The four ponies that composed the royal herd entered the hotel suite and dropped their bags off at the door. It wasn’t a very luxurious place, and the solid three star ratings were fairly accurate. Even so, it was a welcome change to the equines.
Crimson was giddy about everything that had happened ever since entering the airport. The pale yellow pony jumped onto the couch in front of the television while bubbling like a maniac. “Can you believe it guys!? We walked through public! We all went through an airport, and are sitting in a hotel room. We are free to live in open society again!”
Hearing it be promised and actually living it was a whole other matter for the herd, and each of them felt relieved by it. What grabbed Conrad’s attention most was the vast gaping empty space in the center of the hotel that allowed those on the top floor to see the ground floor lobby. He limbered up his wings before moving to the door. “I saw that the dinner buffet is being served. You guys want me to grab something?”
The mares quickly gave him their orders and he flew away, eager to show off his ability to fly to the humans below. Alexia was the first to head towards the bedroom as the other two mares busied themselves with either the television or the bathroom.
It was there that Tune saw a closed laptop and black plastic crate on the far side of the bed. The alicorn eyed it with suspicion and opened the computer to reveal a login screen. A scanning laser shot out from the sides of the monitor and danced over the alicorn’s body before disappearing. The screen went white for a few seconds.
Alexia had not been told to expect a laptop and was dubious of it. “Crimson, Loki! Get in here.”
The other mares joined her in time to see a familiar face pop on the screen. “Ah, Special Agent Tune. Glad to see you arrived without incident.”
Alexia sighed in relief that it wasn’t anything malicious. Tune walked over to the computer so she could speak into the built in microphone. “Agent Jackson. I haven’t seen you in a while.”
The man on screen was rather pleased with himself. “It has. I’m afraid with Thompson overseeing recruitment and assessments, you’re stuck with me.” He knew the ponies responded better to a lighter relationship and kept his tone friendly. “I gathered from your reports, that you’ve been extremely busy.” His brow furrowed and leaned forward to get a closer look at her. “Did--did you grow wings?”
The two earth mares snickered at Alexia’s discomfort. “It’s a long story, but yes. I take it you’re the mission commander,” Tune asked to drive the topic away from her.
Jackson took a sip of water before continuing. “I am. The crate by the window has all of the necessary equipment you’ll need; along with your badges and ID cards. It will only open with either the correct twenty digit code or your specific facial pattern Agent Tune. Go ahead-”
“Shazzam! We got the good stuff here.” Alexia and Crimson looked away from the computer to see Loki digging around in the crate while tossing two objects at her mates. “These are yours.” Both landed in front of the computer, and in Jackson’s field of view.
The two mares reached over and picked them up to find they were black wallets that held their respective CIA badges and identification. Jackson was not sure as to what just happened. “Did you unlock the crate before opening the computer?”
Tune shook her head. “No, I went straight for the laptop.”
Loki bounded over with her open badge balanced on top of her head. “I unlocked it.”
Jackson was dumbfounded. “But. How? That lock was meant to resist any sort of tampering, save a strip of C4.”
The green mare gave an innocent shrug. “I entered the code.”
Everyone shared a bewildered glance between each other before Crimson voiced a question. “How did you know the password?”
Loki was perplexed by the odd looks she was getting. “I don’t know…a sort of intuition I guess.” The green mare rubbed her right ear as it started twitching a little.
Alexia rolled her eyes. “Loki’s antics aside. How do you want us to proceed?”
That green mare scares me sometimes. Jackson straightened his tie while speaking. “The good Doctor called in the FBI to handle the situation, as he seemed to have no faith in the local authorities. We pulled some strings, but we managed to convince the Bureau to hand the case over to us. So you’re going in under the pretense of investigating the reported sabotage to his work.”
“And our actual objective?” Crimson inquired.
“We want access to the Granger Branch’s internal server room. Agent Loki is your resident computer expert so she will be the one to accomplish that.”
Alexia and Crimson shared a confused glanced before Tune faced the mission commander. “We’re the CIA right? Can’t we just get a warrant to search it?”
“We already have a warrant for that and everything else,” Jackson explained. “However we want to obtain this data discretely.”
Realization dawned on Anderson. “You want to leverage our invisibility to get in there.”
He nodded. “Only Loki should do that. The rest of you will follow normal investigative procedures. I trust Director Thompson already briefed you on that.”
Tune dipped her head in the affirmative. “He gave us a list of questions and other things to watch and look for.”
“Good, good. That will be your cover story before more specialized investigators arrive to take your place.”
He had all three mares’ full attention, with Loki asking the shared question. “So other than tapping their inner network, what is our objective?”
Jackson steepled his fingers as he leaned in to the camera. “Tune. Do you recall what you did in Rocky Springs?”
The Oppenheim Research Facility was a compound that grew out of the Wilcox Solar Observatory just south of Stanford University. The complex filled the rolling hills between the education center to all the way to Felt Lake just past the southern highway.
Oppenheim was filled with students and alumni alike. Earning a place within the compound was considered by most to be the crowning achievement of their educational career. It was here that many discoveries and scientific breakthroughs were made. Doctor Johansson’s work on the mysterious clouds may be a popular subject, but it was hardly the only project being conducted.
It was this hub of scientific advancement that four ponies arrived the following morning in a new 2013 Chevrolet Volt with an electric blue paint job. The guard at the front gate walked out of his kiosk to check on the visitors. He had been told ahead of time to expect an inquiry team from the CIA, but he had not been told who they would be or why they were here.
That did not seem like much of a concern to the guard. At least until the biggest thing in the news outside of the attack on Washington rolled up next to him with a badge hanging in midair just outside of the driver’s side window. The silver alicorn behind the wheel kept her expression professional. “I’m Special Agent Tune with the CIA.”
The guard stared at her for a second before gathering his wits and checking the badge. “R-Right. Let me just verify this.” Glanced at the trio of ponies who waited patiently as the guard scanned the list before returning the badge while pressing the button to raise the gate and lower the tiger teeth. “Go along the right street until you see the red path to building H dash twenty five. Have a good day…ma’am.”
The badge flew through the air and back into the car while the window rolled up. “You too,” she said as the car started moving again.
Loki shimmered slightly as her invisibly cloak failed to hide her from the other ponies, but had fooled the guard completely. She leaned forward from the backseat to speak with the silver and azure driver. “Why are you the only one who gets to be a special agent?”
Tune was getting comfortable with driving by telekinesis alone, although she would have preferred her old car over the Volt. In the end, she acquiesced to keeping a professional image for the agency, and that did not include her old lime green car. “Because I’m the leading expert on magic. On Earth anyway,” she added at length.
Crimson gently pulled the fellow earth mare back. “You know it takes a lot of work to be a special agent right?”
Loki half groaned, half whined as she sat back. Game face. Work time, need to get my ninja face on. Super-secret, secret mare.
