conference. We can just drop her off there and she'll be safe." He then bent down and looked at the awed girl with a smile. "Would that be okay with you, little one?" She just nodded and a moment gasped as she was lifted off the ground by a glow before she noticed a similar one on Shinji's horn. "You're magic!" He grinned some as he set her onto his back and nodded. "I am." He then frowned. "By the way, I didn't catch your name...?" The girl giggled some. "I'm Miyuki!" Shinji nodded some. "Miyuki, a lovely name for a lovely little girl. I'm Shinji, Ikari Shinji at your service, Miyuki-chan." Miyuki then dug into her backpack and pulled out a large stuffed bunny. "And who is this now?" She just giggled. "This is Usagi-chan!" Having tilted his head to the side, Shinji gently took it from her with magic and held it in front of him before he shook it's paw. "And it is lovely to meet you as well, Usagi-chan." He got a little mischievous look in his eyes as he manipulated his magic to cause the stuffed toy to nod it's head to the pleased squeal of the girl on his back. He then handed it back to her. "Well then, shall we go find your mother, Miyuki-chan?" As she clutched the doll to her, Miyuki gave a wide smile as she nodded. "Yes please!" Shinji just smiled while a part of him (as well as Nightmare) took some enjoyment from the fact that the Section 2 agents were looking distinctly uncomfortable and annoyed. "Let's be off then..." > Chapter 9 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned by Gainax and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. "Interesting..."- Nightmare talking. "Why me..." -Ordinary speaking 'And so it begins.' -Nightmare thoughts 'Aw hay.' -Ordinary thoughts 'Shut it, Naoko.'- Evangelion telepathy ________________________________________________________________________________________ After he had seen Miyuki off to her mother, Shinji stood just behind the microphone. While his face did not show it, inside he was sweating. 'This... is more terrifying then facing my first Angel for some reason...' Nightmare softly mentally smiled at this before she spoke up. 'Do not fret, Little Prince. I have taught you what you need to know about public speaking and how to direct the conversation. And if you need help or get stuck, I am always here to give you advice.' As he took a look at Misato from where she stood on the opposite side, Shinji listened with one ear while Kodama gave the conference as he mentally nodded. 'Thanks for that, Nightmare.' Once they got to the questions, one of the reporters stood up and introduced himself before he launched into his question. "Pilot Ikari, what's it like being a horse... sorry, unicorn with wings?" Shinji hummed as he thought it over. "It's... rather different I got to say. Not bad really, just different." He then smiled. "Especially as I need to watch not to knock down any vases." The alicorn then waved around his hoof. "I will say that I am rather comfortable in my skin at the moment if that is what you meant." He then pointed at another who asked if there was a danger of his fellow pilots joining him. "No, what occurred to me was, from my understanding, a perfect storm which can't be replicated at all by any means. Something in the vacinty of a billion to one at least." Another reporter then stood up and looked over her notes. "Pilot Ikari, I have heard that you healed a young girl in the hospital from extreme injuries along with her brother, one of your fellow pilots. Is there any truth to this and how did you do so?" Since this was one of the questions that Nightmare and he had rehersed, Shinji answered before Kodoma could interrupt. "Yes, I did. Though there was already a large amount of healing done by the medical staff at NERV. I merely finished up their work. As to how..." He made a show of floating over a glass of water and filling it before he looked at the stunned audiance. "Magic." He was then asked if he was going to heal any more children who were injured by Angel attacks. "If needed, I will of course do so." As a male reporter stood up, he gave Shinji a sneer. "You should be rather... informed about the legends on unicorns by now. Any particular attraction to virgins?" Shinji narrowed his eyes before he glanced at Misato, who clinched her fists while in his head, Nightmare raged. "Well, whatever do you mean by that, Sir? After all, I was your somewhat average teenage boy before my... accident." He then smiled thinly. "Well, besides the whole driving a giant robot bit." He felt a stab of pleasure as it shot through him while the reporter sat down with a flushed face to the laughs of some of those near him. Shinji then pointed at another. "You?" The reporter asked about whether it affects his ability to pilot. "Well, besides having needed a new plugsuit and needing to take longer showers, not too much is different there." One of the women stood up. "Pilot Ikari, Joan of USA Times, has there been much progress at changing you back?" The alicorn frowned and hummed in thought. "Hmm... I do not know how much I can speak on the matter, but there is work being done though it will be a while before I become human once more." He then shook his head. "Not that I particularly mind much." Joan frowned at that as she sniffed a chink in his armor. "Does that mean that you are happier in your current form then you were as a human?" Shinji was caught off guard for a moment before he answered as Nightmare whispered to him. "Happier? No." He then gestured with a hoof. "I have made peace with the fact that I will be like this for what is likely to be a long time yet though." He then turned to another reporter who asked if his new form affected his relationships with his fellow pilots, collegues, and former classmates. "For the most part, it has been not been negative outside of things like being more careful or taking up more room when I sit down. As for classmates, I would not say former as it has been decided that I will continue my formal education at school." At the mutters that rose, Kodama walked up and cleared her throat. "It has been decided that despite Pilot Ikari's new species status, that for us he should be afforded all the rights and privalages of a person. This has been taken up and cleared at the highest levels of government. Among those is the right to an education so that he can one day continue out in the world." She then glanced at him. "In fact, considering that he is still a fine cello player, the University of Music and Arts in Vianna is considering whether to extend a scholarship to him once he gradurates from high school." Another reporter then stood up. "Warrant Officer Ikari, as a front line officer, what steps have been taken to aid you in your current condition and to help deal with the stresses of your job?" As he drank some water, Shinji considered this before he set it down and answered. "NERV personnel have gone out of their way to help me cope, including such things as making sure that I have clothing that fits as you can see and making sure that I can eat well and not poison myself." It was then that one of the reporters asked a question that no one had wanted answered. "How much training did you have before your first battle? And how well did you think that you did?" Both Kodama's and Misato's eyes flew open and they were about to answer when Shinji did. "I had time for only a small amount of training before the Third Angel arrived in Tokyo-3 you see, it arrived at a very inconvient time for everyone involved." He then glanced at the cameras. "In fact, at one point my fellow pilot and Warrant Officer, Ayanami Rei, was actually going to pilot and tried to leave her bed despite having grivious injuries from a previous incident. The image of her struggling to leave her bed while covered in bloody bandages is one that has stuck with me." He then gestured at Misato. "Of course, then Captain Katsuragi managed to get me to my Evangelion in time before Rei had a chance to go farther then she had." The reporter then leaned forward. "And how well do you think that you did?" Shinji sighed and shook his head. "With how little time we had spent on training for me by the point that the Angel arrived, I personally believe that I should have done much better then I did, but as well as could have been expected I am told." One of them then asked what his response would be to being ordered to stand aside for an uninjured human. "If ordered, I would of course stand aside as any soldier would. Is it likely though? Not really as very few are capable of piloting Evangelions and there's a greater chance of them using one of the newer models for a hypothetical pilot then to replace me until we have a much greater pool of candidates." A male reporter then stood up. "Are you and your copilots in a relationship? If so, how have they taken their lover's change?" As he struggled to keep his wings from snapping out and while he ignored Nightmare's cackles in his head, Shinji coughed into one leg. "If by relationship, you mean as three good friends, then yes. As for how they have taken their friend's change... it was as well to be expected." Then one of them asked how do they know if he is not dead and the being before them is not an Angel plant, which caused Misato to shake in rage. "The make up of my cells and genetic material is completely different from any found from the Angels while at the same