For a mind to maintain any semblance of control over magic, it has to be able to perform millions of minute manipulations, often in the span of a single instant. For ponies this meant they had minds that could think and act so fast, many victims of stressful circumstances claimed time slowed down to a crawl as their minds instinctively allotted all available power to perception and planning, in an all-out effort to find a way to survive. For Victorious Shield, this meant he got a front row seat for an instant assessment of everything happening around him, as the pandemonium ground to a halt.
There was an explosion. Judging by the volume of the bang, not enough to break through the walls. Best course of action: disregard, inspect for structural damage later.
The HLF-members who had been hanging around had all grabbed their weapons and were now moving into the bureau. The people and ponies inside however were well-entrenched. Best course of action: address them later.
The foals and children on the grassy fields in front of the bureau were all crying, terrified by what was going on. Their parents were calming them down, while dragging them off to safety. Best course of action: trust the parents, but talk to them later.
The last time he had seen the Mane Six, they were well inside the building, trying to negotiate with the HLF. The other officials of the Bureau would protect them. Best course of action: check on them later.
Terrence was shot. Best course of action: HELP HIM IMMEDIATELY.
Time flowed normally once more, as Victorious dashed to Terrence’s aid. From what he could see, the bullet had hit him in the shoulder. Terrence’s breathing seemed a little on the shallow side, but at least he was still alive.
“Victorious! Terrence! Get up, and get out of there!” Victorious looked up, seeing the humanoid Doctor shouting at the two of them. “We need to get the foals and the children into the Conversion Room, they’ll be safe there. The Mane Six are already en route to the Room, so don’t worry about them!”
Victorious gave one look at Terrence, before turning back to the Doctor. “Terrence got shot! I think he’s dying!”
“What?! Then get him to the Room, and Convert him! Come on, allons-y! No time to lose!”
Victorious was about to levitate Terrence onto his back, when Terrence stirred. “Hey... what happened...? My shoulder hurts...” he muttered as he unsteadily tried to get to his feet.
“Terrence! No! S-stay down!” Victorious said as he put a hoof on Terrence’s back. “We’re under attack. You got hit by a sniper, so stay low! He’s probably still around!”
“A sniper huh? Must have been a good one,” Terrence said before starting a coughing fit, a small trickle of blood forming from his lips. “Definitely felt that one...”
“You are dying! Get on my back, we’re going to the conversion room!” Victorious said as he knelt down besides Terrence.
Terrence grinned weakly as he flopped over the Unicorn’s back. “So, today’s the day I get my hooves huh? Wished it was a little less noisy,” he said, before another coughing attack racked his bleeding form.
While Terrence and Victorious Shield started their arduous trek to the Conversion Room, the Doctor headed in the opposite direction to inspect the barricade the ponies had erected in the hallway leading to the fields in front of the bureau. “Status report, now! Octavia, any casualties?”
Octavia looked up from the table she was dragging towards the barricade. “None that I am aware of. The foals were safely evacuated to the inner dormitories, with the Mane Six following them.”
“The dorms?! I told them to head for the conversion room!” the Doctor exclaimed as he dived for cover, mere moments before a bullet dug its way into a wall, missing the Doctor by only a hair.
Colgate mixed into the conversation. “Somepony failed to observe proper protocols. The vial of potion was left on a table, outside of its case. When the explosives went off-”
“Short version!” the Doctor interrupted her report, earning him a slightly annoyed glare from the typically stoic pony.
“Fine. The floor is drenched in potion. It’s going to be hours before anypony or anyone can get in there safely.”
“Great! Next question! Grace, why are you still here,” the Doctor said as he turned his attention to the Pegasus mare. “I thought you’d be with your sons?”
Grace paused for a moment, appearing lost in thought. “The colts are safe. But when the explosives went off, I thought... I saw my father”
“Sorry, didn’t catch that last bit. What?”
Grace struggled with the words for a few moments, before stating in a clear voice, “I saw my father.”