The electric car pulled up to a building that was surrounded in carefully manicured shrubberies with a long flight of stairs between the parking lot and the front door. H-25 was at the far northwestern corner of the complex with rolling grass covered hills and sporadic trees being the only thing between the building and the far wall. As expected, there was no one to meet them on the stairs so the ponies filed out of the car to head up. Alexia had her necklace on, but because she was on the job she had the item rendered invisible along with having her expanding belly being visually flat.
All of the ponies had satchels over their withers that contained all of their necessary tools and identification items for the task at hand. Crimson took Alexia’s left flank while Conrad took the right. Loki, in her state of invisibility, bounced around on her hooves, skipping in circled around the visible trio.
Conrad fought to keep from looking or speaking to the green mare for fear of giving her presence away. How can she bounce around like that after twenty pancakes?
The main lobby of the center was artistically designed to bring about an open, almost ecofriendly environment. The entire front wall was made of framed glass with cast iron decorations lining everything but the double doors themselves. The room itself spanned all the way to the top floor of the five story building, with the space between floors being much higher than what normal construction would dictate.
A few scientists were discussing matters of science while the receptionist was toiling away the hours behind her desk. When the three ponies entered the room, the distinctive clip clop of their hooves on the granite floor quickly made them the center of attention.
Tune expected the attention. We’ll probably turn heads for the next year or so before humans finally start getting used to us. She caught Loki in the corner of her eye as the green pony was drinking one of the slack jawed scientist’s coffee while he was distracted by the trio. She’s going to be the source of ghost stories, just you wait.
The alicorn ignored her mate’s antics and walked up to the front desk while levitating her badge. “I’m Special Agent Tune, these are my associates: Agent Anderson and Agent Copperfield.” She pointed at Crimson and Conrad respectively. “We’re here to ask Doctor Johansson and his staff a few questions. Is he in his office today?” The silver mare knew exactly where he was thanks to the agency’s observation teams, but felt it was polite to ask anyway.
Alexia let the woman hold the badge and ID card in her hands for a few seconds for her brain to finally click into acknowledging that it was real. “Oh-um. Yes, he’s in today. You can find him at laboratory five thirteen. Should I let him know you’re coming?”
It was Conrad who answered while Tune returned her badge to the satchel. “No, that won’t be necessary.”
Crimson tapped Alexia on the shoulder after the earth pony finished studying the top of the lobby and whispered into her alpha’s ear. “If we want to avoid giving him time to erase any files, we should teleport up there.”
The silver alicorn followed Anderson’s pointed hoof to the observation banisters that every story possessed. It would be a tight fit, but so long as I have line of sight it shouldn’t be difficult. She nodded to the pale yellow pony and whistled lightly to get Loki’s attention. “Good call.”
Alexia turned back to the receptionist. “Have a good day ma’am.” To everyone’s confusion she looked up while the other two ponies huddled in close to her. Tune’s horn started glowing with a rapid buildup before all of them vanished in a flash of light and a whoosh of displaced air.
All four ponies rematerialized on the fifth floor to the shock of three interns. Two of which fumbled their stacks of research notes all over the floor, but manage to remain standing.
Loki immediately split off to do her part while Alexia approached the trio of humans. “You mind pointing us to laboratory five thirteen?”
“Five doors on the left,” the one who managed to hold onto his notes replied.
Loki didn’t catch any of the other bits of the short conversation as she scanned each door on her way down the rest of the floor. Command said the internal computer network is on this floor, and that the good doctor has full reign over it.
The sign she saw marked the next room as a chemical storage lab. She passed it to keep looking. But I think its time they got a new root admin.
Doctor Johansson was had just set the next round of tests on automatic. It would take three hours for the computers to run the biochemical analyze of the blood from one of the many incarcerated cloud victims held in a separate facility.
He read the results of the previous tests on a computer screen before waving and clearing his throat to get his male assistant’s attention. The two scientists were currently alone in the room. “Whisker. You mind grabbing me a BLT on your way back from lunch?”
Whisker was worried for the Doctor’s health. “You should really get out of the lab some time. Why don’t you join me while we wait for the results?”
“I can’t do that. I still need to go over the numbers from the oh two nine experiment. I need something solid to throw at the damned media. Plus I’m expecting some legal company to help investigate all of these damned ‘incidences’ that seem to plague the lab.”
Whisker had been gathering up some paperwork to do while he had lunch when Johansson’s last sentence made him hesitate. “Legal help?”
A loud knock on the door halted the conversation, but caused Johansson to be elated. “Ah, I bet you that’s them. No one ever knocks.” He stayed in his computer chair and rolled past three tables full of testing equipment to hit the buzzer to admit entry.
What the doctor expected to see was a cadre of intelligence operatives. His rather public persona and the nature of his work gave him the inclination that he could summon FBI when needed, provided he made sure the reason was a legitimate concern.
Johansson got exactly what he asked for, but not exactly in the form he was expecting. Alexia, Conrad, and Crimson entered with purpose and moved towards the stunned humans. The alicorn withdrew the badge in her magic and flashed it when she got within speaking distance. “Doctor Johansson, I’m Special Agent Tune. These are my partners, Agent Copperfield and Anderson.”
Johansson recovered from his astonishment and shook her offered hoof. “I heard you--ponies, I believe you’re called.” She nodded. “Had been welcomed by the government, but I must say I’m finding it difficult to believe three of you are already members of the CIA.”
Alexia returned her badge in its satchel. “If you’re concerned as to whether or not we are a charity case Doctor, I can assure you, we are more than capable.”
Conrad feigned offense. “We were human once, Doctor.”
Johansson cursed inwardly. “S-sorry about that Agent. You’ll forgive me if have difficulty accepting there being two sentient species of Earth. It was not too long ago that such ideas were grounds for ridicule after all.”
Crimson spoke as if she was stuck between annoyed and disinterested in his apologies. “You requested an investigation to alleged sabotage.”
The doctor nodded sternly. “Yes. I know for a fact someone on my staff is ruining all of my efforts to uncover the exact nature of these clouds.”
Conrad fished out a smartphone so he could record the conversation. Alexia continued with the preset list of questions Thompson prepared for them. “In what way do you think the perpetrators are doing this, and in what capacity?”
Johansson hesitated in his answer. “Does my assistant need to be here? It is sort of the current lunch break and all.”
Conrad slowly studied the large laboratory. “You inform us of a potential saboteur in your department and you want to let a suspect have time to erase evidence?”
The lead scientist scowled at the insult. “Now wait just a minute. Whisker here has been with me for years. Way before this project got started. There’s no reason to suspect him.”
Alexia impassively withdrew several pieces of white chalk out of her satchel’s side pocket. The two men studied the floating items with interest until the moved in front of Tune’s humorless grin. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
The trio of mares sat on the hotel bed with the computer sitting on a plastic tray to keep it from overheating while it rested on a pillow. Alexia wasn’t sure she heard the Mission Commander correctly. “Are you sure about this?”
Jackson nodded as he tried to find the right words. “There are some who believe that the Koridosonites have infiltrated Oppenheim. They may have gotten to Johansson in one way or another.”
Tune and Crimson were no strangers to television drama’s revolving around America’s twin intelligence agencies, so they expected paranoia. What they didn’t expect, was Jackson’s tale. “Let me get this straight. You’re suggesting that the cultists aren’t human?”
