Conrad awoke in the morning of the sixth day since Bowler’s attack. He was still in the hospital room, but had been allowed to be up and about in very light activity. He remembered scores of ponies coming to visit Tune throughout the week, but eventually the princess had had enough and tactfully asked to not be disturbed until her convalescence was complete.
Loki exaggerated the alicorn’s injuries to the public so that Alexia could use the time to repair her mana, and avoid other sources of embarrassment. Primarily from her uninjured wing having the annoying habit of not always staying put as it kept trying to either mirror it’s twin’s position or the injured wing straining to fold against her barrel. Eventually the doctors had to numb both wings so she could get some sleep.
At present, Conrad noticed she had already eaten breakfast and her horn was aglow while she continued to repair her itineris system. She looked uncomfortable with having her back slightly pulled up thanks to the cast on her wing.
Well she’s not going to be much for conversation right now. It pained him to breathe, let alone move, but the stallion managed to reach over and grab the remote control for the mounted television and clicked it onto the news. He made sure the volume was kept low enough to keep from bothering her.
A female news anchor with a nasally voice appeared on screen. “-causing the hydroelectric power plants to remain offline for the next five years. The leading theory is criminal negligence. Moving back to the latest developments on what is now being called an anonymous declaration of war. Military forces of a currently unknown nation state assaulted Washington D.C. last week.”
The camera switched to video clips and pictures of burnt buildings, dead or wounded civilians, and the White House which had a white tarp covering the damaged sections. “Due to the size and scope of the attack, many experts are hard pressed to believe that it was the act of a terrorist organization. However, the Pentagon has yet to release any statements as to the discovery of a culprit. Nevertheless, that has not stopped many from naming suspects. Many groups are claiming it was in fact, the actions of a worldwide cult known as the Koridosonites.”
The picture shifted to still images taken during the siege. Many of which depicted civilians avoiding the clouds while assailants either fired out from the fog, or dragged people into it. “Joining with us now is the national expert on the psychotropic brown fog, Doctor Johansson.”
The scientist’s grim face appeared in what looked to be the man’s private office. “Thank you for having me Joan.”
Conrad arched an eyebrow at the man. This guy’s a snake.
“Not at all,” she replied with a professionally warm smile. The news anchor shifted her papers to buy time to read the questions on the prompter. “So tell us Doctor, what are your thoughts on these latest developments?”
“Well I believe I should address the most common misconception. I do not believe this to be the work of the Koridosonites, but instead we have a clear cut case of a nation state using the cult as a scapegoat. To mount an attack against the capital would require far more men and material than a cult, or extremist group could possibly provide.”
Joan tapped her chin in contemplation. “And yet we have recordings of the attack showing the culprits in the city praising this pantheon of gods the cult claims to worship.”
The anchor gestured for a video clip of a foolhardy cameraman taking footage of three plain looking Mions bashing a neighbor’s door in. The one trying to kick the door down was shouting while the other two sang a war hymn in a guttural language that sounded like a bastardized mixture of Russian and German. The song grated Conrad’s ears so badly he muted it and turned the subtitles on. The anchor spoke. “This particular style of…language has been attributed to the cult for some time now.”
Johansson’s face was dismissive. “As I have stated many times in the past, I deal in hard facts about the clouds themselves, not speculation. However, for reasons I cannot explain, my opinion on this matter is of interest. This singing is hardly proof of the cult’s involvement. If anything, whoever was behind the siege obviously knew about this connection that conspiracy theorists seem to love throwing around and had their men imitate it.”
The stallion assumed the song was over and unmuted the broadcast. It would be kind of hard to believe a cult could produce super soldiers like the ones in the bunker. I haven’t seen any of those guys on the news. Plus there’s no way anyone but a nation state could make every last one of them melt on command. It sounds like high grade military bio weaponry.
The broadcast continued for several more minutes. Conrad hoped that he might be able to sift the true culprit out of the myriad of theories. In the end, he felt the truth would not come from the news.
A knock on the door heralded Director Thompson’s entry. Conrad muted the news to speak quietly and was grateful he was closer to the door than his alpha. “She needs to finish meditating.”
The Director was holding a black briefcase that matched his black suit and took one look at the silent mare and nodded. “I trust you can relay this information when she is available then.” The brown and steel colored pony nodded and Thompson briefly glanced at the news to note what was on. “I see you are familiar with Doctor Johansson.”
Conrad looked back at the screen to see it switch back to the anchor. “Only what shows up in the news.”
“Well you’re going to learn a lot more about him soon enough. My superiors want your herd to investigate his compound with discretion, using any means you or Alexia deems fit.”
The stallion was rather surprised by the mission parameters. “You mean you want us to try something other than infiltration and attack?”
“Correct.” The Director put the end of his briefcase on the side of the bed. “With ponies being publically recognized as citizens of America, there is no need to restrict the four of you to clandestine operations anymore.” Especially given certain developments with her. “What better way to begin a full integration of our two peoples than to show you having positions of authority, even if it is not directly in public attention.”
“Sure, we can get behind that,” Conrad replied with a friendly grin. “How’s the latest in closing The Ranch?”
“As you might expect, morale remains high, even with Bowler’s attempt on your lives. Between all of our testimonies, and Fitzgerald himself coming in to personally put the hammer on the Colonel, being stripped of his commission is the least of his concerns.”
Conrad managed to raise both eyebrows in shock. “The president himself went to the court martial?”
“Are you really so surprised?” Thompson genuinely asked. “After all the publicity he put into you guys and managing to save his life, you think he’d just let the JAG silently sweep this under the rug?”
The brown pony shifted in his posture to sit on his haunches. “What a politician does behind closed doors and what he does in the public eye are typically two very different things.”
