The next three weeks saw an overall depression in the world economy. The number of cloud infected people and Mion cults were starting to climb in number as more than one cloud landed in population centers. Mions held military power almost everywhere in varying degrees, but most countries were still able to keep the sporadic militias in check.
The military learned a hard lesson from Rocky Springs, and was determined to avoid repeating it. Yet the defeat was not just the loss of half a town and a few dozen men. No matter how hard the government might have tried, they couldn’t sweep the incident under the figurative rug. Especially not with the northern half of Rocky Springs and the outlying communities suddenly wondering what happened to their friends and family.
Instead, the President held a press conference to address the issue two days after the fact. This same speech still ran across the globe; including the televisions placed within The Ranch’s mess hall. A side effect of ponies having stronger hearing made the cafeteria moderately quiet by default. Today it was quieter even than that as the audience half listened to a news talk show about it.
“Two days prior.” The nearly three week recording of the president began. “The United States, and the world at large, was attacked by a menace we have all ignored as a mere inconvenience. I’m sure you have all heard about the dangers the brown clouds that fall upon the Earth seemingly at random. Dementia, hallucinations, and other symptoms that cause a person to become irrevocably insane. The greatest medical and scientific minds are hard at work, trying to solve this problem. However until a cure is found, if it can be found, I am enacting legislation that will establish a new agency with the directive to track the clouds as they form, and formulate an Emergency Alert System to be broadcast via all media.”
The address continued for several minutes before being replaced by a talk show host and a guest star. The host himself was well known for hard hitting, almost unfair, questions on those that opposed his viewpoints, and lavishing praise to those that concurred with him. The only reason the conservatively dressed two-faced man was sullying the ponies’ eyes was because they were still not allowed to choose what channel to watch. Technically that was not true. After the CIA ordered Bowler to give them a small liberty, the Colonel gave them the remote controls to the TVs, but had gone behind their backs and filtered all other channels, save two news stations.
The host leaned forward and messed with his large oak desk’s papers. “To think a few months ago, the only thing I had to worry about from fog, was a Hollywood serial killer. But I want to talk about this cult that seems to have sprung up barely two weeks after the brown clouds did. Doctor Johansson.” He said to indicate his guest. “Do you think the fog and this…Cult of the Koridost are related?”
The aged, but still strong man sat with his right hand cupping his chin. “It would rather strange if they were. While the Koridost have only recently come into the spotlight, we still know very little about them. It is entirely possible they are just another radicalist splinter of a larger religion.”
The host kept a neutral expression, but his most loyal viewers would know he was ready to pounce. “So why appear so soon after the clouds do? I have several sources saying that these…Koridosonites are not affected by the clouds’ brain damaging effects. Now, religious fanaticism or not Doctor, faith isn’t enough to protect against such threats.”
“One can never tell with cultists.” Johansson responded plainly. “Evidence has pointed to that these people are hardly in their right minds. It’s very likely that they are in fact afflicted and die later from the maladies the clouds inflict. My colleagues and I have strong evidence that these Koridosonites, as you put them, take an exorbitant number of narcotics and other substances to ignore the clouds for at most an hour or so.”
“That’s quite fascinating Doctor.” The show host replied. “I assume you’ve published these findings to the scientific community so they may be verified.” Johansson’s brow furrowed ever so slightly. “From what I hear, that hasn’t been done.”
The doctor smiled smoothly. “I fear you forget that our preliminary findings actually have been published. Now if you’re asking for more than that I’m afraid we can’t give out incomplete information. My team’s scientific obligation is to the truth that the evidence tells us. We cannot in good conscious give incomplete information that could cost the lives of the brave men and women who combat this very serious threat.”
“Surely you can at least give my viewers and the world at large, some idea as to how the Koridosonites and the clouds are connected.”
Johansson sat up straight and cupped his hands to stare directly in the host’s eyes. “Well as I said, we have not yet explored all avenues; but so far we have not found anything linking the clouds or the Koridosonites in any way shape or form. I will be the first to say I am no behavioral specialist, but the only connection the two could possibly share is that the cult feels the clouds have some sort of religious significance.”
“As some act of god? Or maybe a sign of the end times perhaps?” The host prodded.
Johansson allowed a small grin. “As I said, I deal in hard scientific facts. Not mythology.”
Crimson turned away from the TV to refocus on her tofu burger and the smart tablet Wilder had given her. It contained anatomical information on major artery and vein locations in ponies, and how to properly dress them to limit hemorrhaging. Anderson’s sole dream before becoming a pony was to practice medicine as an emergency physician. When Thompson read that in her file, he knew she would leap at the chance to chase that dream again.
So it came to no one’s surprise when Crimson completely threw herself into her studies with a passion that strongly rivaled Alexia with magic. While her apprenticeship under Wilder was hardly the same prestige or rapid study she could have had at a proper medical school, being trained to be a combat medic was far and above what she could have hoped for.
At present, the earth pony was quite happy to find the simple gripping magic all ponies possessed in their fore hooves interacted perfectly with touch screens. Conrad came real close last week with that gunshot to the left hind leg. A couple of centimeters to the right and it would have gotten his femoral. I can understand his protectiveness over Alex, but he should really think about moving both of them out of harm’s way, rather than just take the hit.
The pony quartet was resting after their fifth operation; the last of which ended two nights ago in a successful conclusion to a week-long hostage situation in a Malaysian embassy. The group had not run across the Mions since Rocky Springs and was glad of it, Crimson most of all. The mere thought of them made her blood boil. One of these days, those creeps are going to pay for what they did to my human family. I’d like to follow Alex’s philosophy on unity with humans, but there’s no reasoning with people like that. She may not like it, but I know she agrees with me. There’s just something fundamentally wrong with those guys, and the parasitism they harbor doesn’t help.
Crimson’s alarm chimed gently so it wouldn’t disturb those around her. Begrudgingly, she halted her studies of anatomy for the moment and reached into the saddlebags sitting on the chair next to her. Within were hand written instructions from Wilder on how to be a midwife. The information was nowhere near of being on the same planet as a comprehensive guide to the complex task, but they covered the basics. Going any deeper right now or putting that data on the tablet ran the risk of Bowler intercepting it and quickly finding out the reason why it was there. Its not absolutely necessary anyway. Most women get by without a midwife anyway, but these foals are more important than just being Alex’s kids. They’ll be the first ponies born on Earth.
Anderson paused to think on that. Assuming no other mares are as far along as she is anyway. Which I doubt. Being Wilder’s on and off again apprentice made the pale yellow pony a witness to no less than fifty mares be pronounced pregnant. The vet’s professionalism keeps her from telling me how many are in total, but its got to be higher than that. At least Alex can be content with the fact that she wasn’t the only one who thought that mares have to go into heat first.
Crimson reflect on her own transformation. In a way I’m glad I turned so late. I might have ended up in their shoes. While the pale yellow mare had yet to tell anyone, she had been entertaining desires for straight intercourse. I think I’m ready for the final step. I just don’t know who to do it with. Conrad’s obviously with Alex, Danny with Violet, Bill’s got a thing for Nancy, and if I’m not mistaken, Wilber isn’t interested in mares. She couldn’t think of any other stallions she knew well enough to even attempt a one night stand. Its rather strange that even though so many of us end up as the opposite gender, we all uniformly retain our orientation. Her time in the support group told her of that.
In the end she shrugged it off. I can worry about it later. Right now… She checked the tablet’s clock. I need to get back home. Alex wants me to finish learning Equish before the next mission, if possible. She popped the last of the burger in her mouth and collected her items into the saddlebags. It was an increasingly common item amongst the population of the camp. It was almost uniformly used by those who had obtained their cutie mark, and every one of them had their respective marks proudly emblazoned on them.
The acquisition of one’s cutie mark was fast becoming a sign of distinction and the number of ponies without one was rapidly declining, bolstered only by new arrives.