time being completely comparable with any form of Earth life." One then coughed as she stood. "Hello, Mister Ikari. Alice McDonald, BBC. What in your opinion is the best part of being a unicorn?" Shinji thought this over a bit before he smiled. "Well, besides doing magic, the best parts is how fast and far I can now run as well as flying. I have never felt as free as I have when I fly under my own power." He was then asked if he was attracted to horses. "If I may answer that question with one of my own, how many here find themselves attracted to chimpanzees? Because it is roughly the same for me." It was then that Shinji spotted Miyuki as she raised her hand. "Yes, Miyuki-chan?" She just smiled as a happy girl could. "Ikari-san, can I have another ride on your back? And how do you have such a fluffy mane?" As the room filled with chuckles, Shinji let go with one of his own. "Perhaps later, Miyuki-chan. As to my mane..." He gave her a wink. "Lots and lots of brushies." He then gestured to another reporter who asked how many virgins were in the room. "At least one." The reporter then asked how he knew. "Mainly because I am one. Now, please, no more virgin questions, especially with a child present." A slightly geeky looking Japanese reporter then stood up. "When you were growing up was your best friend a unicorn? What is your relationship with the Northern Star?" Shinji just blinked. "Um..." He then shook it off. "I'll just say no to that... next question?" One of the reporters then asked him what has been the hardest part of his change. "Hmm... that is rather a tough one..." The Third Child rubbed his chin in thought. "I guess it's a toss up between no longer having fingers, though magic makes up for part of that, and my body shape in general. Makes some forms of furniture relatively uncomfortable." One of the english speaking ones stood up. "Pilot Ikari, how has your transformation affected your taste in foods? Anything in particular?" It took a second of thought, but Shinji soon answered. "I've found myself liking various vegetables and fruits much more then I originally had. Also, very sweet or salty foods are something that I have found myself craving from time to time." A female one then stood up, whom Shinji recognized from the local paper. "Pilot Ikari, Kawakaze- Tokyo Guardian. Would you do a column for us detailing your day to day life?" Kodama leaned forward and gave a thin smile. "Please send any and all such requests to the NERV PR department for discussion please." One of the reporters then commented that a change such as he went through would have destroyed many and asked how he coped for the first few days. As he grimaced, Shinji rubbed the back of his neck. "I... will admit that I freaked out a little for those first few days but..." He straightened some as he looked at the cameras. "My friends helped me pull through it." Another reporter then asked if he had gained any health problems. "No, in fact I'm as healthy as..." He then chuckled. "Well, as healthy as a horse." As various people chuckled, one of them stood up. "You've implied that you are rather happy or comfortable in your new form. Is there a chance that you might change farther? And if so, what would you change?" Shinji frowned for a moment before he answered. "Unless they turn me back, there's very little chance of me being farther changed as I understand it. As to what I might change if I could..." He raised a hoof. "I would like to be bipedal once more and with hands I suppose. More human sized as well." A man then stood up. "I have heard a rumor that you have a symbol of some kind on your hindquarters which just appeared. Is this true and if so, how did it get there?" Before Shinji could answer, Misato stepped forward and spoke. "Yes, he does have a symbol, but it seems that it was caused to appear subconciously for him. Much like a person might pale when frightened." Misato then continued to answer some questions such as what precautions have been taken to prevent the same fate from befalling the other pilots and how Shinji's transformation have affected their work. "... And to finish, Pilot Ikari, while looking different, is the same teenager that I have known over the past few months." Miyuki's mother then stood up. "Warrant Officer Ikari, you and your fellow pilots have become an inspiration to your fellow youth. Is there anything that you might want to say to them?" Shinji just nodded. "Yes." He then took a drink of water and cleared his throat. "No matter what happens or what you go through, keep moving forward no matter what." One of them then asked if his transformation had to do with either an Angel attack or the Evangelions, which caused Kodama to lean forward once more. "I'm afraid that is classified at the moment and information pretaining to that will be released at a later date." An American reporter then stood up. "Pilot Ikari, what are your plans once the war with the Angels is over? Especially now that you are no longer human?" For a few moments, silence fell onto the room before the alicorn began to speak. "I... have not given much thought as to that. At one time, I was thinking of becoming a baker or a cook. Possibly a musician. But now...?" He shook his head. "I do not yet know what I may do, but I will find something I suppose..." _______________________________________________________________________ Fuyutsuki watched with a frown as the press conference continued on the screen that they were watching. "He's handling himself rather well for his first news conference..." He then narrowed his eyes. "Almost too well..." In the chair beside him, Gendo slowly nodded. "Yes, quite well indeed..." He hummed as he considered the answers. "I believe that the coaching that the PR department gave him after the... incident where it came out that he is a pilot is paying the dividends now. It is also likely that he has been coached through this by the PR department and they should have outfitted him with an earbud to feed him answers." A scowl crossed the elderly man's face. "Yes... the coaching." He glanced at Gendo for a moment. 'Which was mostly them ripping into the boy for exposing classified information like that...' Fuyutsuki sighed. "Shame that the same cannot be said for the Second Child." At his superior's nod, his frown came back. "Still... I can't put my finger on it but something seems rather.... odd..." Gendo frowned behind his hands after a moment. "Alert Section 2 to boost surveillance on the Third Child where and when it is possible." The sight of the young girl as she burst into tears from one of the other reporters comments to her and then Shinji coming over before he comforted her reflected in Gendo's glasses. "Still... this has paid quite the amount of benefits for the PR aspect of NERV beyond what could have been expected." Beside him, the old professor rubbed his chin. "True..." He then watched with a slight smile as Shinji hugged the small girl with one wing. "The sight of him with that girl will boost both our and his image. His words even more so..." Fuyutsuki then frowned. "Though the rather large lie regarding his first battle could come back to haunt us..." The Supreme Commander of NERV smirked. "And which parts were lies? While he was rather creative with the truth, nothing he said was a lie..." He then leaned back. "Lets take the example of his training. He was trained before the battle." The old man rubbed his face from tiredness. "If one can call just giving him some verbal instructions 'Training', Ikari." Said man gave the slightest of nods. "Indeed, and yet instruction is training." The light from the screen glinted off his glasses as he continued to watch... ____________________________________________________________________ As she ignored the heavy rain, a soaked teen slammed her fist into the concrete wall of a building, not having felt the skin on her knuckles get cut. "Why... why the hell doesn't the baka care...?" She fell back onto a crate and held her face in her hands, heedless of the blood that mixed with the rain and dripped from her hands. 'He's not a doll... he's some kind of pet! Why can't he see that!?' Asuka then placed her head on her knees while she curled up. 'Why... why... why... WHY!?' As she sat there, the memories of Shinji when he returned drift though her head as she felt anger and disgust once more rise up. But underlying all that was another emotion. One that despite every thing that she had tried, Asuka could not smother as it wound it's icy tendrils through her gut. Pure, unadulterated, fear. So deep in her thoughts she was that she hadn't heard the footsteps approaching nor noticed a shadow until the rain stopped above her as an umbrella was held above her head. "Ah... and there you are kind." Asuka's head snapped up to see a slightly husky man who stood beside her. "Onkle...?" He just smiled past his mustache before he reached down with one beefy hand and pulled the teen to her feet. "Ja. Seems that after a recent... incident..." He frowned some before he continued. "They decided to check all the Evangelions. And being as I was the head technician in Berlin for Unit-02, that meant I was asked to come here to oversee it." A sigh then escaped him as a look of pain crossed his face. "I did work on it alongside your... mother to build it, after all." The red haired teenager looked at him for a moment and then hugged him tightly as she spoke in German. "{I missed you... Onkle Kristian...