//------------------------------//
// Recovery, Research and Reclassification 
// Story: Friendship Force! 
// by Chrome Masquerade 
//------------------------------//

Back at the Hall of Harmony(1), the group was busy licking their proverbial wounds. Summer Breeze, however, was also being consoled and counselled by Twilight and Applejack.

"I don't know what happened there. When i got too deep i started to freak out, and then... everything just went white. I don't remember anything after that."

Twilight said, "When you were exposed to an element you're weak to in overwhelming force, it would naturally make you want to fight against it. The Energy X- No... I'm going to start calling it Energy P- reacted within you, using your... "Chi" to remove at least one of your weaknesses, namely the chill of the ice. In other words, you lost control, resulting in a Mana Flare. It did also have the nice effect of melting the ice and thawing out the people who were frozen above. Applejack here had to dive down and bring you up, through boiling water. It's a good thing that she's elementally strong against water, even if it's hot water."

Summer looked downcast as Twilight continued. "What interests me more is that those who were closest to ground zero were transformed into half-ponies themselves, like us but less powerful..."

Applejack nudged Twilight and said, "Focus, Twi."

"Quite right. Sorry." As Mentor, Twilight had always been more focused on results rather than those who brought them, despite the implication of the name. When Mentor changed to Twilight, that had shifted significantly, though she was still adjusting to this as much as anypony else.  

"Put shortly: It's nothing to be ashamed of, Summer. Fear is a very natural response that we all have felt before, and inevitably will in the future. We can't blame you for reacting to it. No one was significantly hurt and you had genuinely good intentions... so they can't do anything to you or us for that."

"An' if they TRY...." Applejack all but snarled, leaving the comment open,but slamming one fist into the opposite palm. "Y'all might 'swell be family t'me. And Ah won't tolerate harm comin' ta m'family."

"Admirable of you, Applejack." Twilight said with raised eyebrows. Then she looked back at Summer. "But... I think i have a good alias for you now."

"An alias?"

"Yeah. How do you like the idea of... Solar Wind?"

Summer's eyes widened at this. She felt an odd connection to the name already. "It sounds fitting. Like it was my name all along."

"You like it?" Twilight queried.

"I think it likes me."

At that pont, Lightning Dust stepped up. She had just been using the oddly well-stocked gym room of the fortress. "Hey! Summer! You're looking much better! I'm glad."

"Well," the other mare responded bashfully, "I just got my superhero name. Solar Wind. And i'm more or less caught up on events."

"Really?" Dust said, "Well, that's great! The rest of us came up with our own super names. On mission i'll be called Blue Blaze. Winter took on the name Solstice. Spring wanted the name Equinox, but we figured that it sounded too much... you know... like a horse pun. She's Chinook, instead. Autumn decided to call herself Gale Force."

Twilight nodded. "All solid choices."

Summer smiled before saying, "There's just one thing: Where's Frozen Heart?"

"The computer is searching for him and any of his ilk. Once it finds them, it'll let us know. Until then, i suggest that we train and heal up. I get the feeling that we'll need to be MUCH stronger before we fight them again."

The others nodded in agreement at this.

"What i want to know..." Lightning Dust said, "Why are we all mares?"

Twilight responded to this. "When i was bringing Energy X to this world, i had to jump through a different universe. My shields were down, so while my hyper drive was on cooldown, the ship -and, by extension, the capsules of Energy X therein- got charged with the energy of that world's aura. Magic, as you might call it. As far as I can tell, In that world, mares outnumber stallions at least 4:1. We just got lucky, i guess. At this point the team is lacking a single Y chromosome."

They all sighed at this.

"Either way," Applejack said, changing the subject, "Ah think we should git some trainin' in. By th'way things're lookin', we're gonna need it."

All in agreement, they left for the gym again, hoping to master their powers by the time they fought next.