Pastor Winchester was a man, used to having a certain amount of weight assigned to any order he gave. If he told his flock to bow, they wouldn’t waste time asking how low but fell to their knees as one. If he told his wife to be silent, she would wait for days for him to tell her to speak. As such, he was less than pleased with his fellow crusaders’ failure to overthrow the Devil’s temple, nor did he much enjoy the fact that the initial assault had only resulted in a few casualties, and only Human ones at that.
One of the HLF members had been given the rather unlucky task to provide the Pastor with a means of communication, and as such had been the target of the Pastor’s rants for the past ten minutes. “-It is all a matter of faith, and it shows that you and your allies have little. If you would have been more faithful, God would have given us his guidance today, and-”
Thankfully for the long suffering HLF-member, at that moment the Doctor appeared on the roof of the building, a white flag (fashioned from a tablecloth and a broom) in his hands. “Can we discuss this as civilized beings? I’m sure we can come to some agreement!”
“Remove the barricade, surrender to our forces and release my daughter. Then, we shall let those of good will live,” the Pastor shouted to the strange man on the roof.
“Sorry, I was thinking more among the lines of ‘your men stop their attack, and let us be.’ Still, the last part might be doable. What is your daughter’s name?”
“Her name, you servant of the Devil, is Grace! Now unhand her at once!” the Pastor said as he balled his fist.
“Sorry, can’t do that. Nobody is holding her prisoner, so yeah. Anyhow, your daughter saw you earlier and is standing right behind me as we speak. Don’t want her get shot by your snipers and all that.”
“Shut up! Grace, speak to me!”
“I... I’m here dad,” the Pastor heard his daughter’s voice coming from behind the man with the flag.
“Grace, get away from those heathens right now! Your mother has been praying for your return every day since you ran, and even when you cross me you still are my daughter! Now get down here!”
“If I come, will you let everypony here live?” Grace asked.
“Grace, whatever those Satanists told you, they do not deserve to be spared. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live, and those vile mockeries of God’s creatures revel in their unholy affront to all that the Lord gave us! They will burn for their sins, along with all those who helped them!” The Pastor shouted, a fist raised angrily at the roof of the Bureau.
At this point Grace stepped out from behind the Doctor, her wings spread in anger at her father’s harsh words. “Father, you are wrong! In my first dream among ponykind, I spoke to God! He did not judge me, did not cast me into hell! He told me the truth! Mankind is dying, and all God wants is for his children to live! He told me to spread the word, to guide others to the new Garden of Eden, TO EQUESTRIA!”
For but a moment, the Pastor was silent, his face a mask of terror and shock. “no...” He lowered his head, a single tear rolling down his nose and onto the ground. “Grace... why?” When he faced his daughter once more, his face was that of rage itself. “Suffer not a witch to live... GRACE, YOU HAVE PUT YOUR LOT WITH THEM, AND NOW YOU SHALL BURN!!!”
"Well, I guess that went about as well as expected. Grace, I need you to do something for me," the Doctor said as he turned away from the enraged man.
"Sure, what is it?"
"Run! Get to the others, and make sure you stay out of their sight. I'll go and get some reinforcements in the meantime," the Doctor said as he started running in the direction of his office, while Grace went looking for the rest.
While Grace’s heartfelt reunion with her father was going south rapidly, Dave had snuck out of the building. The HLF-members along the way had congratulated him on a trap well-set and executed.
His replies either consisted of fuming silence or (if there were no witnesses,) a swift blow to the face.
“Why? Why did they do this? Why did they have to act like feral beasts? I had one shot, and they blew it for me!” His muttered monologue had been going on ever since he got over the initial shock of the sudden attack. When he had stumbled past the barricade, the HLF-members had lowered their weapons and quickly escorted him out of the building while briefing him on the Pastor’s plans. When they had left to reinforce the attacking troops, Dave had started to think. The Pastor had been informing his men about the plan for only a week, meaning there was at least one person besides him who didn’t know about it, and would probably be willing to help. So, at the moment Dave was looking for Hal.