}" He just nodded and hugged her. "{And I you, nichte.}" Lt. Kristian looked her over a bit and then reached down and looked her hands and frowned. "{Let us go to my temporary quarters so that we can get you dry and patch your hand.}" Slightly surprised, Asuka looked down at her bloody knuckles and frowned. "{Er... they don't actually hurt...}" He just nodded as he began to guide her with one arm around her shoulders. "{Of course not. You're a strong woman after all, much like your Grossmutter...}" Kristian then gave her a knowing look. "{And I have brought some treats from the Vaterland for you.}" Asuka looked up at him for a moment which let him see her troubled expression before she slowly nodded. "{Thank you.}" ________________________________________________________________________ Having heated the milk on the stove, Kristian waited as the bar of chocolate melted in the pot as he watched Asuka at the table, where she sat with a towel around her shoulders. As he watched, his mind went back over their shared pasts. He had worked alongside her mother on Project E and afterwards had become the head tech for Unit-02. After her mother's death and her father's estrangement, he had stepped in as an uncle to her of sorts. For a brief moment, he sighed as the image of a much younger girl was overlaid on the older Asuka's image. 'Damn this world and what has been done...' At the table, Asuka frowned as she examined her hands, the knuckles now bandaged. So deep she was in thought that she nearly missed the sounds of two mugs being set down. She then turned to watch as her uncle poured the milk in followed by the melted chocolate, finished up with sweetner and a dollop of cream. As he set down hers, she nodded. "Danke." Kristian then set down a plate of some biscuits. "{Here, have some Springerle. I know that you like them.}" After he sat down, he watched as she picked one up and dipped it into her drink as he folded his hands. "{Now then... mind telling this old man why he found you beating a poor, defenceless wall in the rain?}" For a brief moment, Asuka stiffened before she slumped as she took a bite of her biscuit. "{You know what happened with the baka?}" At his nod, she continued. "{It's... it's not the baka, yet everyone seems to think and treat it as such!}" He slowly nodded. "{And how can you be sure that it is not the young man?}" A fist slammed down onto the table as Asuka glared. "{It can't be him! It just can't!}" She then looked to the side. "{Not only is it not human... but it's not acting like him!}" She tightened her grip on the handle of the mug and growled. "{The ba-baka would have ne-never accepted it! Hell, he would have broken down!}" As he stirred his hot chocolate slowly, Kristian nodded. "{I see...}" He then raised an eyebrow as he took a sip as he knows that his next words would set her off. "{And how would you know that he has not had a breakdown? Word is that you have not seen him at any point except at the start and during Sync tests.}" Both of her palms then slammed onto the table as she shouted at him. "{WHAT!?}" He just waved her anger away as if it was smoke. "{Since I was supposed to examine Unit-02, I decided to pull up as much information on young Ikari's... change... as I could access with my clearence. After that, I talked with some of the EVA's tech crew here in Tokyo-3.}" As his voice carried a tinge of disappointment, Asuka flinched which caused him to sigh. "{However, I do not blame you for your actions as it was to be expected I suppose with your stress.}" The German then raised a finger. "{That does not mean that I approve of what you apparently said and have acted like.}" Kristian then leaned across the table. "{I am no fool, nichte. I know that there is more then just that.}" While she gritted her teeth, Asuka growled at him. "{There is nothing more then that freak-}" Her uncle cut her off there. "{Has in your eyes replaced young Ikari, I presume?}" He gave her a knowing look as he took another sip. "{I am not blind, Asuka. I knew that you cared for the young man and this is a shock... Not to mention that you are scared.}" Asuka jerked as if she had been struck, but before she could have said anything, he continued. "{You are frightened since if this had happened to him, what would stop it from happening to you? Are you in danger of losing your human form...?}" He then sighed. "{You have never adapted well to change...}" The schoolgirl pilot just grumbled. "{Baka seems to have adapted to a change easily enough...}" As he shook his head, Kristian once more sighed. "{Or perhaps, he had simply hit rock bottom and simply gave up and you are mistaking that as acceptance.}" Asuka just growled. "{Baka never gave up, no matter what.}" While a slight smile crossed his face at what she had said and the slight flush, Kristian gave a nod. "{Perhaps, you are right. Perhaps he has not given up but has merely decided to make due with what is a bad situation all around.}" The red head just gaped as she worked her mouth before she slumped into her seat. "{I... What...?}" With a chuckle, Kristian shook his head. "{It seems that you have a contradictory view of young Ikari, nichte. On the one hand, you say that he has given up and on the other you say that he has not and will never give up.}" As he observed Asuka while she gripped the edge of the table with white knuckles, the older man placed his chin on his intertwined hands as he raised an eyebrow. "{Now... which is it?}" Her mouth still moving, Asuka sat there until she finally shouted. "{I DON'T KNOW!}" She practically leapt from her seat as she started to wave her hands in the air. "{I have no idea what is going on here! Why!? Why isn't the baka upset with what happened!? Why isn't he depressed!? Or angry at the world!? How can he just stand there happy and smile as he plays with that little girl!? And then he chastised the reporters for making her cry as he pours his heart out to them!}" Kristian just sat there as he stirred his hot chocolate and watched as Asuka ranted and raved, her eyes wet with moisture. "{And what has happened to his pride!? He's letting himself be treated as less then a doll! He's less then a doll and more of a pet! The baka let that girl ride him as if he was a common farm animal!}" Kristian raised an eyebrow and gestured at her with his mug. "{And he's your noble steed? As well as your knight?}" The German pilot stopped and made a odd keening noise as she sputtered as she turned to him. "{ONKLE!}" He just waved her embarrassment away with one hand as he leaned back. "{He has helped and saved you before, you just have your father's pride.}" He ignored her soured look at that as he continued. "{And from what little I have heard, both from the crews and yourself, he has tried to keep upbeat before and helpful.}" Kristian then leaned forward. "{Or am I right to assume that there is more there then just that?}" The German man just watched as Asuka walked back to her seat, grabbed the Springerle she had dipped into her hot chocolate and savagely bit into it as she mumbled something. "{Oh? So you're angry because he stepped in when those reporters made the girl cry and defended her before he made her feel better?}" Despite the flush in her cheeks, Asuka growled. "{Baka would never do that for me...}" When she heard her uncle chuckle she turned and fixed him with a glare. "{And what is so funny!?}" The beefy German gave her a knowing look as his lips twitched. "{And would you have ever allowed him to do so if he had tried? Or would you have reacted and pushed him away?}" He then shook his head. "{Or has he, as I expect, tried before only for you to shove him away?}" As she looked away with an angry look, Asuka hissed. "{I don't need anyone to do that for me.}" Her uncle nodded. "{So you say.}" He watched as she took another sip as he continued. "{And yet... here you are angry that he was doing so for someone else, other then you.}" Kristian noted the white knuckled grip on the mug before he sighed as a thought occurred to him. "{And is another reason that you're so angry with him has to do with how, like you, EVA is all he has left?}" He watched as she stilled, as if frozen in place. "{After all he did say that he does not believe that he has a future beyond EVA and you, yourself, made it a focus for yourself.}" Asuka just held herself back from going ahead and smashing the mug into the table. "{And I suppose that you're going to give me some kind of speal about it? About how he sees himself as being alone for the rest of his life because of his transformation? How he's not exactly wrong since he's the only one of his kind in the world, the first and last of his species? That he sees himself as forever separated from humanity because he's some kind of winged unicorn, even though there are those who would stand beside him? That the baka for some reason can't see that he doesn't need to be alone!?}" After a moment, the German man smiled and gestured with his hand at her. "{And why should I need to say all that when obviously you already have?}" His smile widened as Asuka twitched. "{It seems that you have already given this a lot of thought...}" 　 Asuka just groaned as she laid her head on the table, nearly hitting her plate and mug. "{I hate it when you do that sort of thing...