Thompson slowly nodded in agreement while drumming his fingers on the side of the bed. “I’ll give you that. But after I told him all of what your people can offer and the dinner discussion before the press release, the CiC wants this merger of our two species to work. Not responding to Bowler’s actions would have undermined that.”
When it comes to reelection, every politician is self-serving. Conrad’s grim view over politics in general had one bright spot. “So what all is going to happen to the good Colonel?”
“The way it looks like right now? A dishonorable discharge and enough charges for two consecutive life sentences.”
Conrad huffed indignantly. “Well I’m not losing any sleep over the bastard.”
“I thought not.”
“After we told everyone to leave Alex alone so she could recoup, I’ve been out of the loop. How’s The Ranch closure coming?”
“As I’m sure you’ve heard from the window or your other mates, flights in and out of the airfield has picked up. Many ponies have returned to whatever homes they left behind. As to their future success, I cannot say. Many however, have expressed wishes to stay with you, or at least stay with Princess Alexia if you want the real truth.”
The stallion looked at the mare in question. She was still ignorant to the world as her meditation continued unabated. “I’m kind of surprised the three of us don’t have proxy celebrity status.”
“You do, but not anywhere close to her.” Thompson replied evenly. “However the main issue with closing The Ranch is that I don’t know where to send the ponies that want to stay with Tune. Do you know of where she might want to resettle? Her original home town perhaps?”
Conrad mulled it over. “I don’t think Salina could support such a population influx.” His eyes lit up as a thought struck him. “I got it! Loki contracted a construction company to build us a small startup settlement a while ago. From what I remember, she was still funding and expanding it ever since getting back in contact with the Net.”
“A startup settlement?” Thompson asked incredulously. “Where could she get the funds that kind of work?”
Conrad sat back in his bed and replied with a flat tone. “Perfectly legal activity.”
The Director knew Loki was the kind of hacker the CIA would kill to recruit. “So long as Loki keeps those actives from harming U.S. interests I will not pursue it. In any case, I will see to her about getting the details.” He opened the briefcase. “In the meantime, I want to present you with these.”
Thompson withdrew two manila folders and handed the stallion the one bearing his name. Conrad opened it and withdrew documents of multiple sizes as well as identification cards. He singled out a driver’s license that possessed his face, he noticed the name. “Conrad Tune?”
“Neither you nor Loki has ever given a family name. You know our system requires everyone to have a surname. Given your unique marital status, I thought that would be more fitting than a random name.”
“Thanks for the thought Director. But herdmates don’t take each other’s names. Are you sure there’s no other way to make us identifiable in the system?”
Thompson shook his head. “I briefly explored the option of leaving Tune out of your name and having your cutie mark as the identifying feature, but that would require a complete restructuring of the entire database to include a picture instead of plain text data. The only other option that’s still being explored is making it mandatory for ponies to memorize a unique self-identifying number in addition to the social security number.”
That garnered a quizzical look from the stallion. “Why? Surly people like me and Loki having one name are uncommon.”
“You don’t know?” Thompson asked with pure bemusement. “A large number of pregnant mares have expressed desires to name their foals in pony style names. That means the abandonment of family names entirely.”
The brown pegasus was taken aback. “I knew my brethren wanted to incorporate equestrian traditions, but I didn’t think it was going that far.”
Thompson rubbed the back of his neck in the first show of fatigue he had ever displayed to his agents. “It’s a trend I don’t see any real sign in slowing down. I think it’ll stay out of control until Tune puts a stop to it.”
“Well its not harmful is it?”
“No, not really. But it will make the rest of human society's view of ponies as being more alien.”
Conrad looked at the marital status on the card. It was pleasingly stated as herdmate. However, the stallion noticed that his cutie mark was a small watermark in the bottom right corner. “That makes sense.” He switched gears. “How long are we going to stay in the hospital?”
“The physicians are no longer baffled, but still very impressed with your species’ regenerative abilities. It’s not enough to make a different in the heat of battle, but they say you should be fully healed by tomorrow and Alexia one day after that. My superiors are willing to wait that long before you are to begin your investigation on Doctor Johansson. After that, I’m willing to give the four of you time to assist the other ponies in helping or deciding what they’ll be doing with themselves.”
Thompson closed his briefcase and took it off the bed, while leaving Alexia’s identification paperwork with the pegasus. “And having the four of you begin your careers as instructors.”
Conrad held onto Tune’s envelope. “Instructors?”
Thompson nodded. “With full public acknowledgement and citizenship, I’ve received a hundred and five requests from other ponies to join our department in this week alone. I will be doing the initial screening and fitness tests while you’re on this assignment with Doctor Johansson.” He sighed at his follow up statement. “When Tune was brought in for treatment for her injuries, the physicians informed me she is with child.”
The father-to-be grimaced. “We weren’t going to be able to hide it forever.”
Thompson was annoyed at the lack of disclosure. “I wish you had told me earlier.”
Conrad crossed his forelegs. “You can’t blame us for being cautious.”
Thompson decided to drop the matter for now. “At least that would explain Alexia’s approved extended leave of absence.” The human moved to leave. “Now I have matters to tend to. I will expect the four of you on the plane to San Francisco’s international airport by thirteen hundred hours on Friday. I’ll have the specifics ready by tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll be sure Alexia is informed. Although you know she’ll want to spend time with her people. You know how attached she is to them.”
Thompson stopped before opening the door. “It is mirrored by her people. My superiors send their condolences about the injuries suffered by Bowler, and time lost for recovery. However this matter with Johansson has been given priority.”
Conrad place the items on the food tray attached to the bed. “I’ll tell her.” After the Director left, the pegasus wanted to get outside and stretch his wings. He knew he couldn’t however. No way of knowing if any of Bowler’s goons are still on base. So long as Alex is healing in this room, my place is at her side.
That did not stop him from stretching his muscles to get the stiffness out while remaining in the room. Crimson arrived twenty minutes after the Director with a trolley cart of fresh bandages and other tools. She noticed right away that Conrad was up and about. “I see you’re not follow doctor’s orders and staying in bed.”