Spotting two men with guns guarding the back door of one of the trailers, Dave made his way over. “Hey, have either of you seen Hal lately?”
Both men stood at attention, the left one replying to Dave’s question. “He’s in this trailer, sir! He-”
“Good! Go help the men inside, I need to speak to him,” Dave interrupted the gunman.
Both men clumsily saluted, and left for the Bureau entrance. Dave knocked on the trailer door. “Hal, open the doors!”
Silence.
Dave knocked again, louder this time. “Open the trailer doors, Hal!”
Again, he was met by silence.
Getting frustrated, Dave knocked as hard as he could. “I know you are there Hal, now open the doors!”
This time, Dave heard someone speaking from behind the door. “I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
“Why not?!”
“Because I’m handcuffed to the wall! Look, you have the keys right? Get in here, and help me!”
Searching his pockets, Dave grabbed the key to the trailer and got inside. “Why did they do that?! They know you are on our side!”
Hal chuckled darkly as he looked at Dave from his impromptu prison, his left eye black. “Do they now? Well, I for one don’t want anything to do with you and your bloody nuke! Ponies are bad enough, but nuking them makes us no better than them!”
Dave froze. “A nuke?!”
“Yeah, you know. The one the good Pastor acquired? The one they are placing right now? The one that’s going to blow us all to hell? The one your cronies knocked me out for, when I suggested they should get rid of it? Surely you know the one I’m talking about!” Hal said, getting more angry with every word he said and straining against the handcuffs that held him prisoner against the wall of the trailer.
“Hal, I never intended for things to get as bad as they are! I honestly intended to negotiate with the bureau! Please, you are the only one I can trust now,” Dave pleaded.
Hal scoffed. “Even if I did trust you, I’m stuck here! Handcuffed to the wall, remember?”
Dave hung his head. “The ponies should be able to help you. Opening a mundane lock shouldn’t be impossible to a Unicorn,” he said as he started to look for anything that could help him.
“Fat lot of good that will do me! What, are you gonna drag one over here and force it to release me? They won’t even get past the barricade before your idiots turn them into Swiss cheese!”
“True, but a human entering through the back entrance might just make it,” Hal said as he picked up a gun and a pair of earplugs. “Now, hold still for a moment,” he said as he put the plugs in Hal’s ears.
“What are you-” Hal started, as Dave took aim at the loop that held him prisoner, and pulled the trigger.
When the smoke had cleared, Hal saw two things:
One: the loop was broken and while he was still handcuffed, he could at least move freely.
Two: Dave’s mouth was moving, but the earplugs blocked whatever he was saying.
Moving quickly, Hal pulled one of the plugs out of his ear. “Can you repeat that? Also, are you CRAZY!?”
“To the second: maybe, but only if it saves the last sane person in this gang of idiots. To the first: I need you to get going! The Bureau has a back entrance that doesn’t really attract a lot of attention. Go there, and have one of the Unicorns release your hands. Now GO!” Dave practically shouted, as he looked out of the trailer. “If you move now, you should be fine. The men are still trying to get past the barricade.” Dave looked at Hal. “I know you have no reason to trust me, but if you don’t go, that madman will blow us all to kingdom come. You must tell them, they trust you more than they trust me by now! So get going, or I’ll carry you there!”
Hal stood for a moment, his thoughts going a million miles per hour. ‘Is he trying to trick me? Can I trust him? Has he ever lied to me?’
“Are you even listening? GO!” Dave shouted. “I’ll keep them off your back, one way or another! But you must move NOW!”
Hal snapped out of his confusion, and walked to the doors of the trailer. “I don’t trust you much right now, but you’re right. Still, if this is your way of kicking me while I’m down...” Hal let the threat hang in the air, as he started running for the forest that surrounded the building.
Dave sighed, before grabbing the pistol by the barrel and smacking himself in the face. “Don’t let this be in vain, you idiot.” After a few more moments, he walked out of the trailer and called for the two men who had been guarding Hal. “He escaped! He managed to get a gun, and shoot the loop that held him! I think he’s heading into town, now get after him!”