}" He just smiled at her as he took a sip of his hot chocolate as she glared at him from where her head laid on the table. "{And I wish that you wouldn't do that, Onkle.}" If anything, that caused his smile to grow. "{The one request that I am afraid that I cannot do.}" Suddenly, he frowned as he decided to out aside the teasing about Shinji. "{However, I do believe that the issue with young Ikari is only part of the problem, nichte...}" For a few moments, Asuka squirmed in her seat before she sat up and stared at her mug. "{It's also the EVA... Unit-02...}" Now that caught his attention as his frowned deepened. "{Unit-02, nichte?}" At her slow, hesitant nod, his frown deepened. "{What seems to be the issue?}" At her nervous expression, his unease only grew. "{Asuka?}" Having heard him speak her name jolted her out of her silence and she took a deep breath. "{It's...}" She looked at the only adult she felt she could trust and looked around as she felt her gut twist. "{Do... You promise not to tell anyone? Please}" The plaintive tone in her voice caused Kristian to blink for a moment, but he nodded. "{As long as it does not endanger anyone, you have my word, nichte.}" He then got up and moved his chair so that it was beside Asuka's as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "{Now then, tell me what troubles you so?}" For about a minute, Asuka was silent in thought before she let out the breath that she had been holding in a sigh. "{I... I don't know, when I'm in the EVA, weird things happen...}" As he repeated what she said, she nodded. "{Yes, weird things...}" Asuka then grimaced a bit. "{Sometimes, the LCL around me seems, I don't know, thicker almost. Almost as if it's constricting me. Other times, I... I hear things. Almost like whispers you can barely hear, sometimes as if someone is saying me name...}" She then shuddered. "{The worst is what I sometimes see...}" A suspicion began to grow in the senior technician's gut at what the young teen is telling him as he could feel the hairs on his neck prickle. "{What do you see, nichte?}" To his surprise, she leans into him and he could feels slight tremble. "{I can sometimes see something in front of me, like a shadow, bu-but not... Just barely there. And sometimes I see things out of the corner of my eyes...}" She swallowed thickly as she ignored how her eyes felt wet. "{And once.. Once I dozed off and I could sworn that I heard and saw Mama on front of me... Before I woke up fully...}" His mouth now dry, thoughts whirled in Kristian's head as he went over what he had just been told. 'Kyoko? Is that you? Are you awake...?' He then furrowed his brows. 'That shouldn't be possible, from what I was told after the... Accident, she should be dormant... But if she is awake...' His thoughts turned to Asuka for a moment. 'I wish that I could tell you the truth... That your mutter might be trying to communicate with you...' Asuka dragged him back to reality as she continued. "{It's just that... I remember overhearing the Baka talk with that idiot pet of Misato's when he thought we were both asleep. I remember him telling it about the weird things that he saw and felt in the EVA and how during the fight with the Twelfth, he saw his mother while he was inside the EVA unconscious...}" Suddenly, it all made sense and her honorary uncle looked back at her as he quietly spoke. "{And so, since you saw something similar, you're afraid that the same thing that happened to him is about to happen to you...}" At her nod, he frowned for a moment before he sighed. For a moment, his mind drifted back to the few times during the years of GEHIRN when he had met Yui Ikari and frowned at the thought of the highly driven woman... He then shook it off and looked at Asuka. "{Nichte, while I am unsure as to what may have caused young Ikari's strange transformation... I am almost completely positive that the same will not happen to you.}" He thought of Yui once more. "{Unit-01, much like it's creator, has always been a rather odd and temperamental EVA, unlike Unit-02 which is much calmer and, I believe, will always protect you from harm.}" Well used to his odd habit of talking about her EVA as if it was a person (though recent events have made her wonder herself despite not wanting to), Asuka took his confidence and held it close. "{You're sure?}" Kristain looked down at her and was reminded of when she was a little girl looking for comfort that others would not give her and slowly nodded as he smiled. "{Yes, I am sure that the EVA would never try to hurt you in the way that Unit-01 has with young Ikari...}" > Chapter 10 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned by Gainax and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. "Interesting..."- Nightmare talking. "Why me..." -Ordinary speaking 'And so it begins.' -Nightmare thoughts 'Aw hay.' -Ordinary thoughts __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ It had drifted through the dark and cold of space for untold eons. More then a billion years ago, the rubble pile asteroid currently 300 feet in diameter, had been part of a much larger parent body. Then one day another massive asteroid had impacted it, sending a spray of material out as sections broke off. The asteroid currently passing Lunar orbit had formed from some of that debris and at first it had a highly irregular orbit which sent it out into the far reaches of the Solar System, where the Sun's rays were weak. Then over the untold millions of years, its orbit had changed bit by bit due to interactions with the gravity of other bodies such as Jupiter. Its orbit had entered the Inner Solar System when the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs had impacted. Its very first time passing within view of Earth had been when the first apes had begun to walk upright. When the Pyramids were being built, it had nearly hit the planet if its angle had not been so shallow so that it instead skipped off the denser layers of the atmosphere, like a pebble on the surface of a lake. Some of its mass was lost in the near miss though, sheared off by the forces that it had encountered. The next closest pass the asteroid had made was when the first nuclear explosions had occurred, though it had passed at the same height as the current space satellites. With its current pass though, its course would take it through what is known as a 'Gravitational keyhole'. A place in Earth's orbit that would affect its change it's orbit, a change that within a few passes would cause it to enter the Earth's atmosphere at a high speed. As it would plow through the atmosphere, the shockwave it would generate would weaken its structure. Finally, the pressure would overcome the rubble pile's gravity and cause it to detonate in a massive explosion just a few miles above a major city, killing hundreds of thousands. Closer and closer it came to the gravitational keyhole and it's date with destiny... When suddenly it glowed and was yanked to the side as if it had a rope attached. A few minutes later, its material was added to the slowly growing moonlet in orbit as down below on the surface, Shinji blinked the sleep blearily from his eyes before he smacked his lips. As his horn stopped glowing, he froze and looked under one of his wings with a confused expression on his face. "When the hay did Misato get in there?" Despite it being a rhetorical question, he still got an answer from a familiar voice in his head. 'She had gotten up just last night and in her tired and drunk state, had ended up here while you were asleep.' He could just feel the smirk in Nightmare's voice as she continued. 'The mare had apparently been cold and decided that your wings would make a fine blanket for her.' It was then that Shinji looked at the clock and realized that this would be his first day back at school since the events that lead to his transformation. "Ah, buck me..." All he got in answer was Nightmare's laugher and Misato grumbling that it was way too damn early... After having just eaten his breakfast as Misato drank another beer, Shinji looked up at the knock at the door to the apartment. Misato had also looked up and turned to him. "Mind getting that, Shin-Chan?" He just rolled his eyes and his horn glowed as the door opened. Having leaned over the table, Shinji smiled at Hikari and Rei as they entered. "Good morning." The two girls returned the greeting before Hikari walked over with a smile and placed a wrapped package on the table. "I have your school uniform, Shinji." For a moment both Shinji and Misato stared at her and then turned to the package, even inside Shinji's head, Nightmare mentally blinked before the male Alicorn coughed. "Er... You modified a school uniform for me?" However, the stares returned as Hikari shook her head. "Actually, all I had to do was modify it for your measurements and make some holes for your wings since it was already apparently made to be worn by a horse." Rei then chimed in. "Of course." There was silence as even Hikari gave the near expressionless girl a stare. Then Shinji and Misato shared a look before the Major sniffed her beer. "Smells okay..." She then took a sip. "Tastes fine..." For a moment, Misato looked at the food before she shook her head. "And Shinji made breakfast, so no weird visions like that time with the empty, golden bear suit..." Then she turned back to Hikari. "So... You mean to tell me, you found a school uniform made for