//------------------------------//
// Maneuvers 
// Story: Brave New Pony World 
// by Goldfur 
//------------------------------//

Phil waited patiently for Tyrone to emerge from his home; Michelle less so.

“What’s taking the man so long?” she complained. “We’ve got all of his luggage already.”

“Saying goodbye to his wife and kids whom he won’t see for a couple of weeks isn’t as simple as a quick kiss and a hug goodbye,” Phil reminded the woman.  “Besides, it’s not as if we’ll miss the flight to Houston.”

Michelle grumpily conceded the point just as Tyrone emerged from the house.  The man climbed into the back seat of the SUV and gave a final wave to his wife and children. Phil started the vehicle and they began their journey.

Tyrone said, “Makena made me promise to call her as soon as I get into Houston.”

“No problem,” Phil replied.  “I’ll be tracking American Airlines flight 2751 to Houston to make sure of when it arrives so you can take your phone off of flight mode.”

“I’m not thrilled about deceiving her like this.”

“Not something we’re proud of either, but the thing about secrets is that the more people who know of them, the more likely they slip out.  It’s too much of a risk as yet, and we don’t want to be hitting everyone with a geas-enforced NDA either.”

“I know.  Still doesn’t sit right with me though.”

Conversation lapsed until Phil turned onto the highway. Michelle frowned in confusion.

“The office is in the other direction – why are we going this way?”

“We’re headed to the airport, right?” Phil answered cheerfully.

“What happened to using the portal?” Tyrone asked.

“Relax – we’re still going to take the quick route. However, it’s that phone call that you received yesterday that reminded me that we can’t take things for granted. Makena might call you again before your flight is due to depart.  An app on your phone might accidentally reveal where you were instead of where you should have been.  Anyway, we’re going to the airport, have a coffee and snack, and chat until your supposed flight boards.  Then you turn off your phones and we’ll drive to the office.”

“That makes sense,” Tyrone conceded.  “I suppose we’ll have to go to the Houston Airport also to keep up the pretense?”

“Yep.  However, your new digs are not far from the airport, so we can drop off your luggage and allow you to settle in without wasting too much time.”





When the three finally reached the Charlotte office, Phil drove the SUV into the loading bay.  After the roller door had been closed, the Security guard checked their I.D.s, the warehouse door was opened, the car was moved in, and the engine turned off. That door was also closed. 

“Do we need to get out?” Michelle asked.

“No,” Phil replied.  “This has all been prearranged.  We won’t even be transforming as I’ve requested that the adaptation spell be turned off for the transfer.”  The portal shutter rolled up revealing a huge mirrored surface.  “And here comes the transfer team.”

A single yellow earth pony mare came through the portal and walked up to the driver side of the vehicle.

“Good morning, Mr. Martine.”

“Good morning, Careful Carter.  Are we clear?”

“Yes, sir.  Are you ready to go through?”

“Yep.  Go ahead.”

The mare nodded and moved to the rear of the vehicle as Phil put the SUV into neutral.  Careful put one hoof on the bumper bar and started pushing the vehicle effortlessly toward the portal.

“Why don’t we drive through under our own power?” Tyrone asked.

“Three reasons,” Phil replied.  “First – engines tend to misfire and sometimes stall when passing through the portal.”  The front end of the car passed through the mirror without causing a ripple, then the passengers were pushed through it too.  Phil continued, “And we also want to be under complete control when emerging from the portal.  The mild disorientation from the transition might cause a driver to hit the gas rather than the brake and cause an accident.  Lastly, we don’t want to be spewing exhaust fumes into the factory. Believe me, as bad as it smells for humans, it’s far worse for the Equestrians.”

As the SUV was brought to a halt a few meters from the portal, Michelle said, “I’m surprised that you don’t have an EV instead.”

“Rosa has ours.  This is the vehicle I use when I go camping off the beaten track.  I’m afraid that the range of electric vehicles is still too limited to rely on them under those circumstances.  That’s one of the problems our company is working towards solving.”

While Phil was explaining, Careful Carter walked over to the control panel for the dimensional gateway and changed some settings. A light over the portal changed from green to red then back to green, and an LED sign next to it changed to read ‘Houston’.  The mare jogged through the portal and returned a moment later.  She then took position in front of the SUV.  At a nod from Phil, she pushed the vehicle back through the portal, and they emerged into the Houston warehouse.  Careful gave them a cheery wave before returning to Ponyville.  A Security guard who had been waiting closed the shutter over the portal before opening the roller door to the loading bay.  Phil started the SUV and moved the car out of the warehouse, then out onto the road after roller doors were closed to the storage area and opened to the outside.