He scoffed at it. “The docs are too used to human patients. I feel fine.”
She pushed the cart to the foot of his bed and grabbed a pair of automatic scissors. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
He waved her off. “See to Alex first. The sooner you can remove her wing from the ceiling the better.”
Anderson considered it. “Very well.”
The medic left him to his stretches and saw Tune was like how she had been for most of the past six days when not speaking with her subjects: deep in meditation. The pale yellow mare hesitated at she glanced at the alicorn’s budge. A feeling at been steadily growing in her heart over the past few weeks. Anderson was vaguely aware that it started when she first inspected the silver pony’s belly, but had been unable to put a label to it until now. The medic was startled to realize it was jealousy. I…Do I really want to have a foal too?
Crimson felt the answer at the back of her mind and shoved it away. We can’t afford to have any more foals right now. Besides, my medical studies are too important. She gently shook the alicorn’s neck instead of the shoulder so she wouldn’t jostle the bandaged limbs. “Earth to Alexia.”
Tune required five more shakes and louder yelling to break her introspective. The alicorn’s eyes fluttered open and zeroed in on the interloper and smiled at the welcome face. “Am I free to go doc?”
Anderson returned the smile. “Not quite, but if your recovery rate hasn’t changed I can free your wing from the cast and put it into a sling along with stopping the localized anesthesia around them. Which the last dose should wear off by the time I’m done here.”
The medic accessed the panel on the wall to lower the wing to slightly above the horizon. Using her tribe’s signature hoof magic, Crimson probed the entombed limb without needing to cut the cast away. “Any discomfort?”
“A little.”
Anderson looked at her with disbelief. “This is not the time to sound tough Alex.”
The alicorn rolled her eyes. “I’m not exaggerating. Its only a little discomfort.”
“Alright.” The medic grabbed the electrical saw off the trolley. It was slightly difficult work, but the earth pony possessed dexterity with her hoof based magic that was coming close to rivaling what her hands used to possess. Before long, the injured wing was free of its confines and placed into a sling.
After judging her work finished, Crimson started working on Alexia’s leg. “Normally I’d say you’re grounded for at least five days to a week, but in your case I don’t think that’s much of a concern.”
Tune had to wait for the loud saw to cut through the leg cast before speaking. “Well I was kind of looking forward to leaning how to use them. “ She had to consciously keep her injured right wing still while moving the lift one to the side of her face. “If these things are going to sit on my back and use my oxygen, then they had better make themselves useful outside of keeping me up at night.”
Conrad made his way over. “At the very least they set you apart as an alicorn.”
Tune was careful to fold the unharmed wing back into place. “Yeah well, there’s no point in being an alicorn if I can’t fly.”
“There are political reasons,” Crimson offered. “You’re the only alicorn on Earth. That alone makes you a rallying figure.”
Alexia grumbled at it. “I was a rallying figure as a unicorn.” She fumed a little before noticing her mates giving her an expectant look. Tune sighed. “At least it’ll allow me to avoid the need for a damn crown. Having both wings and a horn will be symbolic enough for that at least.”
Crimson finished placing the new plastic and padding cast on Tune’s leg. “Just as well. A crown would be nothing but a hindrance in our line of work.”
Conrad mulled over the mares’ statements. Maybe a traditional one sure. But what kind of princess doesn’t have a crown. “Hey Alex, do you mind summoning the tome? I want to brush up on a few things.”
Alexia was caught off guard by the question, but was thrilled that he was showing continued interest. “Of course.”
Conrad thanked her and took the tome to his bed. Anderson inspected her work one last time. “And we’re done here. I suggest you start walking around and getting a bit of exercise.”
“I do feel up for a walk,” Alexia replied while testing how much weight she could put down on the cast.
“That would be for the best. And I know the remaining ponies who are still here would love to see you up and about.”
The silver mare giggled. “I would love to see them too. Thanks for the help Crimmy.”
“Its what I do.” They hugged before Alexia left to do just that. The medic turned to the stallion. “Alright let me take a look at you.”
Conrad had just finished getting to the chapter he wanted to read, but he felt it could wait. “I told you I feel fine,” he said as she started cutting away the bandages. “If anything I bet I could walk out of here today.”
Crimson revealed the two square patches of fur on the pegasus’s chest that had been shaved to extract the bullets. The entry wounds were neigh imperceivable thanks to the rapid healing not allowing scar tissue time to form. “I still have to do my job and make sure.”
A brief examination satisfied her. “Your remaining injuries are all internal, but I can deem you fit enough to leave. Though I would try to keep flight to a minimum, at least for the rest of the day.”
Crimson’s scent felt alluring to him and he felt a little frisky. “Can I at least participate in some cardio?”
The medic was disposing of the bandages in the bio-waste bin. “I don’t see why not.”
He walked over and nuzzled her amorously. She caught on to his signals and couldn’t help but to reciprocate. “Do you have a certain regiment to recommend?”
“Well I still have to change the sheets, but…” she remarked before he planted a lustful embrace on her lips. Crimson responded in earnest and wrapped her hooves around him. Her desire for a child of her own was hampered by the fact the Anderson knew she wouldn’t be in season for another three days. “I’ve wanted a second taste of you for a week.”
Conrad nibbled on her left ear. “Well go lock the door and I’ll give you more than you can handle.” Crimson grinned fiercely, knowing she was going to fully enjoy the next hour.
The recovering princess left the hangar feeling better than ever, minus the injuries. Elated ponies moved all around her, going about the act of leaving The Ranch behind. Houses were being packed up with whatever few possessions mattered to them.
Tune could see it was typically barely anything at all. No one wanted to keep anything unless it was custom made while at the camp or brought with them during capture. Over a third of the ponies had been given new identification paperwork to adapt their old identities to match their change in species.