a horse..." The Class Representative rubbed the back of her neck slowly. "Yeah... I was looking for the largest school uniform for a boy that we had to make something when I found it." Shinji just tilted his head a bit and tried to say something for a few times before managed something. "Why... Was there a uniform for a horse in the storage room? Why would someone even make one?!" All Hikari could do was shrug. "I... Asked, and all I got from the staff is that they didn't even know why there was one, or that we had one." However, then she shook her head and smiled as she clapped her hands. "Anyways, enough of that! How about we go and see what it looks like on you so I can make some last minute changes to it if needed!" As he blinked, Shinji raised a hoof to say something only for it to be grabbed as he was dragged to his room by Hikari. Unwilling to yank back and possibly hurt her, he could only glance at Misato who smiled as Rei followed them. "Don't do anything that I would now..." A moment later she blinked as Rei poked her head into the dining room. Then the blue haired girl tilted her head to the side before she left again, Misato then having turned back to her beer with a grumble. "How someone could say so much with a glance..." _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A few minutes later after having heard a knock, Misato made her way to the door and opened it with a raised eyebrow as she spotted the two boys there. "Toji, Kensuke." It took the two several moments to snap out of their shock at having been confronted by the scanty clad Misato drinking from a can before Toji could answer. Of course, he tried his best to be 'Suave' as he always did, but it came out in a way that caused Misato to internally chuckle. "Heh, well we're here to actually meet Shinji, Misato-san!" The Major only chuckled a bit as she shook her head at their usual antics. To have a bit of fun, she leaned forward a bit. "Well, Shinji's in his room right now with Rei and Hikari, so you can head right on in." She then smirked a bit as she smiled at Toji. "And it's good to see you up and about, Toji." For a few seconds, the two stared at Misato as she walked away, having made sure to tease them with a small sway in her step before what she said caught up with Toji. "Wait... Shinji is in a room... alone... with Class Rep..." Kensuke finished up the sentence. "And... Rei..." Despite being flushed, the glasses wearing teen looked over at her frozen friend. "You don't think...?" As his fist clinched, Toji shook his head. "No, Shin-man would never break the code like that..." He ignored Kensuke as he raised a finger in confusion as he walked into the apartment and made his way over to where Shinji's room was, only to blink at the closed door. 'Why is it...?' And just as Kensuke reached him, Shinji could be heard to yelp. "Hey! Stop that!" The two teen boys froze as Rei's exasperated voice drifted through. "Shinji-kun, I realize that part of your body is rather sensitive , but it must be put in that hole a certain way." A beat later, she continued. "It being stiff could help though..." There was a growl and then Shinji spoke up once more. "That makes it a bit more sensitive, Rei! And you're not helping Hikari! Do you have any idea how tight this is!?" Toji choked as Hikari's voice could be heard between grunts and hisses. "Look, I worked hard to make these holes to fit perfectly! It's not my fault that your measurements were off enough that it made them a bit tight! I haven't seen any this big before you know! Besides, with a bit of work, I can loosen them up if needed!" Then she could be heard to giggle. "Shinji! Stop that! It tickles!" You could practically see Shinji's eyes rolling just from the tone of his voice. "Rei never complains about that." A moment passed and then Rei could be heard to speak up, her tone one of smug amusement. "Indeed, I rather like the feeling of them brushing against my skin." There was a sound of something scraping along the floor before she continued with pleased hum. "You are rather large though, Shinji-kun." Hikari just grunted again. "Yes, he's large and it's hard to fit this around him. Now, if you two are done flirting, I could use some help working this!" Now completely red, Toji reached out and grabbed the door knob before he threw the door open. "WHAT THE EVER LIVING HELL, SHINJI!? YOU KNOW ABOUT ME AND... Hikari..." His voice went from yelling to an embarrassed whisper as he took in the sight before him. "Er..." Looking in, Kensuke could only blink at the frozen tableau of Shinji standing as Rei and Hikari were in the process of making some last minute adjustments for his wings to come out of his button up shirt, a t-shirt already on him. "Wow... Phrasing." A few seconds passed before Shinji blinked and looked from Toji to a mortified Hikari. "There's... something between you and Hikari?" The two teens in question turned red and tried not to meet each other's faces. "Um..." After everything had been sorted out and the air cleared as to what was actually going on, things quietened down. Having crossed his arms with a slight frown as he watched Hikari make some adjustments, Toji glanced at Shinji. "So..." Having caught his friend's attention, he coughed a bit. "You're a, um, Unicorn then?" Shinji shrugged a bit and then winced as he felt a needle poke him as he ignored the grumbling from Nightmare about the clothing. "Alicorn actually, it's the wings along with the horn." For a moment Toji blinked before he shook it off. "Er, right, Alicorn..." Slightly uncomfortable, Toji shifted a bit. "So... what's it like?" Even the jock had to wince at how he sounded before Shinji snorted. "It's pretty different, not bad per say, but different." He hummed for a moment. "Both the flying and the magic are nice though." That last bit caught Toji's attention as he remembered something that his sister told him. "Wait... magic? You mean that my sis wasn't actually pulling my leg when she said that a magic... winged..." He suddenly pointed at Shinji in wide-eyed surprise. "YOU! You were the one who healed Mari and me! Weren't you?!" Feeling some heat in his face, Shinji shifted some though he regretted it a moment later as he felt another needle stab him. "Well... yes, that was me." He glanced at the surprised teen. "I... well... I just felt like I owed you both for... you know." With a blink, Rei tilted her head and glanced at Hikari as she grumbled about boys and their feelings. Meanwhile, Toji stuck his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the wall. "Eh, you know, thanks and all that." He then frowned a bit. "So, the EVA did that to you?" There was a slight grimace in Shinji's face and he pretended to ignore how Rei moved around to his other side, somehow stepping on Toji's toes and making him grunt. "Yes, there was an incident with Unit-01 and I got turned into this..." He then rolled his eyes, not even bothering to look. "And no, you're not about to turn into an Alicorn yourself as it was a one time thing, so stop checking yourself for fur." Toji blinked as sure enough, he had pulled up his sleeve to check. "Heh... who is checking? I was just... uh, checking out to see if more of my manly body hair had grown in!" He winced again as Rei once more stepped on his feet, seemingly moving around to check to see if Shinji's clothing were fitting properly. Still trying to ignore it, Shinji glanced at Kensuke. "Still think that being a Pilot is all that it's cracked up to be?" The otaku frowned a bit as he readjusted his glasses before he shrugged. "Like you said, it was a one time thing. Besides, if the news reports are right then you got awesome powers!" He then grinned. "And girls really go in for Unicorns, what with the legends and all-Oof!" With a blink, Rei continued to walk around as she retracted her elbow with her usual blank expression, though Toji caught sight of something in her eyes that caused him to shiver. "I am sorry, Aida-kun, this room is rather cramped with all of us in here and I am having to move around to check how Shinji-kun's clothing fits." As he held up a hand, Kensuke nodded as he held his other arm around his aching stomach as he grunted. "That's... okay... Ayanami..." Finally, Hikari stood back some and nodded. "There! Fits you perfectly, Shinji! I'll have to order some more for you, but now you don't need to walk around naked." That caused Toji and Kensuke to blink as they suddenly gained teasing expressions, but before either one could say something, Rei walked by as she nodded, stepping on both their feet and causing both to grunt in pain as she seemed to dig in her heels as she twisted to look Shinji over. "Yes... a perfect fit..." Both Hikari and Shinji blinked at Rei before they shrugged it off. 