Crimson deposited her tray at the cleanup conveyor and sauntered out the door. Off in the distance, thirty more four-person domiciles were being constructed, and forty more were planned. Crimson sighed at the sheer mass of color around her. Last time I checked the census, it said our population hit the seven thousand mark four days ago; although most of that is from the closure of the other Ranch in Wyoming. It’s a good thing there were born and raised farmers that became earth ponies, that experience coupled with my tribe’s magic really saved our necks when the influx was getting too much for the current food import.
She waved at a few fellow medical apprentices before resuming her thoughts. “I’d like there to be more of us as the next pony, but if this doesn’t stop soon the humans are going to start panicking about the pony pandemic.” That was one too many P’s.
I wonder what my cutie mark will end up looking like. She saw a blue unicorn stallion who often helped with the increasingly overwhelmed human medical staff. “Hey Reed! How ya been?”
The unicorn smiled warmly and moved over to walk beside her. “Well enough. It won’t be long before my telekinetic finesse will be good enough to resume my career as a surgeon.”
“You sure you’re only doing that so your cutie mark makes sense?” She tapped him on the flank was a steel colored scalpel. Reed knew it was one of the simpler marks out there, but he preferred it that way. It was simple and clearly displayed his profession without any abstract interpretations that some ponies had to deal with.
He chuckled at the younger mare. The transformation put him in the body of a stallion in his prime, but he was still beyond seventy years of age mentally. It was for that reason, and Crimson’s professional courtesy, that she didn’t seek him out for romance. “No Anderson. I’m afraid I do what I do because its what I love. When I retired three years ago, my hands were too shaky to continue my practice. I thought my days were behind me, but becoming a unicorn gave me more. I suppose that’s why I found my mark so quickly. I get to have a long full career all over again, and this time while still in my physical prime.” He spoke with reverent tones. “But enough about me, how are you holding up?” He glanced at her blank flank.
“I think I’m as ready for that last leap as can be. I just have to find the right person.” It was almost a universal rule that a cutie mark only appeared when the pony was fully at peace with being a pony and knew what they were good at. Those like Crimson and Alexia had to be fully accepting of the gender they found themselves in. Other factors depended on the individual.
He sympathized with Anderson. Reed was fortunate enough to retain his original gender, but two of his housemates had not been so fortunate. As a result, he knew some of the difficulty she went through. “I know the waters are quite thin for mares, but I trust Miss Tune will have a tenable solution.”
Anderson only hummed in shared hope. The old in mind, but young in body stallion clicked his tongue. “Speaking of Miss Tune.” Crimson’s closer ear swiveled toward him, but not her face. “As much as the four of you are distracted by your clandestine missions, I’m sure you already know how beloved she is to us all. Even the new arrivals fall in love with her within a week.” He tilted his head off to one side. “By in large anyway.”
Crimson knew exactly what he meant. “I don’t think I’d have remained sane if not for Alex; but really it wasn’t just her. Conrad and Loki was a big part of it as well.”
“As are all of our housemates.” Reed replied calmly. “We draw strength from each other in a manner I have never felt in my seventy two years.” He gave her a wise smile. “You may not be aware of this young lady.” He glanced to judge her reaction. She made no negative reaction to the feminine address. He always checked with her, even though she had not flinched at it for over two weeks. “But that was not always so.”
This time she turned to face him. “What do you mean?”
“Exactly that.” He stated simply. “I was moderately happy enough with my transformation. I lost my human form, but I regained my youth. My personal love of that silver mare developed when she showed us that all unicorns have telekinesis and not just the handful that stumbled into it before being brought here.”
Reed stared off into the distance as he recalled the memories. “I saw a chance to be a surgeon again and I took it. But Alexia did more than that. As to what or how, I’m not entirely sure. But before she arrived, I was merely content with my equine form, if only for the restoration of my youth and vitality. But she got me, and so many others, to love the ponies we’ve become. She taught us to embrace the strength we lend to one another.” He shared a knowing look with Crimson.
She was confused as to what he was leading to. “What are you trying to say?”
He decided to be slightly evasive so he could explain himself. “Tune was not the only one given a book along with her new form. I was given a book on pony anatomy. This is why Wilder and the rest of the staff have done so well…After I translated it all for them of course. You’d be surprised just how similar and yet so different we are from barnyard ponies and horses.”
Anderson’s confusion shifted. “I thought they were using the data that the pony autopsies gave them.” The mention of it made her stomach churn as to the nature of how those bodies were obtained for the autopsies.
“Well that data did give the human staff…practical experience at least. After all, one can only learn so much from a book. But I feel we are diverging too far from the topic at hand.” He cleared his throat. “A young lass by the name of Sage had a book that gave a little insight into Equestria’s leadership. Namingly, the princesses.”
“What about them?”
“Some of us, myself included, feel Alexia should be granted that same title.”
Crimson scoffed as politely as possible. “I’m sorry to tell you old man, but she’d never go for that. The only reason she lets the three of us call her Glorious Leader is because its a joke.”
He cracked a small grin. “Are you sure? The vast majority of us see her as our leader. Even those that came from the other camp saw her as such in barely over a week’s time. Under her guidance we’ve integrated many of Equestria’s customs into our growing community here. Even though we are still under the yoke of that insufferable Colonel, we are thriving. She helped us learn how to stand on four legs, and we love her for it. We’re not asking her to take up the mantle of princess as a form of government like they have it on Equis, but more of a spiritual leader.”
“She still wouldn’t take up that title.” Crimson insisted. “Maybe something else, but I know her well enough to say that she’s never take it.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“Well, for one princess is a title that’s only held by alicorns. As far as I know anyway. Even if Tune agreed to the title on every other point, she would never accept it on that reason alone.”
Reed’s expression remained warm, but was otherwise unreadable. “My dear, she doesn’t need wings to be a princess to us.” Although queen would fit better. What would be the term for a successor to a princess be anyway? “But like I’ve said to the damn Colonel’s men a hundred times. My loyalty still lies with this great country, even if there are one too many misguided people in power. But. Alexia is our leader, our princess. You know this to be true girl.”
It was Crimson’s turn to smirk at him. “I never said I didn’t old man. I wouldn’t mind calling her by that title. But the problem is Tune herself. That adoration we have for her doesn’t translate into vanity. She idolizes Twilight Sparkle, and she herself never lets power go to her head. Alex will never accept the title. If for nothing else, than out of respect for Twilight.”
They were nearing Anderson’s house. Reed gave her a side long glance. “We’ll see. Its not a sentiment that has gained much traction yet. We did rebel against a monarchy in our nation’s birth. I understand there will be resistance to having American royalty. But one must remember all the celebrities that flood the airwaves. The only difference between them and a monarch, is a crown.” He tipped his head as she reached the door. “Good day to you Miss Anderson. I hope to see you in the hospital during the next shift instead of you flying off to who knows where again.”
She laid a hoof on the door handle and faced him before opening it. “I hope not. I’m on call, and if I do show up, its bad news for somebody.”
He chuckled lightly. “Quite so. Until next time then.”
Crimson watched him depart before entering her home. Loki was on the couch reading Alexia’s tome. The green mare had very little interest in the contents and was only reading to learn Equish. It took an exorbitant amount of willpower for Loki to focus on it so Crimson tried to remain as quiet as possible so she wouldn’t distract her. Even though the two earth mares knew about the comprehension spell, it would not shatter until they fully understood the language. Anderson knew she was on the cusp of that moment herself because Conrad and Tune spoke to each other exclusively in Equish when the two earth mares were not part of the conversation. The latest conversation she overheard only had two words she didn’t understand, but the context made them discernible.
The real reason it was taking so long was because Alexia still couldn’t duplicate the comprehension spell and Twilight has remained absent since before Tune discovered her pregnancy.
The thought reminded Crimson as to why she had to return home and dropped her things off before meandering into Alexia’s room. “Goof afternoon GL.”
Tune looked up from her large hand mirror with a smile. “Hey Crimson. How was lunch?”