Jackson shifted through the pages in the Rocky Springs report. “Do you, or do you not, claim that the divination array you used in the town of RS was designed to detect only human lifesigns?”
Suddenly, Loki’s theory found more weight in the alicorn’s mind. She nodded slowly. “Yes, otherwise life forms the size of ants or bigger would deliver misleading signal returns.”
“And I quote from your transcript,” Jackson said as he read from the after-action report, “ ‘its definitely not supposed to make the dots change color and flicker like that’.” He lowered the file back on the desk with a cautious expression. “There are some who have reason to believe that whoever those people are, are no longer fully human.”
The mares stared at Loki for a few seconds before facing the computer. Crimson fought to keep a straight face. “You think they’re turning into aliens?”
Jackson drummed his fingers as he contemplated a response. “It is becoming common knowledge within American society that your species is not native to Earth. As a result, the idea of there being other intelligent nonhumans on Earth is leaving the realm of censure and paranoia driven delusions to become a more openly acceptable theory.”
“So it was my report that gave these theorists the basis for the hypothesis that the Koridosonites are inhuman?”
“Agent Tune, ponies have destroyed two things: plausible deniability of aliens, and the realization of magic.” Jackson took another sip of water.
Even then, the majority of the agency believes that whoever is behind the cult has some serious genetic engineering technology. But the source of that technology is believed to be terrestrial, not of magic or aliens.”
“Most speculate that the clouds act like a primer agent. A chemical or some sort of infection vector that starts the victim’s transformation, but is missing something that leads to the victim becoming a mindless savage. Only those who are responsible for all of this have access to the other half of the infection. A sort of lock and key, if you will.”
“Ooohhh,” Loki drawled out. “So the cloud infects people with locks and the bad guys have the key to make them all evil and stuff?”
Crimson mulled over the idea. “If you already know that, then why do we need Johansson?”
Jackson smirked. “We don’t, at least not directly. We’re using him as bait to draw out one of the cultists so we can capture him alive.”
Anderson hummed in approval of the plan. “I like it.”
Loki was confused by it. “Wait a second. Didn’t we capture a big leader guy during our first mission under Thompson?”
Jackson was suddenly very uncomfortable. “At the time we just assumed he was the leader of an extremist group. The Guard took him, and all other surviving cultists into custody. An hour after they were left in their cells, they committed suicide by unknown means. By the time meal call came around, every last one of them rapidly decayed liked the bodies did in both Rocky Springs, and the capital. That’s why we know the cult and its backers are behind all three scenarios.”
He leaned back to take a more formal posture. “Now that Johansson has complained about sabotage, we know the bait’s been taken. Use your abilities to discover the mole’s identity and capture him alive.”
Johansson and Whisker watched the silver mare quickly draw on the brown wall with chalk flying around without her touching any of it. The only indication it was under her control was the matching aura around each errant piece and her horn. Tune needed to make sure the new array was absolutely flawless if she wanted to avoid a false reading, and the indentations in the wall were not helping.
Better than the rubber ground. It’s too uneven for the pattern to work, but these indentations can be worked around. Of course none of this would be necessary if there was a truly flat surface around here that would be big enough for the whole building.
“How is she doing that?”
Conrad looked to the lab assistant who was focusing on the herd’s alpha. “Magic.” Both the pegasus and earth pony drew silent pleasure at the two men of science scoffing at the notion.
Johansson growled at the idea. “Magic?! You can’t be serious.”
Crimson hid her smirk behind a clinically neutral expression. “I assure you Doctor, this is no joke. Have you not been watching the news?”
Whisker maintained a discreet distance from the alicorn as he watched the chalk move about. “I’m sorry, but I don’t usually have time to watch TV. I’ll admit I don’t know much about your kind, Agents. But this is obviously some form of telekinesis. The prospect of psychic power is incredible, revolutionary even, but hardly magic.”
The medic assumed a thready tone in an effort to sound like an old man. “You must unlearn what you have learned.”
Conrad coughed to clear the air before facing Johansson. He was just as eager to have a magic debate with a scientist as much as Crimson did, but not when they were representing the CIA. He wanted to act accordingly. “While our associate is busy, I’d like to get a statement from you before our investigation can begin in earnest.”
Both men had to push their scientific curiosity aside for the matter at hand, with the research chief taking one last look at the alicorn. He didn’t know why, but she irked him greatly. “Ask away.”
With the lunch crowd returning to their laboratories and offices, the hallway was crammed with people. Even with an invisibility cloak, a sane person would have waited in a corner for the throng of people to leave the hallway. Loki never honestly claimed to be sane. Were she to reflect on her current actions, she might even come to the conclusion that she was acting less so than normal.
The green mare was bouncing and weaving through the crowd with the finesse of a dancer as she pressed on in the direction of the server room. She couldn’t quite explain why, but she felt the little twitches in her ears or tail that always seemed to point her in the direction in which to go to avoid bumping into one of the researchers.
Unlike Crimson or Alexia, who might find them annoying or try to analyze it, Loki was more than happy to roll with the muscle ticks and passed by forty people with only a slight breeze being the only sign of her passing. Its like I’ve got ESP or something. That’s awesome! I wonder if its some long lost earth pony magic art.
Loki put her trust in the strange feelings and dodged the last eleven people before pressing her back to the wall right next to the door that had a plaque that declared her destination. Had the green mare thought to look; she would have noticed her cutie marks glowing slightly as the twin motes of mana grew with her quick acceptance of this new ability.
The server room was protected by a number pad and keycard slider. Both were expected by the agency, so Loki was able to fish around in her satchel to retrieve the forged keycard. However the passcode changed randomly every five hours so she had to either wait for someone to open the door, or obtain the code herself.
The mare shook her head at the idea. I need to know how far this ESP goes. she hovered her hoof over the keypad and tried to sniff the code out like she did with the crate back in the hotel, but it faltered and nothing came to mind. Frowning, she shifted the tip of her hoof over the different buttons trying to recreate the same perception, but nothing came. Her cutie marks dimmed to where there was only a low light that outlined the grey fedora on her flanks.
Aww don’t quit on me now. She huffed in disappointment. Loki fell away from the keypad and glanced around the hallway. She saw a scraggly looking scientist making his way down the hall who clearly didn’t listen to his bladder until it was almost too late.
Loki knew the man would pass her on his way the restroom. The hacker was hammered so hard by inspiration, that she fell face first to the ground. Oh man this is going to be so fun.
Loki remembered the restrooms were around the bend in the passageway so she scrambled to her hooves and ran around the corner and into the men’s room. It was a single person room with tiled walls and floor. Perfect! Not even thinking about how unsanitary it was, she dropped on her side and faced the door while removing the cloak around her head.
The man walked in a few seconds later to discover what appeared to be a green and pink miniature severed horse head with its tongue lolling out and its eyes closed. The scientist yelped and jumped back surprise and held onto the door to support his weight until he noticed the lack of blood. He let out a shuttering chuckle. “Very funny,” he said with strained humor. “So where’s the camera?”