Off in the distance, a C-130 Hercules took off from the airstrip. “No doubt carrying many back to their homes.” Alexia was annoyed that every pony she came across always bowed to her, however she noticed it was more of a polite shallow bow rather than the embarrassing prostration Reed preformed upon Tune’s return as an alicorn. Well I guess I could get used to that. Still feels weird though.
Annoyance was not the only thing she felt, as love was a strong part of her as well. All around her, the ponies she had worked so hard to pull from the pits of despair into the industrious and cheerful beings they were today brought a happy tear to her eye. They truly love their lives as ponies now. I’m glad to know my magic wasn’t enough to force that upon them. They wanted to be happy with themselves again, and so now they are.
Eventually, word of her last tour of the base reached the ears of First Sergeant Vanders and the red pegasus broke away from his work to speak with her. He found her by virtue of the crowd she attracted by the southern edge of the farm. He was able to clear a path through the other flying pegasi thanks to his position as adjunct to Alexia. He could hear her trying to dissuade some of the more fervent ponies near the front.
“Well I’m not a goddess. As I’m sure all of you know by now, I got shot a few times; and last I checked, gods don’t get hurt by bullets.”
He heard a mare in the crowd yell a response. “You’re still our princess at least right?”
The NCO broke through to see Alexia kept a composed expression. “How about this. I will drop all reservations about being your princess if all of you spread the word that I am not a goddess. Deal?”
A round of murmuring spread throughout the crowded equines. Vanders took the initiative. “Yeah we can do that. Come on guys, spread the word!”
The crowd cheered at the idea and evaporated into the camp to follow Vander’s suggestion. As soon as the silver mare had breathing room again, he landed nearby. “Isn’t princess kind of a step down from god?”
She scoffed at her friend. “That’s the point. If I let them think I was a deity, I don’t know how long I would last until I started believing it myself. Faith can do funny things to the mind.”
Vanders was reminded of Reed. “No argument here.” She started walking again and he moved to be side by side with her. “I thought you’d like to know I decided to join Director Thompson in his initiative to hire us into his department.”
“Does that department have a name?”
He looked at her with a quizzical look. “You mean you don’t know?”
“He never told us a name, if it ever had one.”
“Odd. Well he said its name is Section Nine.”
The name piqued her interest, but she couldn’t explain why. “Did he give a reason for that name?”
Vanders shrugged. “He only said it was because he’s an anime fan.”
“So that’s why it sounds familiar,” Alexia laughed uproariously. “I wonder if the boss will let me be called the Major.”
The stallion looked at her with disappointment. “I don’t think I like the idea of a government entity being named after a TV show.”
Alexia couldn’t help but to keep smirking at the red pegasus’s annoyance. “Oh lighten up. If it makes you feel any better you can tell people its named after section nine of some obscure law or whatever.”
“I think I will.”
The conversation paused for a minute before he picked it back up. “A lot of ponies have expressed wishes to move into whatever city you will be leaving for.”
“Well actually…” Alexia said before finding her way over to the flower section of the farmlands. “How about I tell you about a little part of California Loki picked out for us to build our own town at?”
That grabbed his attention. “Build our own city? I like the sound of that,” he took notice of the café stand where the farms dropped their freshly picked produce for the chefs. “Why don’t we discuss it over lunch?”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea.”
The next two days were a blur for the herd. Alexia made it a point that once she set hoof onto the aircraft departing for California, that she would never return to The Ranch. That meant tying up all of their affairs, informing Thompson and the other ponies where Loki’s construction project was located, and packing what few belongings the quartet wanted to keep.
There was one thing that bothered the alicorn during those two days. The rest of the herd was very secretive about something they refused to tell her about, only saying that they would reveal it before they left The Ranch.
Friday morning was like most days. Alexia was the last to awaken on the shared bed. Having the king sized bed to herself meant she could stretch out for several seconds to loosen her muscles out of sleep. By now her right wing was free of the sling, but could not support flight for five more days. The leg was still in its cast, and would be free by the next morning.
With her stretches done, she rested on her right side and studied her bulging belly. “There’s no hiding you two anymore. Well,” she added with a titter, “not without some illusion magic anyway.” The blissful mother-to-be slowly rubbed her twins for long time, dreaming of the day they would be brought into the world.
Part of her morning ritual was to use Inner Sight to get a closer look at them. The data Twilight gave me said I should be able to use this to discover their tribe, but I’ve spent every spare moment fixing my itineris systems so that my Sight would have the clarity to start working on their mana as well. My foals’ mana will be flawless by the time they are born if I have anything to say about it.
With her senses opened, the twin’s mana capillaries came into view. Alexia grinned as all of her work paid off and the twins’ were made crystal clear to her for the first time since her mana flare. “Maybe I can trade this knowledge to learn about this secret project the others are planning.”
Tune bounced off the bed for some breakfast and answers. The mare found her mates all crowded around the couch with the last remnants of their own meals. The one thing that caught her eye was a small box wrapped in a purple pillow case.
“You guys saved me some grub right?” the alicorn asked wirily as she cast her eyes between the bowls and the box.
Loki offered her a large bowl of alfalfa while Crimson held out a large glass of orange juice. “Enough for three.”
Tune smiled as she took the food into her magic. The mare took several bites of food after sitting with her mates. “So are you guys going to tell me what’s been so important that you have to keep a secret from me?”
Conrad scooped up the box in a wing and sat down next to the silver mare with the earth pair flanking the both of them. “We knew if you found out what we were doing you’d yell at us for being stupid and tell us to stop.”
The alpha eyed them with puzzled reservations. It was only then that she noticed none of them were wearing their invisibility bracelets. Her eyes narrowed in chastising annoyance. “What did you guys do?”
“Open it and find out jelly bean,” Loki asked while prodding Tune on her good foreleg.