The pale yellow mare knew she was referring to the news more so than the meal. “Just the same rehashing about the presidential address on the clouds and the cult,” she replied with a frown. The earth mare didn’t like thinking about Mions as it brought out a lot of negativity in her. That negativity was pushed back down so she could go about her self-appointed duty. “Would you please get on the bed and lay on your back?”
Alexia placed the mirror on her dresser. “You know just because I wasn’t always female doesn’t mean I need a midwife.”
Crimson gently pushed the defiant mother-to-be towards the bed. “You may not need one, but the rest of us do. It would put Conrad’s mind at ease to know every precaution is being taken.” She didn’t want to drag her down any further with guilt in saying that Loki and herself also fussed over their future nieces or nephews.
Tune still delighted every time he fretted over his future children’s safety and sighed in defeat as she clambered up on the linen sheets. It was constant reaffirmation to her that Conrad wanted to be a father. “I suppose I must, if for nothing else than because of our line of work.”
When Alexia had been standing on all fours, she could pass off as being slightly tubby. However that illusion was dispelled in an instant under Crimson’s searching eyes and probing hoof. There was a prominent bulge poking out just under two inches from her barrel. The lean and slightly toned muscles of the unicorn’s legs attested that there was no possibility that she would be able to pass it off as fat for much longer.
“I give you two weeks tops, before Thompson or Bowler’s goons start noticing,” Crimson declared morosely.
“I don’t want to think about them right now,” Alexia replied with annoyance directed at them more than Anderson, “does everything check out?”
The magic that flows from a pony’s hoof differed from that which is expended from a horn or wings. Just as the horn was an instrument to collect and weave mana to the unicorn’s will, the hooves of an earth pony did much the same thing to achieve different effects. While it is true all the tribes’ hooves molded magic, the earth tribe’s hooves was far more refined in that process than the others. Where unicorns and pegasi were able to grasp objects and sense pressure with their hoof magic, earth ponies had far stronger grasping ability, could form around the object to tell its dimensions, sense heat, and even warn the pony if the object would cause harm if physical contact was made. This was true in addition to the other applications of earth pony magic they had at their disposal.
"Everything feels normal." Crimson used that magic to gently probe Tune’s bulge. “Has your Inner Sight told you what tribe they are?”
The unicorn cringed. “Ah well… truth be told I just used it to peek at them, I haven’t thought to inspect them on a minute detail.”
Anderson gave her a suspicious eye. “Why do I get the feeling that’s not the reason at all? Fess up.”
Alexia frowned and flopped fully on the bed, with her head pointing straight at the wall. “I’m afraid they might have serious birth defects.”
Anderson looked at her face with concern. “Why’s that?”
“Because I’m a unicorn and Conrad’s a pegasus.” Tune lifted her head back up to face her midwife. “What if they have wings and a horn, but neither work? Or that they have the itineris system of one tribe, but the appendages of the other? This isn’t something like having a white mother and an Asian father. There are big physical differences between me and Conrad. I know that just having these foals means the tribes can procreate with each other, but that doesn’t mean the twins will be fully functional. They might even be infertile.”
Crimson stopped probing the unicorn’s bulge and sat back on her haunches to think. That would devastate most of the expectant mothers and fathers out there, and I’m sure many of them might be thinking the exact same thing. “Have you been able to talk to the princess about it?”
Alexia shook her head. “Not yet. Twi did return two nights ago, but we were on assignment so I didn’t get a chance to speak.”
“Have you thought to check today?”
“I’ve been too distracted with refining my Kinetic Bleed Field matrix. I’ve cut the mana consumption by half, but projectiles still tend to get stuck in the air. Then there are the offensive and defensive versions of Blink I’ve been experimenting on, not to mention multicasting; and then there’s all the other things I do around camp.”
Crimson let the unicorn ramble off into space as she went back out and retrieved the tome from a snoring Loki. She pushed the book off her back and in front of the unicorn who was still on her back staring at the ceiling while rattling off about how some mares wanted her to bless their own pregnancy. “Isn’t that absurd? They act as if I’m the second coming!” she gave a very equine snort at the thought. “I love my people, I really truly do. But sometimes they act really weird towards me.”
Crimson flipped to the Guard page and saw the purple light was active. The act also brought Tune out of her ramblings. “Well you should check now,” She said at returning to their original conversation, “because she’s available now.”
Crimson stepped aside as Alexia eagerly turned the tome over to the side of the bed and she placed her hind legs on the floor so she could stand back once the princess came into the room. The unicorn placed her left hoof on the page. “Unlock.”
The scanning magic passed over her and a few moments later, the welcome sight of the purple alicorn materialized adjacent to the bed. “There you are my faraway student! It’s been too long.”
The earthlings bowed their heads before Alexia spoke. “That it has. How’ve you been?”
Twilight’s demeanor became irritated. “Gah! Don’t get me started. Between the griffins' long windedness and the minotaurs' criminalistically complex legal language it’s a wonder the treaty was signed this decade.” I can see why Celesta made me do it rather than go herself.
Crimson understood all but three of those words, and guessed their meaning. “It’s a shame we can’t loan you some lawyers from Earth. They love that sort of thing.”
Twilight gazed at Anderson as if seeing her for the first time. “I’m dreadfully sorry, I didn’t see you there Crimson.” She remembered her from the brief introduction a day after the yellow mare joined them. “I’m glad to see you’re taking the time to learn my language.”
“Its not perfect yet, but I’m almost there.” She struggled to make sure all of her words were in correct Equish. She was not yet able to speak it as smoothly as the other two mares.
“Well I know you’ll succeed soon enough.”
“Thank you,” Crimson replied as she turned to Alexia. “Why don’t I leave you two alone to catch up and…enlighten her majesty about certain things.”
Twilight’s critical eye passed from a smirking earth mare to a nervous unicorn. “What does that mean?”
Tune glowered at Anderson as the earth pony sauntered out of the room and shut the door. Alexia pawed the ground. “I was hoping to bring it up later, but I guess there’s no point in waiting.” She turned to display her small bulge. “I’m carrying twins.”
It took Twilight a few moments for the statement to register, and once it did she had a grin that cleaved her face. “That’s wonderful news Alex!” The alicorn bounded over to see it more clearly. “I know you’ll be a great mother.”
“I hope so.”
The nervous thread in her voice brought Sparkle’s attention back to her. “I know your government won’t like you being absent from carrying out assignments, but surely they respect life enough to grant you a leave of absence.”
Tune rotated her body to face front. “That’s not the only concern I have.” She really hated thinking about it, but she wanted to be sure so she could prepare for the worst. “You should know Conrad is the father.”
“I doubted it would be anypony else.”
“Right well, see he’s a pegasus and with me being a unicorn… I’m afraid that they might have genetic defects for having mixed heritage.”
Sparkle couldn’t stop a light titter from escaping at what she thought was a silly concern. She spoke from behind the hoof covering her grin. “I’m sorry I shouldn’t laugh at your concern, but there’s nothing to worry about. A pony’s parentage will affect what tribe they will be, but half breeds don’t exist between the tribes. Alicorns like myself are not born as we are.”
Alexia instantly forgot about her laughter and focused on the hopeful answer. “You mean, nothing else withstanding, that they’ll be perfectly healthy unicorns or pegasi?”
Twilight nodded. “Absolutely.”
Tune slumped to the floor. “Thank goodness. Ever since I started worrying about that I’ve been wearing myself ragged.”
Sparkle put her hoof down now that her grin faded. “Well I’m glad I was able to dispel those fears. I suspect you have far more questions about how to have a smooth pregnancy, but I’m afraid that is far outside my area of expertise. The only thing I have even related to that is a contraceptive spell.”
Alexia snickered at that. “If you had that spell near the beginning of the tome I’d have used it.” She stood back up. “But I can’t wait to be a mother now.”
“I’ll add it to your section of the archives, as well as a few books on how to have a healthy pregnancy and what to do in the foals’ early years.”