He started looking around, and saw no obvious places. He decided to pick the head up. “Your owner will be back later if I take you with me.”
Right as he was about to touch her, Loki’s eyes shot open and stared at him with a silent promise of a most heinous doom. She growled with a voice akin to a demon. “Lord Toilet will be pleased with your offering!”
The man freaked and scrambled backwards for the door. To his absolute terror, the head floated up into the air with a crazed look on its face as it spouted unintelligible sounds. ”Gert wort voltantar seopod walrus.”
That was all it took to break the man and he bolted out of room and ran away. Loki returned the cloak over her head and ran over to a remote corner of the hallway so she could try to contain her nasally snickering from erupting into full blown laughter.
The prankster sat back in the corner to watch as her victim pulled several other people, including a security guard, to the bathroom. Loki pushed both hooves in her mouth to keep from howling with laughter at the man fluster in his attempt to prove he wasn’t suffering from being overworked.
A random impulse made her run over behind the guard and drop her head’s cloak again and tapped the man on his thigh. He turned around to see the head jump up to be momentarily eye level with him as the head screamed at him. “Booga booga booga!”
A brief moment of sanity made the green mare realize what the guard’s first reaction would be and recloaked while ducking to the side to avoid the man’s quick-draw of his firearm and almost shot at the space she had just occupied.
Okay, maybe I went a little overboard with that one.
“What the hell was that?” The guard shouted while pointed his weapon in different directions to try and find the target.
“See!? I told you I wasn’t hallucinating,” yelled the original victim as he cast scornful glares at his colleagues.
The security guard was slow to lower his weapon. “I’m going to call this in. Get a crew up here and find out what’s going on.”
Loki wracked her brain for a quick solution. Umm…Ha, I got it. She dropped the cloak around her head again and walked up to the men before the guard could activate his radio. “Greetings fellow men of science! I hope you were not too disturbed by our test.”
The group of four people backed away from the floating head. The original victim was appalled. “Test? Burnstrom if you’re responsible for this I swear you’ll pay!”
Loki spied the man’s ID tag. “Now now Vladdy. There’s no need to get your knickers in a bunch. Besides, Burnstrom couldn’t handle a holographic speaker module if it came with a dummy’s guide.”
The guard repressed a chuckle. “This is against Center codes of conduct. Play your practical jokes when I’m not on the clock okay?”
“Not a problem my good man.” Loki’s head vanished from sight. The other researchers laughed at the victim’s expense while Loki backed away from them. She felt her ear twitch towards the server room. its baaaaack. The grinning mare scrambled for the door and retrieved the passcard from her pack. Her hoof hovered over the keypad and she used her magic to press the correct sequence as they came to her.
Loki slipped inside and shut the door before the group of scientists could round the corner. She heard them laughing about the incident and plans for returning the favor. Loki’s glowing cutie marks faded back to normal as the green mare whinnied at herself as she crept deeper into the uninhabited room. Those guys will be laughing about it all day. Loki felt good about her prank, as even her victim was laughing at the end. She took stock of the red lit room she found herself in.
A final twitch of mana from beneath her hat shaped cutie marks gave her pause as a thought came to her. Maybe my pranks should try to make other people laughing instead of just myself from now on. I mean, a good joke is best when shared right?
Her eyes fell upon the servers and her mind snapped back to the mission at hand.
The invisible mare found the server rack was not under any additional physical protection. The room was more of a walk in closet than anything else. It was barely large enough for the rack, which held fifteen physical servers, and enough room to walk around in to perform maintenance.
She removed her satchel and dug around in it to remove a powerful satellite uplink. She ignored the servers themselves and went straight for the wires running out of the front of them. “Let’s see…” She fished out the piece of paper telling her which wire she needed to place it on. “Server eight, port two ninety.”
She scoffed at herself. “Man, if I had invisibility and ESP back in my human days, there wouldn’t have been a network in existence that would have been safe from me.” She brought up the wire splicer and uplink. “Especially not when I can bypass firewalls with this baby. I just need to tuck you in somewhere no one will think to look.”
Alexia’s chalk tapped the last line of the array. There, that should do it.
She glanced at her two mates. Conrad was using his authoritative muscle to keep the Doctor from logging a complaint that he felt like he was being interrogated, while Crimson was having a more civil conversation with Whisker.
Better help Conrad out and get this underway. Tune thought to herself before pressing a hoof to the diagram and activating it. Both humans had been casting curious eyes at the alicorn and ignored their conversations with the other two ponies when the diagram on the wall lit up with a bright azure.
Alexia was unaware of the shift in attention as her perception of the world around her moved to encompass the building and thirty feet from the farthest ground floor wall. Well over two hundred human shaped beacons of golden light moved around the facility. The building itself, and every nonhuman object within was a dull brown or grey if it was in motion.
I’ve been getting better at this. The signal returns look like people instead of just dots now. The silver mare almost immediately picked out two people who did not possess the pure golden signal of a normal human. Both of them were on lower floors and intermingling with the other researchers.
I’ve accounted for every possible error and miscalculation. The array is working perfectly, whoever those two are, they are certainly not entirely human.
Something nagged the mare in the back of her mind. I know that these people couldn’t possibly be able to trick my divination. Magic is simply too young on Earth for anyone to have any protection outside of the ward I gave them; but I already compensated for that.
That nagging feeling only got worse. I don’t like this… Something’s missing here.
Whisker eyed the glowing diagram with careful curiosity. “What exactly is she doing?”
Crimson looked back to her alpha and noticed Alexia had a troubled look. Anderson used the agreed upon cover story. “She’s using it for uninterruptible communications with HQ.”
He gave her an odd look. “Wouldn’t a cellphone do just fine?”
The pale yellow mare’s reply was cut short by Johansson shouting at Conrad. “This is insulting! I asked for a serious investigation to be conducted, and what do I get? A gaggle of horses who ask me inane questions that any brain-dead rookie cop could give.”
Conrad repressed a strong desire to slug the man. “Doctor, I am just following procedure. I’m going to have to ask you to calm down.” Before I do something we’ll both regret.
Johansson waved his arms about to display his disgust. “Outrageous! I’m not listening to another word. I want you out of my building. I am contacting the FBI and this time they better not hand it off to a bunch of disgraceful horses trying to play spy. I bet those badges are fake too. I’m calling the police!”
The brown pegasus had to force himself not to give into the temptation to beat the man senseless. Give me a terrorist with a gun any day. At least then I don’t have to worry about legal issues for killing him.
As Conrad tried to get regain control over the enraged scientist, Alexia finally realized what was nagging her. There’s only one human signal in this room. The shock of the revelation made her break contact with the array. Whisker noted the alicorn’s reaction, but didn’t know what to make of it. Tune cleared her thoughts and turned to the men.
“Gentlemen,” she yelled to impose her will on the enraged researcher, “I’m afraid I need both of you to come with us to the local police station. My superiors wish to ask you some questions.”