“And that’s how we’ll be doing our express deliveries,” Phil said cheerfully as he began the trip to the new accommodations for Tyrone and Michelle.





A similar scenario was played out by Rosa with Jules. Flight AA1769 to Phoenix and then AA2940 to Ontario Airport, California, left at 9:45 AM, so they couldn’t meet up with the other three.  However, different plans had to be made for Jolene.  Because she was a last-minute replacement for Shariq, she hadn’t had the time to make moving arrangements.  Instead, she was allowed to pack her car and drive to the Charlotte office, although turning off her phone was also required.  When Rosa turned up with Jules, they transferred to the Los Angeles facility, and then Jolene followed Rosa and Jules to their new accommodations.  The Martines had leased two adjacent apartments for their new managers and they were able to unpack at leisure.  Then, since it would be many hours before their supposed flight arrived at the airport, Rosa took them back to the new office.  

“We’ll have a car on lease for you tomorrow, Jules. You have unlimited usage of it until your own is transported here along with your furniture and goods.  However, if you want to carpool with Jolene to save on gas, that’s up to you.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Martine,” Jules replied.

“What’s on the agenda now?” Jolene asked.

“The original plan was to let Jules and Shariq have some free time to settle in and get familiar with the area.  Instead, because you two are behind with the familiarization process for operations here and in Equestria, we’ll take this opportunity to get you caught up.”

Upon arrival at the facility, Jules and Jolene went to their respective offices and turned on their computers.  After logging on, both found photographs posted there taken at their dinner at The Fig Tree while they were in their Equestrian forms.  Jolene smiled fondly at the sight while Jules marveled over making more friends in Equestria during the past few days than he had in years. Neither had too much time to dwell on them because as soon as Rosa returned from the bathroom, work began.

Eventually, it was time to drive to the airport and await the arrival of their flight.  After officially arriving in California and turning their phones back on, they returned to their new digs, thus completing the official tracking.  Then they returned to the office with Rosa.

“It’s already quitting time.  We’ll head over to Equestria to meet up with the others for dinner at the castle.  Jolene – you’re going to have the opportunity to meet the royal family just as the others have done.  That will be the last opportunity to do so because the next couple of days will be concentrating on finishing your training.”

Jules said, “One thing is bothering me.  We went to a lot of effort to ensure that our phones didn’t betray our true positions, but what happens when we have them while we’re in Equestria?”

“The Vanhoover microcell is connected back to this office, so it still places you here,” Rosa replied.

“But what happens when we’re not at the factory and out of range of the microcell?  Does Canterlot have one?  And if so, where does it connect to on Earth?”

Rosa’s expression froze for a moment.  “Oops.”





“We’re going to have to look into whether we can have the microcells spoof an innocuous location or something,” Phil said after some thought when Rosa presented him with the problem.  “Not my area of expertise though so I’ll consult with the tech who provided us with the equipment.  In the meantime, Tyrone had better give his wife a call to preempt her possibly calling him later.  Same deal for anyone else who might possibly get a call from a friend.”

Jolene ended up making a call as well as Tyrone before they all headed to Canterlot.  The pink mare was introduced to the royal family including Rarity. The unicorn’s eyes danced with humor as she formally met the new member of the Harmonic Composites team.

“As my dear friend Applejack might say, that was quite the shindig that you and Pinkie threw yesterday.  Ponyville hasn’t completely recovered as yet.”

Joy leap blushed.  “Ah don’t know what to say, Ms. Rarity.  It was completely spontaneous.  It was lahk Ah met mah long-lost sister and we just clicked.”

“More than just clicked, I would say.  The citizens of Ponyville won’t soon forget about you and Jewel.”  Rarity turned to the statuesque unicorn.  “By the way, darling, do you think you could come by my boutique tomorrow?  I have some ideas in mind that I would love to show you.”

Knowing the kind of ideas that the fashionista was proposing, Jewel blushed.  “You don’t need to do that for me, really.”

“Nonsense, dear.  You have been an inspiration to me and you would be doing me a favor.”

“I suppose I could come over during my lunch break.”

“Done!  I’ll expect to see you then.  You’re going to love it!”  Rarity then left to join her herdmates.

Jewel turned to Joy and asked, “Am I going to love it?”

The pink mare giggled.  “Hon, one thing to know about being female is that if someone lahk Rarity offers to make you look right pretty, take the opportunity.  You have nothing to lose an’ you might discover somethin’ about your new self.”

Jewel reckoned she had more than a little to learn.

During dinner, Prince Mark inquired about their progress.  Tyrone was the first to reply.

“It’s been fascinating to see how magic is used in so many of the processes.”