“I appreciate it. I know that I’m not the only mare with foals on the way.”
Twilight was flabbergasted. “I didn’t think anypony would want to have foals so quickly after changing species. I suspect yours were not planned correct?”
“No they weren’t,” Tune confirmed, “but because of our striking similarity with horses I bet the vast majority of us expectant mothers believed we’d go into heat before being fertile.”
“Ahh I see,” Sparkle exclaimed, “well that is quite problematic. The thing is, mares do go into heat.”
“Are you sure? I know I wouldn’t because I’m already pregnant, but neither Loki nor Crimson has gone into heat.”
“Its strange with us,” Sparkle said at length. “The current popular theory is that pony evolution is slowly phasing intense desire to mate out of the equation during estrus. Celesta remembers when mares had their first cycle and heat at the same time at around twelve or sixteen years of age. But that was near the beginning of her reign. Modern equestrians still become fertile at the onset of puberty, but heat doesn’t actually occur for an additional two years after the individual's puberty starts. Even though you are physically an adult, the hormonal changes those two years inflict apparently weren’t included.” She stopped her rambling early and groaned. “I bet Discord had something to do with that.”
“Speaking of Discord,” Tune started, “the number of human turned ponies is still rising. I’m more than happy to help anyone who gets changed, but it’s only a matter of time before it causes hysteria among the humans.” It was a concern that had been spreading around camp.
“I’ll speak to Discord about it if I can find him. He’s been rather quiet lately, and that’s never a good sign.”
“I’m sure he’s not causing any serious trouble.”
That elicited a sarcastic laugh out the alicorn. “That’ll be the day. But in the off chance I can’t get ahold of him any time soon, I’d like to examine the magic he used to change you. Since I believe you’re among the first ponies to be turned, you would likely have the least corrupted trace on you.”
Alexia was slightly nervous. “So long as you don’t accidently change me back into a human.”
“Don’t worry. I have enough knowledge of his chaos magic and style to know if there was a trap hex in there. Now hold still please.”
Alexia stood up straight and felt Twilight’s magic wash over her. The silver mare watched Sparkle’s face closely for any clue as to what she found. The alicorn’s brow furrowed after several minutes. “Odd. There’s no of trace his magic on you. Your transformation into a pony was completed long enough ago that all traces of the spell have vanished from you.”
“Not a problem for me,” the unicorn replied lightheartedly.
Twilight decided to take her bit by bit inspection to take the mare’s various magical properties as a whole. There’s something…off about her. She definitely a full pony. That much is painfully obvious. Her foals have the magical signature of pure ponies instead of some kind of half pony hybridized with a griffin or something. I’m not detecting any sort of chaotic deterioration or manipulation, so there are no side effects of the nature of her transformation. But what is that strangely familiar mana signature…
The princess was puzzled how she didn’t notice it about Alexia before, but the oddity surrounding the silver mare refused to explain itself to the alicorn. Eventually, she felt this method of magical probing wouldn’t give her the answers she sought and ended the spell. “Well aside from the gems you wear, there are no abnormal magical influences on you. However…”
Alexia tensed at the last word and the brooding frown on Sparkle’s face. “What is it?”
“Before I answer, I have to ask. Do other people act differently towards you, humans or ponies?”
The unicorn rubbed her chin to think. “I don’t think the humans act any differently towards me, except for the fact that almost every pony seems to think of me as the go-to leader.”
“You did mention you have been very active in helping ponies acclimate to their new species. That alone is admirable.”
Alexia grimaced. “I know, but they’re kinda scary about it.”
Twilight arched an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“Where to start…” She sat on her haunches to bring her memories to the forefront. “Let’s see, they always want me there to cut the ribbon on the ground breaking ceremonies for the big construction projects.” Glad they don’t bother doing that with all the new houses.
“Ponies keep asking me for advice on matters ranging serious to silly. They also line up and salute me whenever my housemates and I go off on a mission. The latest nail in the coffin is that mares are coming up to me asking to bless their pregnancy.”
Twilight’s expression was unreadable. “Sounds like they have a serious case of hero worship.”
“It’s the last one that concerns me most,” Tune remarked worriedly. “Granted I’m not the most spiritual person around; but in our society, only clergy or some holy person blesses children. Sure a popular politician will kiss and infant’s head or something along those lines, but that’s not considered a blessing. I’m worried these ponies might be seeing me as some kind of religious figure.”
“You haven’t been trying to come across as one have you?” Twilight inquired carefully.
Alexia flopped her head on the bed. “Heavens no. I couldn’t stand that.” Her voice was muffled by the blankets until she turned her head to the side in Sparkle’s general direction. “I know they want me to be a leader, and if that’s what they want then that’s what I’ll be.” She pushed herself back on her hooves. “But a religious figure is where I draw the line. All that pomp and ceremony, the holy-than-thou junk, I want none of that.” She marched up to Twilight with exasperation written all over her face. “Did you know I actually heard somepony shout ‘Sweet Alexia’!?”
The silver mare started pacing in front of the alicorn in a full on rant. “At first I thought it was some stallion’s miserable attempt at wolf whistling me, but then I turn the corner and find it he wasn’t even aware I was there. He was cheering when his marefriend got front row tickets to the game in the rec center.”
That grabbed Twilight’s attention and she grew concerned. “Let me do a deeper scan over you to make sure there are no hidden enchantments. That means removing your gems and I’ll have to remove the identification cantrap, I’ll reapply it later.”
“Oh um, sure.” Tune didn’t need to take off much. She always wore her invisibility bracelet, and took off the necklace that had five charging mana crystals and placed them on the bed. She resumed her original location and Twilight cast her most powerful dispel magic. The only thing the spells wouldn’t strip away would be the automatic biological effects within the unicorn.
“Round two,” Twilight remarked as she recast her probes. She was brought out of her spell almost immediately. “Alex! Did you know you’re carbuncle is way beyond overdeveloped?”
“Umm, I’m not terribly familiar with how its supposed to develop aside from maybe getting bigger.”
“No, no. This is much more than what constant spellcraft can do,” Twilight replied with more curiosity than worry. “Not only do you have three lobes when you should only have one, but its starting to condense itself to bring about a Mana Conversion.”
Tune wasn’t sure how to feel when the alicorn wasn’t displaying clear positive or negative emotions. “Is that bad?”
“Depends on if you survive.” Sparkle was keeping a close eye on the mare’s carbuncle. “I’m guessing you haven’t experienced the mana flare yet.”
“Not to my knowledge, but I’m not sure what a mana flare is.”
Twilight fell into her familiar lecture mode. “A mana flare is the moment when a pony’s carbuncle undergoes a metamorphosis to an immensely more efficient version of itself and alters the pony’s physiology. The primary effect of this is that it instead of just your carbuncle being where your mana is stored, it enabled your entire body to store mana.
This was all new information for the unicorn. “Are you saying that I’m going to turn into a mana battery?”
The purple mare half shrugged her wings. “Aside from having a much larger pool to draw from, and the need to control that mana, your daily life won’t be affected overmuch. In fact I went through a mana flare when I was a filly, and I was perfectly fine once I learned proper control. But I must tell you, this isn’t a matter of if, but when.”
“When is when?” Tune asked with dread.
Twilight watched the mana swirling around Tune’s carbuncle was flickering with power. “Hard to tell. It may take a sudden jolt of mana or it will happen on its own without warning.”
“Is there any way to stop it?”
Twilight shook her head. “This is an excessively rare trait found only in five ponies that I know of. I should have seen this when I found out you would be able to handle the Blink spell. Trying to stop it will kill you as this is a natural part of your development. The only thing I can do for you is either stay by your side for the next forty eight hours to monitor it…”
Sparkle left the statement hanging to get Tune’s reaction. “I doubt the Director will wait that long before another assignment pops up.”
“Or, we can force it to happen early.”
Alexia fell on her haunches and her forelegs crossed protectively over her womb. “What about my children?”