Johansson was only too delighted. “Good! Maybe then I can talk to someone with a modicum of competence.”
Whisker was more civil about it. “If that’s what you need of us Agent. I’d rather not have obstruction of justice on my record.”
“Glad to have your cooperation,” Tune began before addressing her mates, “please escort them to the lobby. I have other matters to tend to.”
As he was being led away, Whisker’s brow furrowed when he saw Alexia pull a smartphone and several moist towelettes out of her satchel.
Tune pressed the speed dial as soon as the door closed behind Crimson. She walked over to the array to erase it with the towelettes. Jackson answered after three rings with an expectant tone. “You have an update for me Agent Tune?”
“I do. The array discovered there are two people in the building who do not have fully human lifesigns, and a third who doesn’t register on the array at all.”
Jackson’s confusion and desire for haste was evident in his voice. “I’m calling in the backup team to link up with you. They’re about ten minutes away, but I need to know. If that third person didn’t register, then how did you know he was there?”
Alexia’s fear for her mates was starting to creep into her voice. “Because I was in the same room as him.”
“Does he suspect your intent?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then gather up the other two targets along with ten other employees so you can avoid suspicion. Make it seem random.”
“On it.” Alexia hung up and put the phone away.
Five minutes later, Crimson was keeping an eye on the two scientists in the lobby while Conrad and Alexia rounded up the other twelve researchers. Loki remained out of sight while lying on her back, batting the end of her tail every so often to keep herself occupied. She wasn’t expecting anything dangerous out of a group of unarmed scientists. Even if she had been, Loki needed to remain passive or else her presence would be given away. Well, more than what my prank did anyway. Good thing I convinced them I was an illusion.
The two winged ponies arrived on the ground floor via the elevators, along with the remaining seven people. Loki checked her phone. The fuzz should be here any minute now. The thought made her flop fully onto the floor. Can’t believe I’m one of the fuzz now too. Where did everything go wrong? I was a renowned hacker back in the day, but I’ve been spending all my earnings on building up Alexia’s dream town.
The green mare caught sight of her three mates as they tried to placate eight of the researchers as they heatedly complained about the volatility of their experiments. The herd’s mere presence tugged at her heartstrings to the point where Loki sighed in content at observing them. To think I’d end up giving my heart to three other people, and it not be the subject matter of a sleazy talk show.
Loki’s musings were jarred away by the arrival of five human CIA agents and the researchers becoming increasingly agitated. It was a development that troubled her. Why are all the white collars being so negative about this? I thought people like that loved talking with the police.
Johansson was leading a group of seven other researchers in making a huge scene, in an attempt to get the other three ponies to back down and let them get back to work. “Why did you pick everyone here at random?” he said as the doctor swept his arms to encompass the other angry men and women who grumbled in approval of his argument.
Alexia kept a hoof up in polite restraint as she caught the other agents moving in from the front door. “This is not random. We have reason to believe all of you are material witnesses in the string of sabotages.”
“And what reason is that?” Johansson raged as he menacingly imposed his stature on the alicorn. “You come in here, ask stupid questions and draw on my wall!”
Conrad took to the air so he was eye level with the belligerent ring leader. His tone was both forceful and barely polite. “You will maintain a professional distance, Doctor.”
“I don’t have to listen to you, horse.” Johansson motioned to Whisker. “We don’t have time for this. Let’s go everyone. We’ve got work to do.”
One of the human agents had finally gotten within speaking distance. “I’m Special Agent Monahan. We need you and everyone else to come with us.”
“On what grounds?” one of the women shouted angrily. “I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“We aren’t saying you did,” Alexia replied evenly. “But we need to investigate the cause of the sabotage, and we need to do that down at the station.”
None of the eight scientists seemed to back down in the face of three ponies and five human CIA agents. Crimson felt something wasn’t right about their behavior as the two groups postured against one another. Why are they acting to irrational?
Monahan rested his hand on his holstered pistol. “You have been asked politely by both myself and Agent Tune. We have a warrant and we are taking this investigation very seriously. I would prefer not having to press charges of obstruction of justice.”
The researchers were still belligerent, but backed down in the face of possible arrest. The other agents escorted the scientists to the front door while Monahan hung back to speak with Alexia. His tone was flat, but carried enough humor to rob his words of any sting. “Just what did you say to them to get them all pissy?”
Tune kept a close eye on the civilians while the herd crowded behind her. “I suspect the cultists might have something to do with that. Especially the one who didn’t register on the scanner at all; Assistant Whisker.”
The man in question possessed hearing as sharp as the ponies themselves and halted in his tracks. The equines took notice of his hesitation. In an instant, Whisker’s fist shot out like a bullet and planted itself into the agent to his left and threw him ten feet into the air while back kicking the agent to his right. Both impacts were enough to crack bone and leave them incapacitated.
The CIA drew their firearms and backed off to get out of melee range. “Get on the ground now!”
The throng of scientists didn’t listen and seemed to encircle Whisker while trying to bull rush the three agents between them and the door. The CIA fired on them without any further warning, and hit four of the researchers in the arms and legs, dropping them to the floor, wounded but alive.
Whisker ignored it all and bolted through the door and out to the north side of the building at a speed seemingly impossible for a normal man. The agents fired, but no shots connected. Conrad and the two earth mares chased after him, with the mares deftly leaping around the wounded civilians as the rest of the CIA agents restraining those still standing.
Alexia pulled the lead agent aside to speak quickly while pointing at a man and a woman in the fighting crowd. “Howard and Viand are the ones who showed anomalously signals in the scanner, we’ll chase down Whisker.”
The man nodded, eager to help his subordinates. “Take him alive if possible.”
“We’ll try.” Alexia’s horn lit up and she blinked outside on the top of the steps to see Conrad pass through the northern trees. She didn’t trust a full on gallop with her freshly healed leg just yet, and flying was out of the question. When in doubt, teleport out.
Whisker was fast, faster than any biped had any right to be as he tore down the lightly forested rolling grass hills. Yet that enhanced speed was not enough to outrun the three ponies hot on his trail. He jumped over a small crevasse in the ground. He didn’t need to turn his head to hear a single set of thundering hooves and the rustle of feathers on the air behind him.
A strange chime sound, coupled with a slight rush of displaced air and a flash of azure light heralded the sudden appearance of the sliver alicorn twenty five feet in front of him. She readied a second spell to stop him while Whisker didn’t deviate from his path.
Tune waited for him to get within seven feet before erecting a physical barrier between them, hoping he would smack into it. Instead, he reacted instantly and vaulted over the six foot shield and attempted to plant both falling feet onto the surprised mare.
He would have flattened her, had Alexia not reflexively blinked five feet to the right. Instead of continuing his flight, Whisker pivoted on one foot and charged the alicorn.
“Incoming!” Loki’s disembodied voice yelled out as the invisible mare collided with the errant scientist. Both combatants wrestled with each other as they rolled away from Alexia. Loki got in several good punches on the man’s face and chest, but none of them seemed to do anything more than annoy him.