Alexia took a swig of her drink and a couple more bites while using her kinesis to open the package. The box within was plain grey cardboard. Within was a gorgeous silver necklace with three gems encrusted into the band. The center gem was a high quality brown andalusite with a double hexagon brilliant cut. The other two gems had the same cut with the right being a rich pink topaz and the left held a ruby that seemed to dance with two shades of the same color.
Alexia abandoned her half eaten food to examine the necklace. She felt the gem colors didn’t truly match each other, but it didn’t take her long to know what they symbolized the herd. “Its beautiful.” She could tell it was heavily enchanted and her senses told Alexia that all three of her mates’ magic resided within. “But you didn’t really have to make it using your invisibly gems.”
“Actually we did,” Conrad commented with a sly grin. “But to see why, you have to put it on.”
Tune levitated another bite of food to her mouth. “I take it you’re not going to just tell me what it does.”
Loki pulled a large hand mirror out from under the couch. “Nope. Because we want to see your face when you put it on.”
Were it not for the love and absolute trust she shared with the herd, Alexia might have been suspicious about the secrecy. Yet it was that unwavering trust that she placed the jewelry around her neck. As she expected, her mana was drawn into the three gems to power the enchantments. The stones glowed with faint light before an illusion spell made the necklace vanish and a silver crown appeared on Alexia’s brow.
It was modeled after Twilight Sparkle’s but had a black ankh set in front of an oval cut aquamarine. The two were proudly displayed in place of the six pointed star of Sparkle’s crown. Instead of having blue gems along the band of the crown, the filigree was covered in tiny steel, pink, and crimson gems that brought focus to the ankh.
Tune was rendered speechless by the craftsmanship that went into it.
“Pretty neat huh?” Loki said after minute of stunned silence. “The crown itself is an illusion. That way you can wear it without it ever falling off or getting in the way.”
Crimson was enamored by it. “We figured since you don’t have any real political power, making your crown an illusion would be a good allusion to the irony of symbols of authority. A princess needs a crown, but the crown itself, be it real or shadows, doesn’t give you influence over other people,” she tapped Alexia’s chest, “But what’s in your heart does.”
Conrad wrapped a leg around her. “We figured if you were ever going to start wearing a crown, it might as well be made by those that know you best.”
“I-I appreciate the gesture guys.” Alexia said while trying not to choke up on emotion. “But I would feel silly wearing this everywhere.”
Loki nodded. “We figured you’d still need some time to get used to the idea. Just focus on the necklace and wish for the crown to go away.”
Tune complied and the crown vanished while the necklace reappeared. Crimson gently tapped the red gem. “We had to use our invisibly crystals because we needed gems that you crafted. That way, the only person who can wear the necklace and summon the crown is you, along with any descendants.”
Conrad had a triumphant smile over the fact that the silver mare obviously enjoyed her necklace. “We got together and remolded them with different enchantments. My gem still retains the invisibility enchantment so you don’t need to wear your bracelet anymore, and it also comes with a triple layered defense ward and automatic sensor net. It can take a fifty caliber round at point blank range, or three smaller caliber rounds. The downside is that it takes a bit for the barriers to recharge.”
Crimson was proud of her work. “Mine contains the actual crown illusion spell, but it requires the other two gems and your mana to activate. It also has the illusion spells to make your necklace disappear and create the sensation that the necklace is weightless while the crown is active.”
“Saving the best for last,” Loki gloated, “but my gem makes the whole thing has tough as diamondium and it can hide your pregger belly. I also made it so no one but the four of us, or any of your blood relatives can wear the thing. The necklace will simply fall off anyone else’s neck.”
Alexia looked at the green mare with bemusement before tapping into the gem and glanced at her belly to see it flatten to look as if she was as lean as the other two mares. All it took was one hoof to tap onto the seemingly empty air to show the illusion for what it was. Tune let the spell go and her budge returned. “You guys really out did yourselves. Thank you very much.”
The herd crushed her in a group hug. Loki had to say one last thing. “Now I know you’re too polite to say it, but hiding your belly is very situational in its use. So that’s why I made it so that, that is not the permanent effect.”
Tune giggled as the hug separated. “You’re right. I wasn’t going to say anything.”
The green mare adopted a snooty demeanor. “Darling the reason mine is the best of all is because I made my gem maaaalleable. The other gems keep anyone but you or a blood relative from altering it, but you can place any spell you wish in the gem.”
Alexia was taken aback. “A malleable gem?! Loki that would have taken fifty times the mana that even I possess right now to forge! How did you manage to make it so big?”
Loki had a mischievous smirk and dropped the accent. “Remember yesterday after lunch when the Director called you over to discuss the finer details of tomorrow’s mission?”
“Yes. What of it?”
“Well I took the opportunity to get that nut job Reed and his crew to help fuel the array that modified the crystal. That gem has the mana of over half of the ponies that are still here. All it took was telling them it was part of forging your crown to get them to jump at the chance, but ultimately it’s my mana that binds it all together.”
Alexia was aghast. “So you’re telling me everyone took part in this?”
“Almost,” explained Conrad, “if we had used anymore mana, the gem would have been too big.”
“I get that,” Alexia said as a creeping fear entered her tone, “But everyone’s going to expect me to wear the crown part of it now. After all the work that went into this, it would be insulting not to.”
“Well you could probably just get away with wearing it only on the walk towards the plane, then switch back to the necklace.”
Tune’s apprehension dimmed at Crimson’s reassurances. “I can live with that…I did sort of promise them I’d stop being so self-conscious about this whole princess thing so ponies wouldn’t start worshiping me.”
“Sounds like a fair trade to me,” Conrad remarked. “Anyway, we should be leaving here in a few minutes.”
Alexia jumped in her seat and held restraining hooves around her mates. “Actually I have something to tell you guys. I know what the foals are.”