'I'm sure that she isn't doing it on purpose...' It was right around then that Misato poked her head in and smiled at Shinji before she gave him a thumbs up. "Looking good there, Shin-chan!" The Alicorn gave her a look before he shifted a bit with a grimace. "Thanks, but... ugh, this just does not feel comfortable at all." Shinji slowly frowned a bit as he moved some. "It feels... I don't know, really restrictive..." A chuckle escaped the Major as she winked. "That's probably because you spent the past few months naked, even around me. I know that the one time I spent a week naked, having clothes on again felt weird." Neither of the two noticed the shocked or jealous looks from Toji and Kensuke before they were covered up with her next words. "Grant you, your fur makes it near impossible to see anything anyways... but still." While he sighed and shook his head, Shinji gave her a look. "So then... any particular reason you came over, Misato? Besides just teasing." With a mock sad expression, Misato sniffled. "Can't I compliment my favorite Pony?" At his slowly raising eyebrow, she relented as she took a drink of beer. "Fine, you guys were running a bit longer then usual and if you don't hurry it up, you're going to be late to your first day back to school." She regretted this a moment later as Kensuke, Toji, and Hikari all tried to rush the door at once, sending Misato leaping back to avoid them. "WE'RE LATE!?" Rei was about to join them when they rushed out the door when Shinji's wing stopped her. The bluenette gave him a questioning look when he smiled at her and gestured with his head. "Follow me." Slightly curious, the First Child followed him as he walked into the kitchen and gave her a bento. "Here, this is for your lunch." At her expression, he smiled. "I've seen you mostly eating stuff from the cafeteria, so I made you up a vegetarian lunch, so don't worry about there being any meat in there." A blush crossed her face as she tried to ignore the shouts outside for the elevator to hurry up. "Thank you, Shinji-kun." Rei then cocked her head to the side. "Should we not follow the others?" As he chuckled, Shinji ignored the amused expression on Misato's face. "No, there's no need, Rei-chan. Firstly, I'm too big for the elevator with others in there, we'd be squished. Secondly... I got a faster way down." He tilted his head some toward his side as he put on some saddlebags which contained his school stuff. "Put your hand on my side." Curious, Rei did so and a moment later, Misato sprayed her beer out as they vanished in a flash of light. There was a moment of disorientation and then Rei found both her and Shinji down in front of the apartment building. After she blinked once in confusion, she looked herself over in thought. "Interesting..." The two just stood there for a minute or two before the doors opened and Hikari, Kensuke, and Toji rushed out. With a slight smirk, Shinji waved a hoof at them as he called out, the three skidding to a stop. "Hey there guys, took you long enough." For a few moments the three looked at him, then at the building, then back at him, before looking at the building again. Making a choking noise, Kensuke pointed back and forth at Shinji and the apartment. "Ho-how?!" Shinji leaned forward some and winked. "Magic." As he ignored the sputters, he looked around with a frown. "Hmm... The school is too far to just run there, we'd get there with the bell, but..." With a frown, Rei looked at him. "Are we going to teleport once more, Shinji-kun?" He shook his head however. "No, I've never had that many people with me and I would like to practice before I go that far. But..." With a thoughtful look, Shinji looked over the others. "Do you trust me?" They looked at each other and nodded with a shrug. "Good! Now I need you guys to hang on good, though I won't let you fall." Slightly unnerved, Hikari gave him a nervous look. "What do you mean by thaaaat?!" She was lifted into the air by a glow and she spotted the same happening with the others, complete with shouts from the two teen boys, though Rei just looked curious. A moment later they were all set down on Shinji's back, Rei sitting against the bottom of his neck just in front of his wings. Hikari was behind her with Toji, and finally Kensuke. "SHINJI!" With a chuckle, Shinji winked. "Welcome to Ikari Airlines, please keep all limbs inside the Alicorn's air bubble at all times." All four realized what he was about to do when he started galloping at a high speed and then snapped his wings open and took to the air, rising to over a hundred feet within a few wingbeats. Meanwhile, Misato leaned against her balcony banister as she watched the screaming teens vanish around a building while she hummed. "I wonder what Rits will make of how much he can fly with on his back..." ________________________________________________________________________ With a grimace, the elderly truck driver checked his GPS map and grunted as he drank his coffee. "Where the fuck is this place?" As he drove around, he tried to ignore the sounds of constant demolition and construction in this area of Tokyo-3. He then glanced over at the man in the passenger seat who he knew had a gun hidden on him before he shook his head. Over the years of working with the Yakuza, the old man had learned not to question why he was transporting something or what. Not even if he heard screams and crying in the back of his truck, though he was happy that the trailer attached was now soundproofed, less annoyance that way. A slight grin crossed his face as he remembered one time though where he was given a "Gift" for his services. 'Ah... that was a nice night.' The transporter glanced over as his passenger snorted in derision. At the look, he gestured out the window at a van. Outside the van, a man in a suit and sunglasses stood as he had a cigarette while he watched a rundown apartment building in this area, all that remained of the days when this area of Tokyo-3 was Sangokuhara. "Who the hell is that bastard trying to kid?" As he shrugged his shoulders, the transporter threw his cup into garbage. "It's Tokyo-3 and that's one of those Section 2 goons. What did you expect?" Giving a nod, the Yakuza enforcer pulled out a cigarette himself and lit it before he flicked the ash out the window. "True, Ikari has all the fucking rejects." A grin then crossed his face. "Pricks wouldn't last five minutes with the rest of us before we beat them bloody." While he laughed as they moved out of sight of the "Inconspicuous" van, the driver laughed out. "Why else do you think that they can only find work with Ikari!" It was just a few minutes later when he could have sworn he saw something flying nearby that looked like a horse though he shrugged it off as he spotted the old parkade. "Finally! There's the damn place." Putting out the cigarette, the Yakuza grunted. "Lets get whatever the fuck is in the back out so we can get out of here. I got my eyes on some girls back home that I want." There was another laugh as the driver stopped in front of the closed gate of the abandoned parkade and got out to push it up. Once he got back in, he looked at the instructions that he had been given and shook his head. "Bottom level, huh? Whatever." After having reached the spot, the two got out of the truck and made their way to the back. Just before he grabbed the door to unlock it, he blinked as he looked over at the enforcer. "Huh, could have sworn that I heard something scraping in there." A scowl crossed the Yakuza's face. "Better not have damaged whatever the fuck we're transporting. We're getting paid out the ass for this job and if it gets fucked, it's coming out of your hide." With a grimace, the driver unlocked the trailer door and glared at the Yakuza as he threw open the door. "Yeah, yeah. You know, I'm a professional and-YAARGH!" The Enforcer whipped around in time to see the driver get yanked into the truck by something with a scream... a scream that ended a few moments later with a sickening crunch. Yanking out his gun, the man looked into the trailer and paled as the sounds of something eating stopped and a growl reverberated through the empty parkade. "WHAT THE FUCK!" Backing up, he started emptying his clip into whatever was in the trailer until it clicked empty, and then took off running as something hit the ground behind him with a loud roar that was combined with what almost sounded like a human scream of rage. 'FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?!' Struggling as he ran, he jettisoned the old clip and had just reloaded a new one when he heard a roar and turned and began firing. "DIE! DIE! DI-AHHHHHH!" _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Having jerked, the Section 2 Agent frowned as he looked around. "Did you hear gunshots and screams just now?" As he read the newspaper in the van, his partner grunted. "In this neighbourhood, Hiro? Every damn day of the week. Just ignore it and pretend it didn't happen." While he frowned, Hiro looked back at him. "You sure? Sounded like it's in the area. Maybe we should check it out to make sure..." There was a slight chuckle as the other Agent turned from his newspaper. "Look, our orders are to make sure that no one enters the First Child's apartment and tries to hide there. We don't give a shit what happens nearby, not even in the same building as long as it does not involve the First Child or her apartment. Besides, probably a druggy on a bad trip or something. Or maybe a fight between the local homeless." He then turned back to his newspaper. "Though who the hell would bother with that creepy girl is beyond me..." Hiro chuckled a bit as he lit up another cigarette. "Maybe the Third Child, though he's a horse now..." Suddenly, a frown crossed his face. "And considering how close those two are supposed to have been in the past little bit, you don't think..." He got thrown a look of disgust by his partner. "Oh, fuck off you sick freak! I did not need that image in my head, thank you very much." After he shuddered, the man turned back to his newspaper. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Deep in the parkade, the sounds of gunshots and screams had faded and all that now could be heard was the sound of wet crunching and snapping punctuated by tearing sounds. Having finally finished devouring former enforcer, two baleful yellow eyes scanned it's surroundings before a large body turned and began to pad back to where the truck was. After all, it was hungry having not eaten since it had burst from it's cocoon and there was still what was left of the driver. And then it would hunt... ___________________________________________________________________ As he flew through the air, Shinji blinked as he felt a shiver run down his spine from his head all the way to his tail and then looked around. 'What was all that about now...?' A moment later a hum came from Nightmare as she considered what had happened before she answered him. 'What that was, Little Prince, was simply your instincts attempting to warn you about something. Something dangerous in the area though not close... I do wonder what the danger was, though...' Shinji frowned as he swept around a building, trying to ignore the screaming on his back as he tried to keep Kensuke from falling off with his magic. 'Maybe an Angel?' The young Alicorn could feel Nightmare shake her head mentally as she puzzled it over. 'No, not that. After all, if you could sense it then so, too, could they however NERV tracks them. Hmm... no, this reminds me of the feelings that one would get when there is a magical predator in the area, a powerful one.' While he shifted some and tried to ignore Rei as she pressed herself against his neck, Shinji glanced around. 'A magical predator? Why would I be sensing a magical predator in the area if I am the only magical being around?' For a few seconds, Nightmare was quiet before he heard her whisper softly in his mind, a thoughtful tone in her words. 'How indeed...?' After he had waited for her to continue and she had not, Shinji mentally shrugged as he spotted the school and came in for a landing. Once his hooves touched the asphalt, he gave a smile and turned his head while he ignored the stares he got. "And there we go, guys." Not having recieved an answer, he blinked. "Guys?" Slowly, Kensuke slipped backward, his arms still held out in front of him in a frozen position before he landed on the ground. It was then that Shinji noticed something and raised an eyebrow. "Er, Toji? Should you have your hands there on Hikari..." A slap a moment later answered him as he winced as his jock friend fell off, a red handprint on his face. "Er... guess not?" However, his attention was soon grabbed by Hikari as she practically leapt from his back to the ground and got on her hands and knees. "GROUND! WONDERFUL! STABLE GROUND!" With a blink, Shinji winced a bit. "Um... Rei-chan?" The albino blinked slowly "Yes, Shinji-kun?" As he looked over his shoulder, Shinji frowned. "We're... er... on the ground now." She just nodded and said that she knew that they were, which caused him to try and clear his throat. "Also... your arms are a bit tight around my neck... you're choking me." Rei just blinked as she then tightened her grip some more and Shinji winced as he let out a bit of a choking sound while she gave him an even stare. "Yes, I realize that fact..." Giving a choking sound, Shinji nodded. "Right..." Suddenly, Rei felt Shinji still as his ears flicked in various directions while on his muzzle, a frown grew. At first, she wondered what was wrong when she noticed the various students around them whispering to each other. "Can you hear what they're saying, Shinji-kun?" The grimace he had a moment later answered her question before he could get the words out. "Yeah... I can hear them perfectly." A sad sigh escaped him before he shook his head. "Let's... just get to class, okay?" With a nod, Rei hopped off his shoulders before she patted in him his withers as they passed by the group of students. A moment later, they stiffened as they heard one guy call out. "Always knew that you were a bit girly, Ikari, but this takes the cake! Where's your bit and bridle? Or are you saving that for later?" As he scowled, Toji turned to say something despite how Hikari pulled at him when the guy in question yelped as Asuka strode past him, seeming not to notice how she stomped his foot in the process. "Out of my way, baka!" She stopped and stiffened as the guy muttered that she must be so pissed she forgot the crop as he hopped around. However, it was not just Shinji who overheard him but Asuka and a moment later, he was down on the ground as he gasped for breath. With a scowl, Asuka pulled her fist back and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I'm not some pervert like you!" While he watched as she strode off, Shinji frowned a bit. "I... just want to make a bit of a detour..." After getting some confirmations he walked off as Hikari stomped toward the now downed male, the other students scrambling away as they saw her thunderous expression. What none of them noticed, however, was Rei fixing a frosty glare on the teen as one fist clinched. Eventually, Shinji caught up with the volitile red head. "Asuka!" She slowed her pace and shot him a glare, though Shinji could tell that it was tinged with something. "What is it?" Having slowed himself, Shinji gave her a small nod of the head. "Thanks... for defending me back there and such." All she did was snort in derision as she crossed her arms across her chest. "Who said anything about defending you from that pervert? He got in my way and made a perverted comment, so I decided to defend my honor, that's all." Her scowl only deepened as Shinji just smiled at her. "Sure, Asuka..." For a few seconds they stood there as they were not quite sure what to say until the Alicorn remembered something and his horn lit up, which caused Asuka to step back a bit. However, a moment later she blinked as he slid a bento out from his saddle bags and floated over to her. "Um... I'm not sure if want it, but I figured that you might like some lunch so..." Surprised, she took it and looked it over. Then she narrowed her eyes as she glared at him. "You didn't make it with those hooves of yours, did you?" After he shook his head and told her that he had used his magic, she was still unsure but shrugged. "Fine, I'll take it." Just after she turned though, she stopped and looked over her shoulder with a look of being unsure. "I still don't think that you're the Third... but I'll let you prove it one way or the other." As he chuckled, Shinji gave her a smile. "That's all that I can ask honestly..." And with that, Asuka continued to walk to class as did Shinji and the others a few feet behind her as both Toji and Kensuke pestered him over what had happened with Asuka. Once they reached the classroom, however, Hikari groaned and facepalmed as she caught sight of Shinji's desk. It was in it's new spot at the back of the room to make it easier for him to go back and forth, but there was something missing "I don't believe this... they forgot to get the chair I ordered modified." With a sigh, she turned to Shinji who was examining the desk. "Look, I'm really sorry about this, Shinji. I swear that I'll come up with something so that you don't need to stand all day or sit on the floor..." Shinji just smiled a bit and shook his head. "Actually, Hikari, I have an idea..." A few minutes later, Hikari glanced at the buckets filled with water that were normally used to punish students before she looked at the Alicorn with a frown. "Um... Shinji? How does this help?" His smile just grew as he stood in the middle of the buckets with his wings spread out and he closed his eyes. "Just watch." His horn glowed as the water in the buckets all boiled and the steam slowly rose until it collected under his wings. To the surprise of most of them though, the clouds of steam didn't seem to disappear but instead gather in thickness. Once all the water in the buckets were evaporated in front of the stunned class, Shinji walked over to his desk, the clouds of steam still under his wings. "Now to shape them..." With a cough, Hikari took a step forward. "Er... shape them?" Distracted, the Alicorn sat back a little and began to mold the clouds as if they were made from clay. "Well, I need to shape them into something like a chair, don't I?" The Class Representative just blinked as she glanced at Toji and Kensuke who shrugged as if to say why ask them. Once she turned back to Shinji, she stared as the cloud now resembled a beanbag chair. "What the..." Her jaw dropped along with the rest of the class' a moment later as Shinji brought the cloud lower and then sat on it as if it was solid and not a cloud a few feet off the ground. Shifting around a bit to get comfortable, Shinji blinked at how Hikari was staring at him before he noticed that the others outside of Rei were also staring. "... What?" ______________________________________________________________________________ Sitting on the roof with the others, Shinji pondered his day when he glanced at where Rei was examining her bento. "Something the matter, Rei-chan?" Her eyes blinked before she looked up at him with some confusion. "I am... considering where to start." A frown crossed Rei's face as she examined the various choices and touched one finger to her chin, though unseen was how her mouth watered at the smells that drifted up to her nose. "I have not had either this amount for a meal nor have I had this many choices..." Hikari glanced over to where Asuka was sitting a distance away, though within hearing range. She turned back in time to see Shinji as he pointed at one particular food. 