“It will be very difficult because I can’t be there in person. But I will do my very best to make sure they are kept from harm. I’m sorry, but this will happen, no matter what you do.”
Tune looked down at the slight bulge of her belly. “Please take good care of them. I couldn’t handle it if I hurt the twins because of this.”
Sparkle wanted to place a comforting hoof or wing on her pupil, but knew physical contact was impossible. “Don’t worry Alex. They’ll be in safe hooves.”
Alexia nodded slowly. “I trust you Sensei. Just tell me what I have to do.”
Sparkle’s demeanor became rigidly stoic. “Have you been storing up reservoir crystals like I asked?”
“Of course,” Alexia proclaimed as she moved over to her drawers and withdrew nineteen large glowing gems and the five smaller ones off the bed. “When you don’t have any clothes, you gotta find some use for all this furniture.” Each gem pulsed in a strong azure and was roughly the size of a dinner plate. The five crystals she pulled off the bed had the combined power of only one of the larger reservoir crystals.
“I think you might have gone overboard, I only asked you to keep ten at most.”
“I know, but I felt the extras might prove useful one day.” She took the crystals into her magic and brought them over to Twilight.
“Well ten was the minimum I would need judging on your carbuncle’s current state, but having three more will give us some wiggle room to make sure we trigger the flare and… actually” Sparkle took five more crystals to orbit her holographic form. “Casting the wards with your mana will make them far more effective at brushing aside any magic that would harm the twins. You should go tell your friends what we’re about to do so they don’t rush in here and interrupt.”
“Good idea. I’ll be right back.” It only took a little convincing after a lot of explanation to get the other two mares to agree to stay back and keep Conrad from interrupting if he came home early. With five reservoir crystals at the ready, Twilight began weaving the wards into place.
The next few minutes consisted of Alexia entering a meditative state at the alicorn’s instruction, and the purple mare locked each ward in place. After quadruple checking her work, Twilight brought thirteen crystals up to point at the unicorn. “Are you ready Alexia?”
Twilight had been extremely tight lipped as to what actually happened during a mana flare and the unicorn was inches from being a nervous wreck between thoughts of her foals’ safety and her own. Something doesn’t have the term ‘mana flare’ without being really dangerous. She kept the thought to herself so she could put on a strong face. “About as ready as I’m going to be.”
“Don’t try to resist. If you relax, the transition will be much smoother on both you and the foals.” The last part was a white lie as the unborn children were safe behind the wards, but it had the desired effect. Tune visibly relaxed at the thought of her progeny. Ten reservoir crystals formed a basic pattern around the silver mare and Twilight forcibly dumped all of the stored mana straight into Alexia’s carbuncle.
If this procedure was attempted on a normal unicorn, the excess mana would simply spill over them like too much water in a cup and the magic would drift off into the atmosphere. For Alexia however, that cup started feeding off the excess mana to grow bigger and bigger until the unicorn reached the breaking point.
Alexia’s eyes snapped open as her vision started to brighten to the point where it would have burned her retinas if it had been normal light. She screamed in surprise as her magic lifted her bodily into the air and her eyes were fully illuminated by azure mana. Arching lightning twisted and spat off at random directions and her body became encased in a bubble of white light. Twilight fought with the reserves of the other three crystals to keep the flaring pony from causing any permanent damage to her surroundings and keep the wards in place.
“Its only beginning…” Sparkle muttered to herself as she kept the wards stable.
Loki and Crimson were agonizing in silence until a magical pressure wave blasted its way through the house. The purple alicorn was able to keep it from interacting with the physical world before it could rip the house apart, but the few seconds it was active did manage to blow out the bedroom windows and shatter the door into splinters along with the opposite wall. The one thing Sparkle couldn’t do was keep it from rattling the wing, horns, and hooves of every pony on The Ranch as their magical nature made them receptive to the wave.
The earth pair gingerly crept over to peek in the room to find Alexia completely in cased in magic with sparks and arcs of mana peeling off of her. Loki was gobsmacked. “Crimmy, go find an old priest and a young priest.”
A minute later, a manic brown pegasus crashed through the front door and made a beeline for the bedroom. “Alex!” The mares saw him and both had to tackle him to the ground to keep the squirming stallion from running into the flare. “Let me go!”
Crimson was tossed off, but Loki leveraged her tribe’s superior strength to hold him down. “Twilight’s got things under control. You go in there now and you’ll kill Alex!”
“What are you talking about?” He searched her face for an explanation. “What’s going on in there?”
“I’m not fully sure myself, just sit tight and let the princess handle it.”
He tried to wrestle himself back up. “I want to see what’s going on.”
“Only if you promise not to run in there.” Loki countered.
“I can’t do that.”
Crimson started inching backwards as a pulsing azure light was creeping its way out into the hallway. “Guys, we should back up.”
The earth mare and pegasus stopped arguing to follow the pale yellow pony’s out stretched hoof. It only made him struggle harder. “Damn it Loki! I need to be in there!”
There was no escaping the earth pony’s firm grasp and with Crimson’s help, Loki started pulling the raging pegasus back towards the kitchen. “No. You. Don’t!”
A crackling arc of lightning shot through the wall and struck the wrestling ponies dead center. Crimson fell away from her housemates in time and avoided contact with the wild mana. She feared them dead as they were encased in azure light that flashed to reveal Loki as a potted Cannabis plant, and turned Conrad into a large snail.
Crimson broke out into a cold sweat. “Whelp, time to leave.” She sprinted for the door barely dodging a bolt of magic lightning that sailed over her head. The yellow mare rolled out the door a bare second before getting struck by yet another bolt.
While in mid roll, she noticed the lightning abruptly stopped scant inches from the edge of the house so she knew she was safe. There was a mass of twenty ponies already gathered around the house with more coming every second. A pink unicorn helped Anderson to her hooves. “What’s going on in there?”
Crimson accepted the helping hoof and dusted herself off. “Just a routine experiment.” Everyone around her gave her an incredulous look. “Well, routine for us.”
An alabaster earth stallion stepped forward. “How can I get in on these experiments?”
Crimson’s eyes darted around as she searched for a response. “Ask Loki for an interview. She’s always looking for a good time.”
Twilight felt the twenty ninth ward shatter under the intense power. “This is lasting way longer than mine did.” Sparkle fetched the last large crystal from the woefully short pile near the dresser to reinforce the remaining defenses. “But she’s a full grown mare and i was just a filly at the time.” A bolt of lightning tried to strike the alicorn, but it was easily deflected.
Another ward broke under the strain, leaving only ten in place. “This is far worse than I thought it would be.” She brought the remaining five incomplete crystals to bear to bolster the absolutely critical wards that kept the unborn from harm. “I can’t rebuild the wards while she’s like this.”
The purple mare sweated through the massive strain on her horn. If only I could be there in person, I wouldn’t have let even one ward slip. Another barrier fractured and crumbled as the onslaught intensified and blasted a second before Twilight could react. “No! Some of its slipping through! But if I stop the flare now, Alex will die for sure.”
The remaining mana in the crystals was fading fast as a third barrier was blasted away. The shields kept the vast majority of the raw magic at bay, but the same physiological changes happening to Alexia was bleeding through into the twins. The flare started to redouble in earnest as the changes reached completion. “There, I can cut it now!” The massive pulsing shell of magic surrounding the silver unicorn flicker and waned until the torrent of magic faded with such suddenness that Sparkle almost didn’t react quick enough to catch the falling mare in the last sputtering remains of the reservoir crystals. Twilight was only briefly aware of the shattered remains of the twenty four crystals that couldn’t retain their shape after being so thoroughly drained.
Alexia was conscious, but severely dazed. The alicorn used that time to fully scan the silver mare. Just like what happened to me, her body acts as the pool and her carbuncle’s only function is to produce and circulate mana. Her scans shifted to the foals and the lavender pony did every possible scan she could think of. Physical damage: none. Mental: none discernible. Mana scaring: absent… Her next scan revealed something she wasn’t fully sure on how to react to. They show signs of the same changes Alex went through. This is not good. A foal could never control that kind of power, it would make them a danger to everypony around them.