The others lit up like spotlights with the stallion showing the most enthusiasm. “Well? Out with it!”
The mother-to-be had the biggest grin her face could make. “I’m having a unicorn and a pegasus, both are fillies.”
With exuberant laughter, the pegasus wrapped the alicorn in his hooves and spun her in the air a few inches below the ceiling. Conrad poured his love into his embrace. “I can’t wait to meet my daughters.”
Loki pulled the winged pair down to the Earth so she could join in on the hug. Crimson’s heart hit a twinge of jealousy that twisted around her chest to pain the mare. No! My studies are too important. She shook it off to complete the herd’s embrace. “Just don’t do anything silly to endanger my nieces.”
Alexia couldn’t decide to laugh or cry so she did both until the moment had passed. Tune took all of the saddlebags in her kinesis and placing them on their respective owners as they separated. The alicorn’s own was kept light because of her injured leg and only held the tome on one side with a few wrapped packs of food as a counterbalance.
As soon as the alicorn set hoof outside the house, she found a mass of over a thousand ponies all crowded around with an expectant silence. Tune was unsure of why they were remaining silent and she stood in the doorway, blocking the rest of the herd from leaving.
Loki stuck her head out and surveyed the silent ponies before whispering in Alexia’s ear. “They want to see their crowned princess.”
Realization dawned on her. “Oh right, my bad.” Alexia sighed and activated the illusionary crown, having briefly hoped she wouldn’t have to. The illusion took hold and Tune was surprised to feel the weight lift from her neck and be replaced with a lighter one on her head. Damn. Crimson really went all out.
The ponies cheered at the alicorn for finally heeding their wishes to accept her status as their princess. Tune was pleased to see the bowing was kept to a shallow gesture rather than embarrassing full prostration.
The more polite bowing was something Alexia felt she could get used to. So long as I’m a secular leader I can stomach it all. At the very least I can expect the humans to refrain from bowing, which is fine by me.
The royal herd marched their way from the house to the airstrip with the thong of ponies following them the whole way back. Cheers to Alexia’s past efforts filling the air.
“She brought down The Ranch!”
“We’re citizens again!”
“The princess killed the Colonel!”
Before Alexia could first register the last cheer, second process what was wrong with it, and third turn to yell at the general direction of the speaker, Loki sprinted to the unicorn stallion who had yelled it and shoved her face in his. Everyone was stunned at her speed given the heavy looking computer harness she was wearing.
The green mare yelled with indignation. “No one killed Mister Hatey Pants McGee. But I was the one who planted Buck and Shot,” she said while shaking her left and right hind legs respectively, “into that creep’s chest. If anyone deserves credit for giving that malcontent the what for its me and Crimson.”
The pale yellow earth mare found herself under more scrutiny than bad call at the Super Bowl. Loki pointed at her accomplice. “She cracked the floor out from under the Evil Weevil so I could buck him up good.”
A random earth mare in the crowd reared up and shouted. “Woo hoo! Three cheers for the Colonel Stompers!”
“Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!” The gathered ponies on the ground stomped the ground while the pegasi in the air clapped their hooves in vengeful celebration.
Tune was laughing uncontrollably at having lost all of the attention that was now focused on the two earth mares. Loki was jumping up and down in time with the ‘hoorays’ while Anderson was sheepishly waving at her new fans.
The silver alicorn was more than happy to surrender the spotlight for the rest of the journey to the waiting C-130 transport aircraft. With final waves of goodbye between the remaining ponies in the camp and the royal herd, the quartet said farewell to the internment camp for good.
The seating arrangement within the aircraft had several rows of seats filled with ponies on their way to the west coast. Most were going to see their human families and friends while others, including First Sergeant Vanders, were going to the site of Loki’s construction project. Thompson believed keeping Section Nine’s base of operations there would make it easier on everyone involved. Every pony had been given a line of credit of forty thousand dollars to give them time to restart their lives.
The C-130 was on its way to the SFO airport in California. It was highly unusual for a Hercules to land there, but it was more of Thompson’s desire to expose the equines to the rest of humanity. If there was one thing he knew about human nature, it was that people were less likely to hate or fear something that is familiar to them. Alexia remembered something rather standoffish that the Director mentioned in passing. ”It also helps that its rather difficult for most people to keep from wanting to pet you guys. Let alone you wholly enjoy being petted.”
The alicorn took her seat near the front of the aircraft and snorted at the memory. Well I can’t help it that it feels so damn good. Tune wished one of the pilots would come back and rub her mane. Those fingers of theirs are intoxicating.
Loki took her seat next to her alpha. “So whatever happened to your car?”
The silver mare had to chase away dreams of finding a masseuse so she could focus. “It was impounded during our stay, but the boss had it moved to the SFO parking lot.” She fished out the tome and opened the cover to pull out a ticket with the parking space written on the back. “Even made sure it had a full tank of gas.”
“I’m surprised he even gave us a valid driver’s license given how little we’ve driven as ponies.”
“Well I think we acquitted ourselves rather well before we were picked up by the feds.”
The green pony shrugged. “Fair enough. Just don’t expect much out of me in rush hour highway traffic.”
Crimson leaned around Conrad to speak to Alexia. “Do you have any additional info on the mission?”
It was the stallion who answered as he rummaged in his saddlebags. “I do actually.” He pulled out three personnel folders. “We’re going to investigate the Oppenheim Research Facility, or more accurately, Doctor Johansson and his personal staff. The DoD is getting suspicious that someone on his team is sabotaging his efforts in discovering the true nature of the brown clouds.”
Loki scratched her head in confusion. "Since when did we become investigators? I thought we were super-secret black ops ponies of doomy doom.”
Alexia rolled her eyes while patting her belly. “Given my progressing situation I am more than happy to take a less than physically strenuous assignment.”