Whisker managed to get his legs under the invisible pony and launched her off of him before trying to scramble to his feet. Crimson and Conrad tackled him as soon as Loki wailed her frustration through the air.
Alexia moved in with a sleep spell at the ready. “Keep him down!”
“What do you think we’re trying to do?” Conrad growled more at Whisker than Tune. The alicorn started channeling the spell, but Whisker was far more resistant to its effects than she anticipated.
Whisker yelled a wordless cry of rage and threw Conrad off and the pegasus was sent rolling away a few feet. Crimson was pinning the thrashing researcher’s legs between her own. With his arms free, Whisker grabbed Anderson’s neck at the base of her jaw with his right hand. The pale yellow mare feared he was going to try and choke her, but his grip was only strong enough to keep her from breaking free.
Her eyes dilated to the size of dinner plates as an eight inch spike of bone quickly slid it is way out of his left arm. “You should have left well enough alone.”
Conrad returned a moment later to kick the blade arm away. Yet it was not fast enough to stop Whisker from nearly impaling the struggling mare who received a long gash across the length of her muzzle and left cheek. Between Conrad’s intervention and Crimson’s earth pony strength, she was able to pry herself free.
By the time Loki returned to grapple the man’s spike arm, the other two ponies had effectively stalled the researcher long enough for the spell to take hold and Whiskers slumped to the ground unconscious. Anderson let go of the man’s legs and pressed her right fetlock to her cut face.
Alexia ran over to check on the injury. “Crimmy, are you okay?”
Both of the other mares inspected the bleeding wound while Conrad hovered over Whisker to keep an eye on him. Anderson hissed in pain. “I got worse from that job in London, I’ll be fine.”
Tune grabbed some bandages and disinfectant from Crimson’s satchel and gave them to Loki who had some training in applying both items. “Even so, I’d like to get this checked out. There’s no tell what else that guy might have besides a built in spear.”
Conrad tapped the man on his face to make sure he was out cold. “Looks like you’re coming home with us.” He fished out his cellphone and called Jackson while the mares fussed over Crimson. The pegasus didn’t have to wait long before the call was answered. “Boss. We bagged Whisker.”
“Excellent news Agent Tune. Stay on the line, we have a chopper in the air and we’ll track your location to send it over.”
Conrad still didn’t like his official last name being Tune. It wasn’t out of disrespect or distaste for the name, but more that it was forced on him. Well I can always go to a judge and have it changed to something else. Its not like its irreversible. “Ten four.”
The next seven minutes of waiting for the helicopter, consisted of Alexia keeping the sleep spell active and everyone else assessed their injuries. Outside of Crimson’s face, those injuries consisted of little more than bruises, minor lacerations, and pulled ligaments.
The royal herd was ordered to stay in the hotel for an additional three days, much to their chagrin as they wanted to join the rest of their kind at the settlement. The delay was due to Crimson’s injury, which had become a topic of interest in the agency outside of Thompson’s Section Nine. The medic knew it was more out of what was found in the wound, rather than any concern over her health, which was not in danger.
Anderson grumbled to herself as she flipped the page of Wilder’s notes on pony physiology. Her mind was only half focused on the text in front of her. Conrad and Alexia were on the roof of the hotel as the alicorn tried to get the hang of flying, while Loki was prowling the hotel in search of prank victims.
The medic was laying on the lone king sized bed with a half-eaten salad sitting next to her and two overturned empty plastic cups next to that. It was just past one o’clock in the afternoon, and the pale yellow mare’s legs were fidgeting. It was a common problem with earth ponies who became sedentary for too long, and that characterized the studying mare for the past few days after Whisker’s capture.
The other two things on her mind refused to be left alone as well. Anderson got exasperated with her continual failure in focusing on her books and climbed off the bed and walked over to the bathroom mirror.
She traced a hoof over where the injury took place. “Nothing’s left of it. Not even a line in my fur. Can’t believe how badly it hurt at the time. I still don’t know why they keep holding us here until the labs satisfy their curiosity. Feels like The Ranch all over again.”
She knew that wasn’t a fair analogy and huffed at her own irritability. Something she fully blamed on the other elephant in her mind. Anderson fell on her rump and looked at her flat belly. “Damn it. Why do I want a foal so badly?” she cradled her head in her hooves. “Its got to be hormones. I know its hormones.”
She slipped into analytical mode as she walked over to the living room. “It makes sense really. Almost every woman, and I’m sure mare too, goes through a time of wanting a kid. Its just nature’s way of imposing the will to procreate. Hell, it could even be that I’m just not used to my body’s hormones. I haven’t been a mare for even half a year.”
Crimson sat on the couch while a cartoon played on the television with the volume muted. She looked at it, but didn’t watch it. “So its only natural that with me being a mare, I would go through the same thing.” Her analyze did next to nothing in weakening the desire. Roaring at her nagging emotions, she pulled one of the seat cushions out and threw it at the television. “AARRRG! Why do I want this so damn bad!”
Anderson leapt her to hooves, breathing heavily through her nose. “Could it be Alex’s passive magic?”
The mare recalled Tune giving Twilight Sparkle’s explanation on it. “No no no, I’m a fully pony. Both inside and out. Her magic can’t affect me anymore.” Her eyes shifted around the room, but not really looking at anything. “Is it heat? I know I’ll be in season for the next two weeks. No, it can’t be. I’m not aroused or wanting to get laid.”
She realized the circular logic. “Well okay, I have to get laid to have a foal, but the sex itself isn’t what I want--at least not any more than usual. Plus I’ve been feeling like this before my cycle started.”
She fell to the ground on her side and hugged her hind legs and tail tight against her barrel. Her emotions flying everywhere as silent tears fell from her eyes. “It keeps getting worse, and there’s no pill I know of that’ll suppress this in a pony. No matter what I tell myself, I need this. Maybe Twilight can teach Alex a spell to fix this.”
Anderson gathered herself and went to the bathroom to wash up. “I need to burn off some steam; I’ve been sitting around too much. Giving me too much time to think.”
She gathered her satchel and filled a bottle of water. “We may not be able to leave the city, but they said nothing about running around town.”
Anderson finally cleaned herself up and combed her mane and coat to be presentable again, when Alexia’s phone rang from inside the bedroom. The pale yellow pony knew only one person had the five oscillating chime ringtone. Given that she was the only one in the room, it was her task to babysit the phone, so she ran to answer it.
“This is Anderson.”
It was Thompson. “Good to hear from you Agent. You’ll be glad to know, you’re cleared to leave Frisco.”
Crimson held the phone away from her mouth to groan. About damn time. She replaced the phone to its proper place and adopted a neutral tone that did well in concealing her partially raw emotions. “Did the lab find want it wanted?”
“Whisker is still alive and in transit to a holding facility.” He paused while reading a file. “As for your delayed departure, you remember why I ordered it?”
Apparently my agitation is leaking through. “Because you were acting on a hunch that whatever these…people are infected with is useless against ponies.”
“From what I’m seeing in the medical file, its more like repulsed. I based my hunch on how they reacted while trying to convert you during Tune’s first contact with you.”