The men gave another badly executed salute, before running off in the opposite direction Hal was going.
‘It all now depends on you, Hal.’
As Hal was making his way around the building, Victorious Shield and Terrance had moved to an office across from the Conversion room, on the insistence of Derpy who had claimed that it wasn’t safe to enter right now. So, at the moment the two of them were in the company of Elane, Jane, Redeye (also known as The Unicorn Formerly Known As Galinda), Octavia, Derpy Hooves and her daughters, hoping that the Doctor would be able to supply them with enough potion for a single conversion.
Terrence, in the meanwhile, was getting worse. In a last ditch effort, Elane had sacrificed her scarf to try and stop the bleeding, which was why Jane was currently pressing the piece of practically priceless cloth to Terrence’s shoulder.
Terrence coughed again, more blood staining his lips, before weakly starting to talk. “Hey, Jane... I need to know something...”
“Save it for later, Ya’ll be fine, hear me!” Jane said as she desperately tried to stem the blood flowing from his shoulder.
“Fine. Redeye, can you tell me something then?” Terrence weakly smiled as he turned his attention to the grey Unicorn.
Redeye turned to Terrence, her worried tone belying her mostly neutral expression. “Sure. What do you want?”
“Well... how did I look as a girl? Can’t help but wonder...”
Redeye smiled sadly. “I saw the pictures of the party, and you were... hot. Really hot.”
Terrence chuckled. “Good... at least I’ll die knowing I look good as a woman...”
At that exact moment, the door swung open as the pony Doctor entered the room. “You might, but not today!” he said, past the pair of vials in his mouth. “I got enough Potion with me for two conversions, so you WILL be fine!”
Sitting back on his haunches and using his forelegs, the Doctor removed the two vials and held up the pink one. “Now, this one is the old Revision-63 potion. First successful version, but not exactly generally usable. Still, the other one should be fine. Derpy my dear, could you lend me a hoof in opening these please?”
Derpy however, had different plans as she snapped out of her shock of the door suddenly opening and finally noticed her husband had entered the room. “Doctor! You are back!!!” she shouted as she tried to tackleglomp the unfortunate stallion.
Another funny detail about magic is that it somehow deems it necessary to append Murphy’s Law with the words, “But there is no such thing as a complete failure.” So, in clear violation of all laws of probability, both vials were thrown up to the ceiling, where the pink one hit a conveniently placed lamp, causing the top to break off, before falling into the mouth of a rather surprised Terrence, open end down.
The purple vial however, fell straight down towards the Doctor, who at this point was struggling to get Derpy off of him.
“Doctor! Watch-” Everything slowed down around Redeye, as her mind went into overdrive.
She saw the vial. She knew it would hit the floor right next to the struggling couple. She saw the Doctor extend a wing, catching the vial before it could break.
Wait, what?!
Time sped up again around Redeye, as she finished her shout. “-out!”
The Doctor carefully placed the purple vial on the ground next to him, before crawling out from under his wife. “Well, that could have gone better. Now, I know you have questions, but sadly I can’t answer them. Spoilers, and all that. Still, I am the same Doctor you all know and love, but right now I need to run, so bye!” the brown Pegasus said before rushing out of the room.
After a few moments of stunned silence, only interrupted by the various noises from Terrence’s Conversion, Dinky spoke up. “Momma, what just happened?”
Derpy took a moment before she answered. “I just don’t know.”
//////////////////////////////////////
Ray10k here.
So, next chapter. Again, I ended up tripling the wordcount. For comparison, here is the version Kryxel gave me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed working on it.
Also, if things got a bit heavy handed during Grace’s “reunion” with her father...
I REGRET NOTHING!!!
Kryxel here: as i have said before, the people who are my editors have to put up with a lot, and ray here puts up with it, and creates more. advancing the awesome.
he makes it 120% cooler with a side of fun stashed all around ponyville in case of fun emergencies.
so if you even read this far, go check out his stories and send hugs and high fives and brohoofs his way.