Loki was still miffed. “So? You always play magical support; you’re never all uppity in a good fistfight.”
“I still have to be able to run when necessary,” Tune replied defensively. “Besides, its hard to fight and cast at the same time.”
“We’re getting off topic guys!” Crimson said with a slightly raised voice.
The two squabbling mares calmed down while Conrad cleared his throat. “Combat tactics aside, Loki’s right. Now,” he said, trying to regain the focus of attention, “the FBI’s handling the analysis and background checking. We’re only here to ask some questions, inspect the facility and Loki here is going to do a run through on their network.”
The earth mare in question balked. “Are you kidding? You do know that sort of work takes time right? If there is any sign of foul play it could take weeks to find anything.”
“Did I say run through?” Conrad asked rhetorically, “I meant get a door inside their closed network. If you can do that, the feds can handle sifting through the data. We’re only the spearhead in this operation.”
The hacker rubbed her chin in contemplation. “Did they at least include the specs of the Oppenheim networks or am I going to have to go in blind?”
The stallion fished around in his bags and withdrew a small folder with “Loki” written on the side. “I think this is what you’ll need.”
The earth mare snatched the documents and opened it to read the contents. She grimaced. “This’ll be a start at least.”
The medic still didn’t like it. “What I don’t understand is, why us? We’re a combat oriented team. I mean, sure its really nice to not have to attack people for once, but its not in our skill set.”
Conrad’s wings shrugged. “Thompson seems to think our, quote “adorableness” end quote, will make us less intimidating than human investigators. Help foster better cooperation and what not.”
Tune caught onto his annoyance and nuzzled him. “You’re the only stallion I know who can pull off adorable and smoken’ hot at the same time.”
Crimson leaned affectionately on him, while basking in his scent. “I hear that sister.”
Loki wanted to reach over the alicorn, but was weary of her mending wing. Conrad chuckled at the mare’s compliments. “I guess I can live with the adorable tag if hot is kept with it.” He shook the personnel files to bring attention back to them. “At any rate, we should familiarize ourselves with Doctor Johansson and his top staff.”
San Francisco International Airport was ablaze with activity. That was hardly surprising for the massive transit hub, but it was a very welcome place to be for the throng of seventy five ponies disembarking the aircraft and walking into the terminal. The equines were finally among humans again. Even if said bipeds’ reactions ran the spectrum from dumbstruck to giddiness and from distaste to exuberance, the former humans were among those the people had grown up with.
All of the quadrupeds loosely hovered around Alexia whenever they had a chance. Thanks to the past week consisting of a comprehensive political campaign by the White House, the ponies were given no trouble from the local authorities or businesses.
There was only a small scattering of journalists waiting at the baggage claim. Ponies were still new and fresh in the world’s eye, outside of those relative few who had been in the know. The only reason the mass of ponies was not swarmed with reporters was because more equines were scattered throughout the nation and more were coming out of hiding every day. So there was no one place journalists could congregate.
Unfortunately more than half of them focused on Tune after noticing she was the only one with both a horn and wings, the crown didn’t help either. Crimson was prepared for this and nudged a pegasus mare as the alicorn was passing through the security line and into the baggage claim proper. “Hey Belie, think you and the others can keep the paparazzi busy while the four of us get to the car?”
Belie Scully smirked at the waiting cameramen with unveiled excitement. She had been a famous singer before her ponification, and was known to have greatly missed the limelight. “Crimson my dear, it would be an absolute pleasure.” Belie did not stop her singing after becoming a pony and she had quite a following of her own in the camp. Many of those fans followed her to SFO and Belie whistled to get their attention. “Come along everyone! We have a path to clear for our princess.”
Tune heard the proclamation and subsequent stampede to meet the photographers head on. It reminded her that she was still wearing her crown and quickly deactivated the illusion. Damn. I was so busy talking to the others I forgot about it. Now I’ve been walking all throughout the damn airport with that thing on my head.
Alexia led the herd as fast as her casted leg could take her towards the parking decks. She caught Belie’s eye on the way out and gave her a wink in thanks before leaving. I owe her a favor for this.
It was difficult to tell from under so much concrete, but Crimson could tell it was raining from the plethora of wet tire tracks all over the place. The herd proved to be a distraction to nearly every bystander, but there were quite a few people who simply didn’t have the time to gawk at the four colorful equines running through the lot.
This time, it was Conrad leading the way because of his familiarity with the airport’s parking. “The boss said it should be right…” He cleared a large brown SUV to find Tune’s beat up lime green sedan waiting for them.
Alexia brightened up at the sight of it and draped her forelegs and wings over the hood of the car while kissing it. “Oh I’ve missed you. Those bad GIs didn’t mistreat you did they?”
Crimson inspected the car at a distance while Tune disturbingly whispered sweet nothings to her car. “Loki said it was a nasty color, but damn this is ugly.”
The alicorn glared at the pale yellow mare who was continuing her critique, fully oblivious of the ire she was garnering from the princess. “The paint’s chipped all over the place, the window tinting is worse than amateur, not to mention cheap. This passenger window is cracked, and if the engine is the same shape as the rest of-“
Loki shoved at hoof in Anderson’s mouth and guided her muzzle to the deep scowl on the silver mare’s face. “I’d love to see what evil things Alex would do to you, but I don’t want to have to clean up the mess she’s leave behind.”
Crimson removed her muzzle from Loki’s hoof and had an apologetic look on her face. “Sorry Alex. But your car’s a piece of shit.”
Tune clambered off the hood with her wings flared over her head. She jabbed her good foreleg at the object of her rage. “My car is the best thing that ever happened to me…” She paused at she listened to what she had just said. “Before becoming a pony anyway.” She wasn’t ready to let go of her anger because of a slip of the tongue, but it did derail it heavily. “So don’t go insulting the only vehicle we have.”