Crimson remembered sitting on that house’s foyer. Cultists surrounding Anderson were chanting with the robed leader moved a screeching worm at her. She shook off the memory to return to the present. Off to the side of her medical mind, the mare knew she should be suffering at the very least a mild case of PTSD. However, the herd mentality’s effect on her had slowly robbed the memory of its potency. All the recollection did to her anymore was to give her reason to despise the cult.
“Yes, I remember. The worm didn’t take to me very well.”
“And yet it takes to humans like a fish to water. What grabbed my attention was how little of you was a pony at the time. Given your hand in all this, I can forward a copy of the medical report on our findings upon your arrival.”
That greatly improved Crimson’s demeanor. “I’d like that, thank you.”
“I thought you might,” he sighed so he had an excuse to switch topics. He knew full well that speaking to Crimson was almost as good as speaking with Alexia. “The preliminary screening and physical assessments of the first batch of candidates will be complete in two weeks’ time. I expect the four of you will be on site by then.”
“Don’t worry Director, we’ll be there.” She hung up and checked the clock before tossing the phone towards the center of the bed. “Well there goes my exercise. The fliers should be back in a minute.”
As if on cue, the door into the hallway opened and Alexia and Conrad entered. Anderson heard Conrad speaking. “Your form wasn’t that bad, and you can glide well enough; but you need to actually flap your wings next time.”
“How can you not freak every time you dip down?”
The pair was speaking in Equish. It was fast becoming their language of choice now that the two earth mares were fluent in it as well. The only time any member of the herd spoke or even wrote in English anymore was when addressing a human or pony who did not understand it.
Crimson walked in to see the pegasus chuckle at his partner. “Because you trust your wings to push you back up obviously.”
Crimson decided to interject. “Maybe getting a formally ground bound pony to learn how to fly on top of a twenty story building isn’t such a hot idea.” The alicorn agreed, but Anderson kept speaking. “I just got off the phone with Thompson. We’re cleared to leave for Loki’s build site.”
Both other ponies lit up at the news. “At last,” Conrad grumbled. “I’ll go find Loki so we can pack up and leave right away.”
Alexia noticed Crimson was gravely troubled despite the effort she put in hiding it. It was something only a fellow herdmate could see, but only if they were looking. “Is something wrong Crimmy?”
Conrad stopped his walk to the door to look at the earth mare who gave a shuddering mirthless laugh. “Its funny really,” Crimson started as her emotional walls weakened, “we really can’t hide anything from each other. And I don’t want to…ever.”
Conrad walked back over to lay a comforting hoof on the earth pony’s back while Alexia scooted closer to her. “What is it?” There was no need to tell Crimson that she could speak her mind. It was an understood fact between them.
“I need something.” Crimson hesitated as she glanced at Tune’s bulge. A stab of intense jealous desire lanced through her psyche. “No I can’t say it’s a need, at least not yet. Just something I don’t know if I want or my body wants or a mix of the two. But I’ve been wanting this far more than I should be if it was just hormones.”
Alexia was calm and understanding with her tone of voice. “Whatever it is, we can help you through this Crimmy. But we need to know what it is.”
The implications of it was not lost on the trembling yellow mare. This isn’t just some fix and be gone. My whole life would change, as if it hasn’t enormously already. I may not be able to continue my studies. A third child could put a strain on all of us. Who am I kidding, it would put a strain on us. “I ahhh.” Just say it already! She raged at herself. You are not going to be the one who starts hiding things from the herd.
Conrad cast a worried glance at Alexia who gestured to give Crimson time to speak. Anderson looked between both mates before centering on Tune. She pushed back the fear of rejection and mustered up her courage to voice the request. “I want to have a foal.”
The non-earth ponies were taken aback with the stallion responding first. “That’s all? Why are you so high strung over that?”
Alexia smacked him upside the head, electing a yelp of pain. “What do you mean ‘that’s all?’ Having a kid is an overwhelmingly important decision.”
Didn’t stop us from going at it like rabbits. He checked his thoughts before they reached tongue. “I thought she was having outside trouble is all.”
Tune glowered at him while Crimson attempted to clarify her feelings. “I’m scared about this. I don’t know if this is how I truly feel.”
Alexia decided to mete out punishment on the single male later so she could focus on Anderson. “What do you mean, how you feel? It’s kind of hard to mistake the desire for a child for something else.”
The medic grabbed her head to try to think rationally. “I could understand if this was my biological clock or something, but it feels too intense.” Crimson caught sight of Tune’s belly as the alicorn shifted her position, and the same stab of jealousy spiked through her. Damn it! “Its like something else is pushing me to want a foal.”
Alexia was highly concerned and summoned the tome and flipped it open. “This might be a condition among ponies.” The Dusk Guard page revealed itself, but the purple light was absent. “Its no good. Twilight isn’t available.”
Conrad pulled the distraught mare into a close hug while directing his attention to the book. “Maybe some of the medical text Sparkle gave you will have the answer.”
Alexia switched the interface to that section. “Not a bad idea.” The mage levitated the tome to the center of the room and activated the archives. The whole room was filled, wall to wall, with shimming text of multiple colors to indicate their subject matter.
The lavender princess had been very through in the amount of text available to her prized student. Although, the former librarian had the tendency to add far more books than was practically needed. Those three ponies searched the expansive magical holographic display for five hours with no luck. Crimson felt emotionally raw but also that she was stabilized. The medic knew it was because most of the herd was present in the room. As long as she kept her eyes away from Alexia’s belly, she could almost ignore the pounding impulse in her mind.
Loki waltzed into the hotel room feeling rather good about herself. She pulled off seven successful pranks and only ten out of thirty people had swore vengeance on her. Its not an instant success, but I think its a good start in broadening my audience. and saw the massive holographic display. “Oohh. What’s the big project guys?”
Anderson looked away from her page. “We’re trying to find a book on physiological disorders or afflictions relating to an overbearing need to have a foal.”
The green mare didn’t think to ask for the reason for such research and walked over to the long list of titles. “Just how many books are there?”
“Almost thirty thousand,” Tune replied offhandedly. “Twilight seemed to think I’d have time to read them all eventually. Pretty sure it was a joke though.”
Loki whistled at the number. She scanned the names for a few minutes before her ear twitched. The pink and green mare’s eyes went back to the title where the twitch occurred and pressed a hoof at it. Her section of the display disappeared, with the slightly glowing text book remaining. “The Stallion’s Guide to All Things Mare.”
Conrad was instantly interested in that book. Now that sounds like a good read. He walked over while Loki breezed through the pages. “Is there anything in there about abnormal behavior?”
Loki snorted in amusement. “If I can guess by the author’s name, I’d say a stallion wrote this. So I’d suspect the whole book would be labeled as abnormal behavior.”
“That’s not true,” the pegasus replied teasingly, “there’s got to be a table of contents and appendix in there.”
His comment drew the eyes of all three mares in the room. One was amused, another slight displeasure, and the third promising silent doom. Loki flipped back to the table of contents. “These chapter titles are rather dumbed down. Here’s one called ‘avoiding the bimonthly three to six days of terror.’”