Mark nodded.  “It might amuse you to learn that Equestrians thought the same about the modern machinery that we imported from Earth.  To them, they seemed like enchanted artifacts.”

Michelle said, “It’s like that saying – ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’.”

“There’s a corollary to that which seems to be very true here,” Jewel said.  “Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from technology.”

“Hence why it’s often called magitek nowadays,” agreed Mark.

“And it’s going to revolutionize two worlds,” Rosa said.

“I’ll drink to that!” Phil declared.





The next day was as busy as promised.  However, during lunch break held on the Baltimare side, Tyrone found time to ask about something other than business.

“Do you think you could arrange someone to give me flying lessons,” he asked, raising his wings in emphasis.

Phil looked over to Precious Goods.  “Is there anyone employed here that might be interested in doing that?  I want to keep that in-house.”

The earth pony frowned in thought.  “Hmm…  If you’re willing to pay for the instruction, there are a couple of pegasi who might be willing.  They’re both fairly familiar with humans – one’s formerly from Caleb Awad’s welding school while the other helped set up the Houston facility.  I’ll ask them after lunch.”

Phil said, “It should go without saying that flight school will be outside company hours.”

“Of course,” Tyrone replied.  “I’d like to take advantage of every day after work before Makena and the kids arrive in a couple of weeks.”

“Yeah, your wife might wonder what you’re doing with your time,” Michelle said with a smirk.

Tyrone cringed at the thought.  “What about you, Michelle?  Is there anything you need to learn about being a cat person?”

“She shrugged.  “Basic fur and claw care are about it.  I don’t have wings or a horn, so no special magic for me to learn.”

Tyrone said, “Speaking of unicorns, I wonder how Jewel is doing?”





“Mover has already given me some pointers and practice exercises,” Jewel explained.  “He’s going to give me some after-hours lessons too.”

Rosa raised an eyebrow as she looked at the Vanhoover factory manager.  “Won’t your mares be questioning why you’re late home?”

“The lessons won’t be that long.  I’ll fill in Golden Touch and Subtle Breeze tonight anyway.  I figured that it’s better than letting Jewel embed more equipment in the ceiling.”

Both Rosa and Joy looked at the unicorn mare who blushed brightly.  “I tried carrying my clipboard by telekinesis and kind of overdid it.”

“By which she means that she buried it halfway through her office ceiling,” Mover clarified with a smirk.  “Anyway, having had to teach a couple of foals, I figure it should be easier to teach an adult.”

Rosa nodded.  “Mi esposo took about a week to get reasonably competent, and a month or so before it became second nature. Nowadays, Phillipe sometimes has to think twice when he’s human as he might try to use a non-existent horn.”

Joy grinned.  “Ah bet there’ve been occasions when he’s forgotten.”

“Si, but not at the dinner table again!”  She frowned. “I was not impressed by the mess he made.”

Everyone laughed at the image that evoked.





Friday morning, Phil raised an eyebrow at the sight of Tyrone limping into the factory, favoring his left foreleg.  “Flight lessons not going well?”

“Crash lessons more like it,” Tyrone bemoaned.  “Black Nimbus says it’s a pity that hippogriffs aren’t as resilient as pegasi.  I would be able to shrug off a little thing like leaving a crater in the field.”

Phil chuckled.  “Giving up on the idea of flying then?”

“Hell, no!  I still have three good legs, and I sure liked being airborne right up until the moment I wasn’t.”

“Try not to let it affect your work.  I don’t want to have to find somepony to push you around in a wheelchair!”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, boss.”

“You’re welcome.  Now, time to get to work.  This is the final day that Rosa and I will be spending with you new managers.  We need to get back to Charlotte and catch up with other pressing matters.”





“This is the last dinner on the company’s dime, so make the most of it,” Phil told the four probationary managers at The Fig Tree that evening.

“We’re very grateful,” Joy said.  “Ah’m certainly going to have to get a large portion of mah salary paid in Equestrian bits so Ah can come here often.  The food here is heavenly!”

“Did I hear my name called?” asked the pegasus with a grin as she brought over a couple of bottles of Sweet Apple Acres Premium Cider.

“No, mi querida yegua,” Rosa replied, “but you can help us make a toast to the success of our new branches and the people who will run them.”

“Gladly.  Always willing to make the customers happy,” Heavenly Aroma said as she poured the cider into fancy fluted glasses and passed them around to everyone.

“Thanks for including Fast Mover and me in this little celebration,” Precious Goods said as she picked up her drink.

Phil replied, “You two will be working hoof in glove with these four – it will be a team effort to make your branches as successful as they can be.”  He raised his glass now that everyone had theirs filled.  “May the Magic of Harmony bring prosperity to the company and to all those who make it the best place to work in Equestria.”


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