'At least he's in a better mood now...' Having taken a bite of her own lunch, she frowned. 'I wonder why Sensei didn't notice anything...' Meanwhile, Rei chewed the bite she had taken and then stopped as she frowned in thought. Concerned, Shinji leaned toward her. "Something the matter, Rei? If so, then I can probably fix-" He was cut off though when she raised her hand and looked at him. "It's... good." And with those words, to the surprise of Shinji and the others, she began to eat what was there quickly. A part of Shinji was surprised though at how graceful she looked as she quickly devoured her meal which was at odds at how fast she had been going through it. 'Just one more oddity about Rei I suppose...' Then his ears perked up as he heard something. "Hmm?" Having just taken a bite of his sandwich, Kensuke quickly chewed and swallowed it. "Something the matter, Shinji?" The Alicorn frowned for a moment as he continued to gaze at the side of the roof, his ears flicking every few seconds. "Do any of you know a Matsushita Sosuke?" Toji's face drew downward into a scowl. "Yeah, it was that bastard from this morning that Asuka nailed, why?" Despite his reputation of being thick headed, he still noted the confused and slightly worried expression on Shinji's face. "Why? Something the matter?" Still frowning, Shinji nodded as he turned toward him. "Yeah, I can hear some of the students talking down below us." He ignored the surprised looks he got from his comment as he continued. "He went missing earlier and was just found tied up in the janitor's closet mumbling about eyes and glares..." As one, the entire group outside of Rei turned and stared at Asuka where she sat at the other end of it. After a moment, she blinked and glared at them. "What?" Uncomfortable, Hikari thought it over before she shook her head. "No... it couldn't have been her, she's been in sight all day..." Of course, if any of them had been paying attention, they would have seen the smug expression that crossed Ayanami's face before she took another bite of her lunch. 'All according to plan...' Shaking it off, Shinji turned back to his food as he sent some thoughts toward Nightmare who had him cast a clone spell earlier so that she could go her own way. 'So then, are you enjoying your time out?' A laugh echoed through his mind before she answered him. 'Of course I'm enjoying it!' Humming, Shinji frowned a bit. 'Why did you want to get out for a bit, anyways?' __________________________________________________________________________________________ While she stalked through the crowded eatery, Nightmare grinned to herself. 'Oh... I got some reasons...' She ignored the confusion over the link before she leapt forward, her arms wrapping around her target's shoulder, with the woman jumping a bit in her seat as she squeaked. It was then that Nightmare leaned forward with a sniff. "I missed you, Maya-chan..." Her face flushed, Maya glanced at the amused Misato and Ritsuko who had cocked an eyebrow at what was in front of them. "A-Akumu-chan!" Nightmare just hummed as she softly nuzzled the smaller woman. "Hmm? Yes?" Still flushed, Maya glanced around the eatery and noted that there was some stares. "Co-could you please tone it down? For me-Eep!" With a smirk, Nightmare pulled away from where she had nipped the technician's ears. "Let them stare..." She pressed herself more into Maya's back as she dropped her voice's volume and caused Maya to nearly pass out as the blood rushed to her cheeks. "They're just jealous of me and what I have..." Now highly amused, Misato glanced over the Amazonian woman draped over Maya before raising an eyebrow. 'It's probably not just you that they're jealous of...' A throat was cleared and the others turned to see an unamused Ritsuko who had her eyes hooded as one eyebrow twitched. "Do you mind not molesting my assistant in front of me?" While she blinked and ignored the squeak that came from Maya, Nightmare allowed a expression of false thoughtfulness cross her face as she tapped her chin. Then she shrugged and shook her head. "Nah." Her lips then twisted into a grin as she waggled her eyebrows. "Besides, she's so deliciously adorable when she's flustered..." Both Nightmare and Misato chuckled as Maya pouted some before it was wiped away as the disguised Alicorn gently kissed her as she took up the seat beside her... ___________________________________________________________________ Mana yawned as as she shut the hatchback to the small truck before she walked up and got into the passenger seat. "There, all done and packed." She only received a grunt from the driver which caused her to roll her eyes. "Would it hurt for you to actually hold a conversation? It's a long drive from the northern tip of Hokkaido to Tokyo-3 after all." All she got in return was a scowl as the man twisted the key in the ignition, the engine coming to life with a growl. "Look, I just want to be done and over with this assignment, and the sooner that happens, the better." The man then glared at her smirk. "And you're not the one who is going to be bunking on base with the rest of those NERV bastards." With a roll of her eyes, Mana sighed. "Yes, I get a nice, lonely apartment by myself in the same building as two of the pilots and the tactical operations director, who is going to be highly suspicious of me." Her expression turned deadpan. "Not to mention going to school, again. Yes, I am so lucky." The driver just snorted again. "Yeah, yeah, whatever kid." Annoyed, Mana grabbed a folder and opened it as she flipped through it. "So, they decided on whose going to pilot Jet Alone Prime? And control the drones?" There was a sigh from the driver before he answered. "Now that they finally got the mind-machine interface worked out, they're holding an online hacking contest without telling anyone what it is for." That caused Mana's eyebrow to raise. "Hacking contest? So they can't find anyone to pilot it?" She quickly turned back to the folder and flipped through it before she whistled. "So they need a programmer, and they don't have one trained enough?" It was then that something caught the teen's eyes and she raised an eyebrow. "Wait, there's a candidate in the same school as the NERV pilots?" While he entered his spot in the convoy, the driver frowned. "Yeah, some kind of whiz-kid with computers. Apparently he keeps trying to get into the Evangelion Pilot program, so we know he won't turn it down." Nodding, Mana closed the folder and yawned again before she shifted her position in the seat. "Guess I'll find out in a bit." And with another yawn, she closed her eyes and slept as the large truck which was lugging her T-RIDEN-T joined the convoy... ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Having poked her head out of the back of her train compartment, Skye smiled at the sight of the large, canvas covered Evangelion on its flat car. She then closed the door and started to walk down the hallway as the train continued to chug along. Of course, things could not be that simple as her foot snagged on a fold in the carpet and she tripped. Skye rolled forward and hit a cart causing it to flip. "Ow..." A moment later, a muffin landed on her chest with a bag. "Hmm? Ooo! Banana muffin! And... jelly babies! My favorites!" A head poked out of a door and the Lieutenant in charge of her facepalmed. "Bloody damnit, Skye..." The Evangelion pilot just blinked from where she laid on the floor, her mouth full of a mix of banana muffin and jelly babies. "Mhuf?" Having caught sight of the disapproval, Skye sheepishly smiled as she swallowed what was in her mouth. "Sorry, I just don't know what went wrong..." As he facepalmed, Lt. McLeod just got up and walked over to her before he helped her to her feet. "Just... be more careful, okay?" With a grin, Skye nodded as she saluted, nearly hitting McLeod with the bag of jelly babies. "Will do!" He just blinked at her slowly and sighed. "Right..." After she skipped past him, he winced as he heard a crash in the cabin they were saying before he held his face in his hand. "Oh, for bloody fucking sakes..." A half hour later found Skye in her bed looking through a tablet with a slight blush while she listened to it with earbuds. On the screen of the tablet was the press conference where it was revealed that Shinji was no longer human. 'Why does he still look attractive...?' Hearing a snore, she glanced at where Lt. McLeod was snoring. Having made sure that he was asleep, she held her hand against her chest as she felt both her hearts beating. 'And there's something else, something... Why does it feel like something has really changed?' For a brief moment, something flashed before her eyes. She could see Shinji as a human huddled under a stairwell as around him was the sounds of gunfire. Then it was gone as fast as it had come. 'What was that...?' Skye's eyebrows furrowed as she frowned. 'Was that... another vision? And is it going to happen?' She thought it over for a little bit and then shook her head. 'No... I can't help but think that it's no longer possible...'