Crimson was feeling anger boiling over. “We’re looking for medical text,” she growled tersely, “not chauvinistic drivel.”
The other ponies glanced at the fuming mare. Anderson only wanted one thing in her life to make her feel abnormal: alcohol. Barring that, she was beginning to hate this drive that was building with every second. Tune wasn’t sure what to say, so she kept looking. Conrad rolled his eyes and went back to his spot.
Or at least he tried to, but Loki pulled on his mane to look at a different entry. She whispered to him. “Look at this.”
He read the line of text above Loki’s grass green hoof. She wants a foal. Or does she?
It piqued his interest. “Think that might have a clue?”
Loki shrugged as she returned his hushed tones. “Maybe. It’s the best lead we got to our resident baby boomer.”
Conrad moved in to sit side by side with Loki as she flipped the translucent pages which visibly solidified once she got to the desired page. The document was clearly not written to be scholarly source material.
Your marefriend or herdmate wants a foal? Well in order to figure out what could possibly possess her to want a screaming messy ball of fur, we have to delve into the mind of the mare. A scary prospect I know, but if you’ve already read this far then you should be strong enough to do so again.
Loki found the entry more amusing than insulting. Conrad had to cut through the poor attempts at humor to get the useful tidbits out. At least I hope this is humor. He scanned through it until he found an entry that seemed to describe the problem.
Reason 76,279 as to why she wants another mouth to feed could be from what I like to call, Alarm Clock Disease on account of the biological clock all mares seem to have. Almost every mare in existence gets all giddy and lovey dovey over the sight of young fillies and colts running around at play.
Its in all likelihood that at least one of your herdmates will want a sprout to call their own. But ACD is a particularly nasty one. From what I’ve heard, it’s fortunately very rare. But even then, you best pray to Celestia, Luna, and even Smooze if you’re into that kind of thing. I won’t make any judgments here.
From what I’ve gathered in my many decades of travels and observations, not to mention the two dozen herds I’ve been a part of. ACD only strikes mares who are part of a herd where one of the other mares is visibly pregnant. Now I’m no psychologist or whatever, but even I can tell ACD is more than just the mare wanting to cook something in the oven.
For whatever reason, the mare started to go nuts over the idea of getting pregnant. Unfortunately, this isn’t like heat. At least then you get a couple of good weeks to romping around, and even then she's only interested in the sex, not the aftermath. The other huge difference is that ACD can happen when she isn't in season. I’ve seen and heard some horror stories in my time, and there is nothing worse than a mad mare who gets full blown ACD right after her season is over.
Fortunately for you my friend, there are two quick and easy solutions and one not so easy solution. The first and best one, if you ask me, which you should be if your reading my book, is to buy her a few boxes of Barralian hot tea. The stuff is sold all over Equestria and is far cheaper than a foal, I tell you what. Now if you’re the family type, then the other easy solution is to give her what she wants.
Both of these easy solutions are permanent fixes too as I’ve never in my long years have ever heard of a mother suffering from ACD. Some want more foals, true, but nowhere near the level of an ACD addled pony.
The last solution is more difficult for everypony involved. The afflicted mare would have to leave the herd. This is one of those times where you know its all in her head, because no more than three days after she leaves the herd, ACD is gone. She may still have some lingering desire for a foal, sure, but it’s at a manageable level, even for the crazy ones out there.
The other problem you and she should know is that this isn’t a permanent fix like the tea or motherhood is. I don’t know what’s in that drink, but it’s been used for over a century. If she ever rejoins a herd that has a pregnant mare in it, she’ll go right back into ACD like a parasprite to a freshly baked pie.
Loki stopped reading as the rest of the entry devolved into the author’s self-admiration and ego boosting. She nudged Conrad. “Well unless you have some of that tea hanging around I only see one real solution here.”
The stallion was ill-at-ease with the prospect of ejecting Crimson from the herd. It smacked of abandonment and betrayal, something he found intensely abhorrent. “We should tell the others before we decide anything.”
The green mare was floored by the comment. “What’s there to decide?! We can’t make tea from an herb that doesn’t exist on our planet, and I know you’re not suggesting we follow plan C.”
“No I’m not,” he hissed defensively in the face of her accusations. “But they still need to know all of the facts.”
After hearing the filtered version of what the book’s entry had to say, Crimson's mood was even more dismal. “Is there no way to synthesize the tea? Now that we have the name, I’m sure one of the books has the chemical composition.”
Alexia was dubious at that. “How many books out there readily display that kind of information? And even if we did find it, there’s no guarantee that it could be synthesized.”
Conrad was in agreement. “Assuming it could be in the first place. Plus that kind of work would take months if not years.”
Anderson was petrified of plan C and visibly shuddered at the thought of it. I can’t leave the herd. It would break me, I just know it. Crimson knew all the good that the herd mentality offered her. It was the only thing keeping her from having an emotional breakdown. She feared that if she left the herd in the state that she was in, that she might become suicidal before the effects of ACD started to fade.
Deep down, she knew of one thing with absolute certainty. I’m too emotionally dependent on the herd to ever leave. She idly rubbed her mane where the three stripes of foreign color were placed. Every time she looked in a mirror, those three stripes met her eyes. They meant more to her than anything.
But that would mean imposing a third child on them. We all knew Alex was pregnant before forming the herd, so we all accepted that. The other members of the herd hugged the pale yellow mare. Crimson sniffled as she spoke to Alexia. “I don’t know how much of me really wants a child and how much of it is the ACD.”
Her mates backed off to give her room, with Alexia staying close. Anderson hated the cowardice of her next statement. “You are our alpha Alexia. I can’t ask this of you, but I’ll abide by whatever you decide.”
Tune thought the answer would have come instantly, but Crimson’s reminder of Tune’s position within the herd reminded the alicorn of her duty. “There’s no way I can promise it will all work perfectly if we have another foal. We may be moving on to be instructors, but there’s no guarantee that we won’t be reassigned to more dangerous work later.” She paused to think. A memory surfaced, causing the alicorn’s features to harden. “The four of us made a pact on the day Conrad got his cutie mark. Do you remember what it was?”
Conrad grinned fiercely. “I most certainly do. ‘No matter what comes. The four of us will stand united,’” he quoted with resolute conviction.
Loki jumped in with a jovial smile. “Now and forever.”
Tune pulled Crimson up to her hooves, a loving smile on her face. “We act as one.”
With shuddering breath and streaming tears, Anderson buried her face into the silver mare’s neck. Her voice was cracked with emotion. “Because we are one,” she said, finishing the pact.
Alexia squeezed the sobbing mare, pouring her love into the act. The silver pony had a clear view of the azure, steel, and pink stripes in Crimson’s mane. She rubbed the bands of color, feeling in her heart that losing any of them would be a crippling lose to all of them, herself included. “We’ll find a way to make this work. We would be broken without you.”
Tune encompassed the sobbing mare with her wings. Anderson was slow to calm down enough to speak again. “Thank you Alex.” She sniffled. “Thank you.”