Sparkle quickly remembered a solution that helped her immensely during her earlier years under Celesta, but the alicorn would have to bring it up with the mother who was regaining lucidity. Twilight tried to keep a warm expression as Tune’s eyes came back into focus. “That was a hell of a ride.”
“That it was my student. You’ll be glad to know you made it through safely.”
“And my foals?”
The princess forced her guilt down as low as possible. “There was a slight complication.” A profound terror crept into Alexia’s heart and Sparkle knew she had to act fast before the mare did anything rash. “They’re healthy I swear, just not as they once were.”
“W-what do you mean?”
Twilight used all of Celesta’s training to keep a composed visage. “The same changes that occurred to your itineris system took place with your foals as well.”
Alexia’s mounting terror halted. “But their otherwise okay right?” The desperation was palpable in Tune’s voice.
“Yes. They will lead healthy if…slightly abnormal lives.”
Alexia climbed to her hooves. “Abnormal how?”
Sparkle cleared her throat to explain the issue in a different manner. “Like what happened to me as a filly and you just now. They underwent the same changes the mana flare caused in you. The good news at least, is that they won’t have to worry about a flare if they learn proper control.” She fell into instructor mode. “You will now, or very soon, feel extremely hungry-“
The princess was interrupted by a fearful brown stallion barging into the room and wrapping his forelegs around Tune. “Are you okay?” He separated to inspect her. “All that magic and lightning. Are you fine? What about the twins?”
Alexia pulled him back into a hug while Sparkle fell silent. “We’re fine Conny. We’re alright.” The fear of losing the foals broke the emotional mask and she was brought tears.
As the couple comforted each other, Loki stuck her head out to survey the scene. “I take its safe to come in now?”
Twilight didn’t know if Loki understood Equish as the question had been in English, but the grass green mare knew when the last thing they needed was outside interruption. Loki bolted to the crowd outside where Crimson was about to reenter the house. “Is everything fine in there?”
Loki nodded to the pale yellow mare before yelling at the crowd. “Move along people nothing to see here.”
“Is Princess Alexia okay!?” Someone from the crowd yelled. Loki thought that was strange way to address her friend, but couldn’t locate the source.
“Yeah! Is she alive?”
“What was that light show?
Loki shouted to silence everyone. “She’s alive and well.” The shouting ceased, allowing her to take a more normal tone. “There was a problem with a spell and it backfired on us. Made the whole thing go whack. Alex just finished fixing the whole thing so you all can go about your business. I’m sure she’ll come out later.”
“We’re not leaving until we know if Tune is alive!” The lone voice was joined by a chorus of yells and stomping hooves.
Loki leaned into Crimson’s ear. “See if she can show herself so they’ll go away. I’ll stall for time.”
“Got it.” Anderson quickly made her way to the bedroom where Twilight was explaining a few more details.
“I’ll need to teach you proper meditation techniques to keep your mana in check. I strongly believe that so long as you're pregnant, that meditative control can keep your foals’ magic from surging as well. They will have to be given limiters until they can learn meditation as well. In a sense its better that they are born with this so they can learn control at an early age.”
“Um, sorry to interrupt Princess, but there’s a mob of ponies outside wanting to know if Alex is alive and well.”
Twilight’s ear flicked to catch the chanting outside. She heard a way to inject a little humor back into the room. “We can talk some more after you calm your subjects’ fears.”
Tune stood up after separating from Conrad. “They are not my subjects,” Alexia grumbled more towards the ponies outside than to the actual princess. “American royalty is a ludicrous idea. If we were in England this kind of thing would likely get me arrested for trying to oust the Queen.”
The silver mare was still on an emotional rollercoaster, but Twilight’s wit gave her some focus. She reached the open front door to find a sweating Loki and over a hundred gathered ponies outside. The green mare saw her coming. “Finally, you’re here.” Loki wrapped a leg around Tune and dragged her out into the front steps. “See?! She’s fine! Everything’s fine here, situation normal.”
The crowd hushed into silence for Alexia to speak. It was a terribly uncomfortable moment for the emotionally raw mare. She almost yelled out in Equish, but was able to catch herself to speak in English. “Look guys. I appreciate the concern, I honestly do. But as you can see I’m alive and unharmed. However, some issues have come up though and I’ll need to miss the four o’clock support meeting.” A collective round of disappointment filtered through half of the crowd.
Loki leaned into her ear. “They keep wanting to call you princess. As for why they insist on using your first name instead of your last is beyond me.”
“Thanks for reminding me,” Tune whispered back before readdressing her fans. “And another thing. Quit with the princess stuff. This is America. We don’t do royalty. And for goodness sakes people, why princess anyway? What would the heir be called?”
A random pony from the back shouted a response. “We’ll think of something.”
An annoyed tick of her left ear and a half groan heralded her reply. “You’re missing the point. I’m not royalty!”
“You are if we say you are!” A different voice called all and was joined in with a loud chorus of affirmatives and a few seconds of stomping hooves.
She jabbed a hoof at the crowd and passed it over everyone present. “This is not over, and I am not royalty!” Alexia stormed back inside with Loki shutting the door behind her.
Reed yelled out before the ponies started dispersing. “She’ll warm up to it.”
Tune fumed as she went into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of baby carrots and stomped her way back to her room with four of them stuffed in her mouth. Twilight was still there, discussing the major events since her last visit.
Conrad knew what he heard, but wanted to be discreet. “What was that all about?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” the unicorn replied curtly. She sat down next to Twilight when a thought struck her. “Actually, I want to ask one thing.”
After her failure to fully protect the foals, Twilight was in a forgiving mood about Alexia’s abysmal, if warranted, attitude. “Name it.”
“Are there any non-alicorn royal families?”
“Well there’s the nobility of course, but that’s not the same thing. There hasn’t been a unicorn royal family since Celesta and Luna assumed the thrones and the dismantlement of the Diamond Kingdom.”
“See!?” Tune flailed her hooves at everyone and everything, although it was mostly directed at her housemates. “No bloody unicorn royalty!”
“They seem dead set on it,” Crimson ventured.
“Well I told them no, and that answer isn’t changing,” Alexia declared heatedly.
Sparkle felt it was best to change topics. “I just heard from your friends Alex, that you solved the issue with bullets breaking through the shields.”
The silver mare was more than happy to switch the conversation to her studies. “I did actually.”
Loki jumped in. “Oh you should have seen it! There were like twenty guys with machine guns and assault rifles and they were like ‘you gunna die four legs!’ And Alex was like, you activated my trap card! And then I gave them the one-two kick as those cretins tried to hose us down.” She reached over and wrapped a foreleg around Tune and pulled in close with the other hoof sweeping the air in a grandiose fashion. “But ol horny here stopped that lead before it even left the barrel. So we trounced them in record time and saved the president’s daughter from the doomsday cult. We were praised as heroes!”
Sparkle wasn’t exactly sure just how much of that wasn’t blown out of proportion. “That’s quite the tale.” The alicorn’s own Guard was nearly ready to begin operations as well, so she used this time to get used to stories that glamorized violence.
Crimson removed the green mare from the silver one and sat on Loki’s back. “Actually it was a bunch of eco-terrorists and it wasn’t the president’s daughter, it was the daughter of Tricorp’s head chairman.”
Loki huffed under the pale yellow pony’s weight. “I was accurate enough.”
The purple mare was glad to see the room’s mood elevate. “I would like to see the spell at a better time. Right now I wish to go over some meditation techniques with you so you can keep both your and the foals’ mana levels in check. It will be crucial or else your magic could spiral out of control.”
Tune nodded in acceptance of her new condition and turned to Conrad to whisper to him before he could take the hint and leave. “This might take a while, so I’ll move the tome into Loki’s room so you guys can pick up the pieces. I’ll make it up to you and the girls later.”