Conrad rubbed his chin with a wing. “Well we got a forty grand bonus check to our new joint bank account. Not to mention the back pay for our work with Thompson.”
Loki caught on to his lead. “We aren’t expected at the research center until tomorrow morning. We could totally get a new car before we go to the hotel.”
Tune wasn’t ready to do that. “But Limy was my first car! Back in his prime he was a real babe magnet. I got laid five times cause of him.” Alexia proudly boasted while tapping a hoof on the driver front tire.
Conrad coughed. “I’m not sure what to think about knowing your male exploits.”
The alicorn chuckled and pulled the pegasus in close with a wing. “Just because I am all female now, doesn’t mean I’m going to hide or forget who I used to be.”
Crimson wasn’t too sure. “Maybe not to fellow ponies, but the human public’s been known to have issues with that sort of thing. So why don’t we keep that part of our past on a need-to-know basis until we can be sure the general public doesn’t react poorly to it.”
Loki was at odds with it. “Even though it was involuntary?”
The medic walked over to the back door. “I think people are going to be too busy trying to get used to having us around to complicate it with gender issues. Not to mention all of the other differences we have between our two species. If they still have issues over gay marriage, then I’m not so sure the herd concept will have a good reception.”
All of them knew full well how sluggish humanity could be when change was concerned. Conrad slid over to the passenger back door. “Why don’t we continue the discussion on the way to the hotel?”
Alexia nodded in agreement. The mares went to their respective doors with Tune using her magic to unlock the door and pulled the keys from the sun visor. The old car growl and coughed to life before settling on a rattling grumble. “Old Faithful right here.” The alicorn said proudly while tapping the dashboard.
Crimson waved a hoof dismissively. Pah. If you don’t get a new car, then I will.
With some shaky stop and starts, Alexia refamiliarized herself with using magic to drive. Better had a pressure sensitivity clause to the kinesis. The silver mare drove in slow and careful circles around the parking garage until she was comfortable with the completely hands and feet-free style of driving to take the car onto the highway.
Conrad’s familiarity with the city was based in the fact that his human life had revolved around the city and its criminal element. He had Tune’s phone in hoof as he guided her to the hotel. On the way, Crimson brought up a topic that had been bugging her since leaving the White House, but it was also to distract her from her other internal conflict.
“So what do you guys think about those creeps from the White House bunker?”
Loki simply shrugged quietly while Tune was too busy trying not to die in rush hour traffic. The highway had more cars within her field of view than she had ever seen on the road in Salina.
So it was up to Conrad to answer her. “You mean those big guys who didn’t get the memo that a few shots to the head are lethal?”
“Yeah, that,” Crimson replied.
The brown pony mulled over his thoughts while staring at the delivery truck next to them. “I think this whole Cult of the Koridost is either a fabrication of a nation-state to use violence to further some goal, or these cultists are the result of a bioweapons test gone badly. Something à la Resident Evil.”
Loki snickered. “I don’t know Conny. Those guys didn’t moan and groan like any zombie I’ve ever seen. Even the fast zombies don’t speak and use weapons.”
No,” he replied evenly, “but like they say, science fiction is often the inspiration for real scientists to make reality. Who’s to say some government saw merit in Umbrella’s tyrant bioweapons or whatever.” He looked at the green mare sitting with him in the back seat and the pale yellow one in the front passenger. “A big controllable juggernaut would be a good super soldier in anyone’s book.”
Crimson huffed in amusement. “Last I recall, Umbrella kept losing control over them. But even if that’s the case. Medical science simply isn’t to the point where you can rapidly regenerate brain tissue like that.” Anderson slumped forward in her seat. “Or any tissue for that matter. Even we ponies can’t come close to competing with that.”
Conrad was not convinced. “Well obviously Doctor Frankenstein found a way.”
“What if its aliens?”
The pale yellow and brown ponies looked to the green one with bewilderment. “Aliens?” they asked with unified incredulousness.
Loki glanced between her accusers of insanity. “Well yeah. We may have been human once, but our species is alien. Who’s to say these Koridosonites aren’t humans that got infected by some alien plague or something?”
Conrad pointed Alexia towards the highway exit while speaking. “Keep talking like that and people will start blaming us for being the source.”
Crimson chuckled at his paranoia. “I can see the headlines now. Bright colorful alien ponies create super virus that makes people go nuts and turn into red skinned freaks of nature.” Conrad rolled his eyes in an effort to ignore her teasing. Anderson grew serious. “But then again, I wouldn’t put it past the realm of possibility. After all, we are living proof of life on other worlds.”
The stallion was still apprehensive about it. “But the timing is bad. If this isn’t the work of some nation-state, and is actually of alien origin, and if Discord had nothing to do with it; then where would this plague have come from?”
Loki tapped her chin before exclaiming a eureka moment. “What if the clouds themselves are the plague?”
Crimson watched the buildings pass by the window, and eyed a car dealership along the way. “All the reports say people who go into the clouds uniformly end up psychotic and insane. If the cult is related to the clouds in any capacity, they’re probably just using the fog as a weapon of convenience.”
As the car got onto easier streets, Alexia felt comfortable enough to devote some brain power away from the road. “It is rather suspicious that both show up fairly close together.”
Conrad agreed. “But then again. So did we. Even though we know we had nothing to do with the clouds, that won’t stop some people from making that connection. Plus for all we know the cult, if it is actually cult and not a government entity, likely existed before the clouds appeared. You guys know about the thousands that attacked Washington. There’s no way a cult could have started at the same time the clouds began showing up and get those kind of numbers to fight with.”
Crimson shrugged. “Well we’re going to the premier cloud research guy tomorrow. We can ask him then.”
Conrad pointed at the hotel and Alexia pulled in front for the valet parking. The quartet got out and Loki took a long deep breath of the city air and let it out again with satisfaction written over her face. “Now this is my kind of place.”