He accepted the offer, but was a little confused. “Why do you need to whisper that?”
“Because I know you’ve been holding off on talking to them about forming a herd.” The pegasus’s frown was forced into a pressed line.
The couple had agreed to marriage without ever actually formally proposing. It was an understood prerequisite to forming a herd in the first place. The couple had agreed earlier that Alexia was prepared to go against cultural norms in the name of preserving her species’ collective sanity. It was not a serious issue yet, but it was slowly becoming a problem as the number of available stallions had dwindled to next to nothing. However the number of free mares looking for a relationship consisted of nearly twenty seven percent of the total pony population thanks to Alexia’s influence making more and more of them comfortable enough in their new forms to desire romance again.
That percentage would only continue to rise and it was putting unwanted pressure on Conrad to confront his reservations about polygamy. “Is now a good time? We should do this together at least.”
Tune gave a brief nuzzle and kiss. “Conny. I know you can’t have this talk if I’m in the same room. You get as weirded out by it as I did when I first thought of making love with you. I know your fidelity is incorruptible, but we’re ponies. That same fidelity has to be shared.” He tried to say something, but she held a restraining hoof. “I’m not asking you to do anything big right now. Just bring the topic up while I’m with Twi in learning how to keep my condition under control.” She brought him in for a tight embrace. “You have my consent to bring them in, but mine isn’t enough. This has to be in agreement with both of us to work.”
He relished her touch and cloyingly sweet scent. He took a deep breath to work up the courage. “Okay Alex. I promise to talk to them about it.”
“That’s all I ask. If they want to go further, we do it together.” They separated and Tune grabbed the tome so she could take it into the other room while speaking to Twilight. “Where do we begin?”
Sparkle’s answer was ignored by the lone stallion as he tried to wrestle with doubt on the issue. The princess is used to that kind of culture and social need, but I don’t know how Alex is going to keep from being heartbroken in the end if we do this.
Loki pushed Crimson off of her to stand up. Anderson would have complained if both earth mares weren’t aware of Conrad’s indecisiveness. It was a look he carried often and was the one thing he kept hidden from the two earth ponies. Crimson didn’t like it. We all agreed to be completely open with each other. My life, both current and past, is a completely open book to these three and so are their lives, except for this one thing. Alex always says its something Conrad has to prepare himself for and that we’ll only get answers from him. She glanced at Loki who nodded. Well I’m tired of waiting for answers.
Flanked by the green pony, Anderson stood in front of Conrad with a friendly, but stern expression. “Are you finally going to tell us what’s been bugging you for past few weeks?”
“Yeah, fess up boy. I’ve held off bucking some sense into you for days. Give up the ghost.”
The brown stallion tsked at being called out for the fifth time since Alexia first brought the topic up. If we‘re going to talk, I at least want to do it while cleaning up the room. He got up to fix the nightstand back up with the pair of mares watching. “Fine I’ll talk,” he said to buy time. “Alexia wants to form a herd with you two.” He knew the unicorn would eventually try to get both earth ponies into it so he decided to bite the bullet on both at once.
Loki tilted her head in confusion. “I thought we were in a herd already.”
Crimson at least, decided to start helping him fix the furniture as Conrad answered her. “Apparently what the four of us have going doesn’t count as a herd.” He pulled a drawer out to get the hand vacuum to clean up all the scattered broken crystal fragments. He rested a hoof on the device, but hesitated for several seconds to keep his courage up. “She wants…She wants there to be feelings between all four of us.”
Loki had not been laid since becoming a pony and had no luck grabbing a different stallion thus far. Needless to say, her curiosity was instantly piqued at the chance. “When you say feelings,” she replied slowly and carefully. “Does that include sex with you?” I swear if you’re stringing me along I’ll do something to ya. Something bad.
“Damn Loki,” Crimson rebuked sternly. “Can you not think about that for more than a day?”
“Shush shhh!” The green mare hissed before running over to Conrad who was fixing the bed. “Well? Is it true?”
Conrad was used to her antics, and was well aware of the green mare’s desperation. The biggest reason he had growing respect for her was that Loki never asked him or any other stallion to betray their love interest to satisfy her. So it was no real surprise that the moment he brought up the idea that Alexia was willing to share, she jumped at the chance.
“Yes, its true.” As the trio cleaned up the house as much as possible without a replacement window or bedroom door, Conrad explained everything about what really consisted of a herd, that the three to one mare to stallion ratio was normal for ponies, along with the social and psychological reasons to form a herd.
All of it made Loki giddy. I suddenly really really really love the fact that we kissed and made up. “So if you’re talking to us about this, then you’re actually willing to do it!?” Conrad raised an annoyed eyebrow at the desperate mare groveling at his hooves. “Pleeeease!”
He was at an impasse. Never in a million years did I think males would have the upper hand in this sort of thing. “I can only say I’m open to it. If you want to go any further than that, then the three of us need to speak together at the same time.”
“Oh thank you samurai!” Loki planted a heavy, if not totally unsurprising, kiss on Conrad’s muzzle. “You don’t regret a moment of it I swear!” She had to think of something quick give as an offering. “I’ll go run down to the quartermaster to get a new window, door, and some stuff to fix the walls.”
“That would be helpful.” He admitted cautiously.
“Back in a flash!” A small cloud of dust was the only mark of her passing as the living room was suddenly vacated by one mare.
Anderson and Conrad were left alone in the living room. The earth pony was fidgeting with her tail, having largely ignored Loki’s antics as par for the course. The silence hung for several moments as Conrad tried to prepare himself for what Alexia might have planned for the formal formation of a herd.
It was Crimson who broke the peace. “So um. This is really going to be a thing?”
“As far as I can imagine,” he stated simply, “Alex really wants this to work out. You know how she is about getting our kind to establish ourselves as a healthy species. And after finding out that the unbalanced gender ratio is normal for us, she felt this needs to happen.”
“How do you feel about it though?” she probed.
“If it wasn’t for Tune being behind this a hundred percent of the way and Twilight’s explanations, I’d feel like she’s asking me to cheat on her.” He sat on the couch so his forelegs were free to try and rub the headache away. “But its not cheating if everyone involved is for it though…right?”
“As far as I know,” Anderson offered with only moderate certainty. “I mean, it makes sense this would be natural for our species. Maybe if we give it a chance it may fall into place alongside the herd mentality we already share.”
He hoped that would be the case. “That might be why it’s called that.” He studied her nervous fidgeting. “Alexia wanted to let you know that you’re more than welcome to be a part of it.” He paused before adding, “when you’re ready to take that step of course.”
She nodded in gratitude and took a calming breath before speaking. “I’d like to say I’m ready, but know I’m not really.” I need to get over this. I’m a mare now, and there’s no changing that. She was aware of the possible alteration magic, but Crimson wanted to follow Tune’s lead and accept herself as she was. I know in my heart that I’m straight, but I just need to get that through my mind that, that means having sex with stallions. “But I’m as close to it as I can possibly get.”
“I’m not going to pretend to know what you’re going through. But Alexia can help you fully prepare for it. The only question now, is how Alex plans to do this.”
Director Thompson sat in his office roughly forty miles north of The Ranch reading over several personnel files from the survivors of Able Company. His office was little more than a white nondescript van sitting in the parking lot of a local café. His desk was built into the side of the wall and was immaculate save for the crumbs that tumbled off his calzone. The files he was reading had been gathered and properly screened for the information he desired.
“Interesting,” he mused aloud, “every member of Able Company that participated in social bonding with the mares after going through decontamination showed signs of generally shorter lived depression; yet mourning time remained the same. No behavioral changes detected in members of Lima squad, save the request to work with Tune’s team in the future. Given the bullet protection, that’s understandable.”
He moved down in his search. “Seems word of the ponies’ exploits have made them a hot topic at base camp. But command did give the order to not speak of the equines outside of those in the Army.” His brow furrowed in bemusement. “Well its what I was hoping for. And it seems my concerns over petting ponies having adverse effects on a person’s mind were unfounded.”
He leaned back in his chair with a sigh of relief. “Glad to see it was a simple morale boost instead of mental manipulation.” He rubbed his face in mild exhaustion over fretting about the whole thing for the past three weeks. “Now I can get command off my back about them working with the military again.”
A knock on the van’s back doors grabbed his attention and Thompson glanced at the exterior hidden camera to see it was Moore with a package. The Director hit the buzzer to unlock the door so Moore could enter. “Evening Director,” he said as he climbed in and shut the door behind him before sitting in the adjacent chair.
“Evening.” He eyed the brown cardboard box. “What’s that?”
“Just a little something from Shield Industries,” Moore replied as he grabbed a pocketknife to slice the tape off to pull out a two inch thick and six inch wide device with an incomplete copy of the antimagic diagram Alexia gave them almost a month ago. “This sir, is the higher up’s way of saying they got executive approval to close the last internment camp. In fact…” He rummaged through the packing peanuts to withdraw several sheets of paper. “Our next orders.”
“Hell of a way to send them,” Thompson replied as he started reading. A fierce grin grew over his face as he kept reading to the end. “I was hoping they were finally going to get around to this. The President wants to hold a press conference with Alexia to announce the ponies’ existence to the American public and to close The Ranch permanently.”
“I believe the delay was to create several versions of these sir,” Moore replied while pointing at the device.
Thompson eyes the odd thing before flipping through the rest of the pages. “Doesn’t say how it works.”
“But we already know how it works,” Moore countered, “it only needs the diagram to be complete to function.”
“Aye, it does.” Thompson put the pages down and found the power plug for what the pages called: The Inhibitor. "But that doesn't mean the boys in the lab didn't find a way to muck that up." The van had several power sockets available and he plugged it in and fished out the remote control from the box. He pressed the only labeled button and the inhibitor made several sounds of warming up along with spinning cooling fans as the pattern lit into its completed form.
The Director hummed in mild disapproval. “I see they made it seem like the diagram is not the source of the machine’s effectiveness. Instead they made it look like whatever garbage they threw together is what dampens magic.” He shut it off and the diagram faded instantly. “But surely people will notice the prominently displayed pattern.”
“From what I was told sir,” Moore responded, “is that this is just a prototype to see if a light based pattern could still have the same effect as a physically drawn diagram. All other models will have the array hidden from sight to make it look like the rest of the circuitry is what protects the area from magic.”
“I suppose they want me to destroy the prototype then?”
“That is what I was told sir,” Moore confirmed. “It already has a self-destruct in place, you just need to press the right button on the remote.”
Thompson saw the control had no labels on the buttons save for the power switch, so he reread some of the pages. “At least they had the presence of mind to tell me to do this in an open field with twenty feet of unobstructed space.” He read further to see his next orders.
“We’re leaving for The Ranch in two days to we can escort Tune’s group to the White House. By then, the Commander in Chief will have his speech ready.”
Meanwhile during a light dinner, Alexia’s household met in the living room. Loki was nonplussed about the topic at hand. “You two are getting married? But I thought you said you wanted to form a herd.”
Tune was sitting next to Conrad on the couch, with a piece of broccoli floating next to her. “We do. But we decided to use pony wedding vows instead of traditional Earth ones.”
Conrad finishes swallowing a bite of an apple. “Basically it’s the same sort of thing, except it’s a declaration to form a herd, rather than close ourselves off to others.”
“Oh.” Loki sagged in relief. “Here I thought you were making fun of me again.”
Crimson clapped her hooves together. “I knew you two were going to hitch up eventually. I’m really happy for you.” The couple snickered at each other. “So when did you want to have the ceremony? I’m sure the camp would love to attend.”
Alexia shifted in her seat uncomfortably. “Actually, I wanted it to be a private affair with just the four of us. I’ll still tell the camp, but I want the ceremony itself to be a comparatively peaceful one.”
Loki was thrilled at the prospect, but a question nagged at her. “I’ve been kinda wondering about the whole thing since a few other couples out there have been asking. How do equestrians show off their relationship off if only unicorns can wear a ring?”
“Twilight gave a solution for that,” Alexia replied, “there have been a bunch of different ways herds showed their affection to one another in the past. Unicorns were the only ones to use rings as they put the rings on their horns, and pegasi would have one of the alpha’s feathers tied into their manes. But it was the earth ponies’ tradition that survived to the present day of a unified Equestria where multi-tribe herds are the norm.”
Tune took a bite of food before continuing. “The earth ponies were able to imbue flowers with their magic so that, when eaten, a small piece of each herdmate’s mane color would appear on the others. The alpha would have a thin strip of his or her partners’ color appear on the top part of their mane.” She rubbed her bangs to demonstrate. “While the others have it appear about mid-way up their necks.”
Conrad elaborated further. “After Equestria unified, the unicorns improved the spell so that it became a permanent color change that would only fade when and if a herdmate leaves the group.”
Crimson thought it was an interesting custom. No need to worry about losing the ring, and is a very prominent display to everyone around them. "That sounds really good, but what about ponies who have natural multicolored hair.” She brushed her own mane to add emphasis. “It may be roughly the same color, but my mane is two distinct shades.”
That brought the couple up short with Alexia actually responding. “I’m not sure. But we’ll find out if you’re interested in joining us.”
“I-I am.” Anderson told more to herself than to Tune. “You’ve invited me into your lives without a second thought, and here you do it again for the next level.” Crimson felt unwavering elation from the invitation and allowed herself to sink fully into the herd mentality. “I would be honored to join your herd.”
It was that same total submersion into the herd mentality that broke through the last of her internal resistance and caused a small spark of magic to flash from the back of her eyes and caused the pale yellow mare to yelp in surprise. Her perception of the world around her disconnected from her awareness as the magic was finally unleashed to reforge her spirit to fit the pony shell that now carried it. A worn wooden staff with a single green snake coiled around its length appeared on her flanks.
When the earth pony regained lucidity a few moments later, she found herself lying on her side staring up at the happy and proud faces of her future herdmates. Loki pulled her up into a crushing hug. “Welcome to the full pony club.”
Crimson had seen a handful of ponies get their cutie marks in the past, including Conrad. “I want to see it!” Loki let go and the other three ponies crowded around the yellow mare to study the mark with her.
Conrad was unfamiliar with it. “A staff and a snake? What does that mean?”
Crimson laughed heartedly as she rubbed a hoof through the image. “Any physician worth their salt would know this. It’s the Rod of Asclepius.” I’m going to have to thank the Director for naming me the team medic. I don’t think I would have reentered medicine if not for that. She couldn’t stop staring at her cutie mark. “I told you guys I was going to be a doctor before becoming a pony.”
Alexia was ecstatic for her friend. “I guess that means you’ll keep burying your nose in the medical books as much I do with magic.”
Anderson’s eyes misted over and spoke with chocking sobs. “I still get to be a doctor one day.” The other ponies pulled her to her hoofs and embraced her. Crimson’s elation was bolstered further by her friends’ support. Conrad wasn’t much for cheesy or emotional lines, so he remained silent, and let his actions speak for him. Loki was happy to know that now Crimson’s spirit matched her body, her magic would flow properly and could finally start being a worthy rival in physical trials.
Alexia reared her head back to speak. “We should celebrate this very special occasion.” The rest of the group separated. “This is more than just Crimmy getting her cutie mark, but now everyone in our house has their marks.”
Loki pulled Conrad in for an overtly amorous nuzzle. “We can go to the bar and get hammered.”
Tune gave Conrad a consenting wink which allowed him to relax and attempt to return the nuzzle. “I can be the sober one to make sure we all get home safely.” She turned to Crimson. “You up for it?”
Well I would like to go back to studying, but they’re right. This is a good occasion to drink. “I’m game.”