That was a little awkward, but I think it went well. I'm sure once mom gets a chance to see me face to face and chat she'll be fine. She's probably just worried about me. I would be worried about me too if I were in the position of any of the humans who knew me before Pony Day arrived.
“You know that was pretty bucking stupid, right?” Silver pipes up from munching on a pancake. Watching my friends use the so-called 'magnet hooves' to eat with is kind of weird. But considering all the other magic at our disposal it isn't out of place. “If your mom passes on word to anyone else we may be in for an unpleasant-”
“Surprise!” the quirky white pegasus interjects. Silver glowers at her while Dust snickers. Surprise gives a little bow. “We aim to please!”
I roll my eyes at Silver as I struggle to find a comfortable position in a chair built to hold a human. I eventually settle for sitting on top of it like a huge cat, but it's too narrow for that to be comfortable. “Come on, Silver. My mom needed to know. Besides, it isn't as if she's going to up and betray us. It isn't like she's a spy.”
Surprise's eyes light up and she quickly snarfs down the pancake in her mouth. “But if she were then that would make her the spy who loved you!”
That pegasus is almost without a doubt up to something. I can tell by her cheeky grin. No idea what, though. The mind of Surprise really isn't something that's healthy to delve into.
Henry, Winter Night, and Corn Silk soon join us at the table. And... near the table. We're quickly running out of room. I give up my seat for the lone human if only because I'll be more comfortable on the floor. My hind-end is a bit bigger than the ponies which means chairs just aren't for me anymore. Surprise is already busy handing (Hoofing? Mouthing?) out plates of pancakes to our gracious hosts.
“Once we're done with breakfast we'll be heading out,” Silver says. “We're on a bit of a tight schedule saving the world and all.”
“Possibly two worlds,” Dust interjects. “Since we've got to figure out how to stop Discord, too.”
“Yep!” Surprise agrees. “The world is not enough to satisfy our heroism!”
Dust stares blankly at the quirky pegasus for a few moments and starts to snicker. I must be missing some kind of inside joke.
“So... about my special talent?” Winter pipes up.
“You've got a book on your butt,” Silver states flatly. “Read some books and see if you feel some tingly pony magic.”
Bluntness aside, Winter considers that. “Well... I did always like reading stories...”
“There you go. Special talent found,” Silver tosses down his fork and hops off his chair. “Alright everypony. Get your tails moving. Surprise?”
Surprise snaps into a wing salute.
“When's our next window to leave without being seen?”
Surprise scrunches up her face as she considers that question. It looks like she's trying rather hard to figure something out and at last that absurd grin crosses her face once more. “We can make skyfall in five minutes and fourteen seconds. But we need to go out the front door.”
Dust completely looses it at this point.
I can't help but give a little huff. “Alright. What's the joke? What's going on here?” Is this some sort of My Little Pony reference that I'm not getting? We only made it part way through Season One and there are five more besides that I know next to nothing about, so that doesn't seem like much of a stretch.
“Hehe, well. Surprise is-” Dust begins, only to get cut off.
“No Dusty! You're on her majesty’s secret service! Your lips must be sealed!” Surprise insists, doing her best to sound serious despite giggling like an idiot. Lightning Dust is trying really hard to hold her own laughter in now.
Oh I give up. Judging from the last comment this must have something to do with Princess Celestia. I've got more important things to do than try to figure out Dust and Surprise's little inside joke. I'm not going to let this bother me.
Okay, I probably will let it bother me. It's bothering me right now. But I'm going to try really hard to think about something else.
Goodbyes are exchanged and we pile out the front door. It's still pretty early in the morning and about the time when many humans are either getting ready to leave for work, on their way to work, or in the process of leaving for work.
Case in point?
The woman across the street who fails to notice us since she drops her keys and they bounce under her car. We zip skyward while she busies herself with their retrieval. Score another point for Surprise's uncanny sneaking sense.
Back in the Cloudmobile we receive our new heading and turn toward the south east. The day is a bit on the cloudless side, so that probably leaves us looking a little conspicuous from the ground. At worst someone might take pictures of the funny looking cloud to post online. After all, I doubt anyone would scramble military aircraft to investigate an odd looking cloud. Speaking of aircraft the pony radar leads us directly above an airport. An airport with a national guard base none too distant.
Wuh oh.
That's probably a bad sign.
“Bucking wonderful,” Silver swears. “Somepony probably got themselves caught. They'll be locked up tight and if we go down there we get caught too.”
“We can't just leave then down there, though,” I object. “I doubt anyone would have the gall to kill and dissect a pony, not when we have medical equipment that can examine someone without taking them apart. But getting locked up in a lab somewhere and experimented on? We can't allow that.”
“We're Wonderbolts,” Dust says. “That means putting ourselves in harms way to help other ponies. No way we're abandoning anypony.”
Silver grumbles, but eventually relents. “Alright. Surprise and Geneva? Go check it out. But don't try any heroics until you report back on the situation, got it? I sure as hay don't want to pull your plots out of the fire.”
“Got it boss! Don't you worry about us!” Surprise laughs. “I'm sure we'll die another day.”
Well.
That's kind of morbid.
Dust seems to think it's funny, though.
Surprise pulls out a pair of black feathers and sticks one in my mane. The other one goes into her own along with her silly fake mustache. “The perfect disguise...” she mutters whilst rubbing her hooves together. “Alright! Let's go sneak the living daylights out of those humans!”
And with that we bail out of the Cloudmobile.
Thankfully the radar is leading us to the airport rather than the guard base. I would hate to have to sneak around where there exists some possibility of being shot at. I'd like to think that someone's first reaction would be 'oh neat, ponies!' rather than flinging bullets around but that's still a risk we should probably avoid if we can.
We land between a pair of hangers and start heading toward the one with a guard posted at the back entrance. Great. He's your stereotypical G-Men. White guy wearing a suit, shades, and an unamused expression. He's standing stock-still and may or may not be looking at us. It's hard to tell with the sunglasses. Judging from the fact that no one is yelling or running toward us right now my quirky friend's disguise is apparently working. Surprise's shenanigans seem to draw attention to or away from her in just the right way, but I don't think whatever we're disguised as would normally be opening up doors. And that means we're going to need to find another way in.
Surprise beckons toward me with a hoof and we trot around to the other side of the hanger. Bingo, open window up high. As an added bonus there aren't any G-Men lurking around on this side. It would be impossible for a human to get up there, but for a pegasus? It'll be a tight squeeze but I think we can fit through. We've got our way in.
“We've got a window and we're going to take a peek,” I whisper through the head set.
“Just a peek,” Silver insists. “Don't go diving in there guns blazing regardless of what you see.”
I take a deep breath and fly up to the window, steeling my resolve for whatever greets me.
~~~~~
“What do you think, Night? Should I try growing some corn in the back yard?” Silk asked. “Because for the life of me I can't get corn out of my brain. Must be part of this special talent stuff.”
“That sounds nice...” Winter Night muttered as she picked another book off the shelf.
Henry had left for work a little over an hour ago and for the most part the house was quiet. Quiet save for Winter Night's soft voice as she busily reads every book she can get her hooves on. So far nothing unusual had happened during her reading. Though this time she had tried something different. On a whim she had decided to try reading from The Hobbit aloud and found that the experience began to resonate with her. She was so engrossed with the story that she had scarcely noticed the icy blue aura surrounding her horn. But when the images began to appear? Those she didn't miss.
“Woah. Night!” Corn Silk said. She had finally found something to distract her from her agrarian ponderings. “Your horn!”
When the little unicorn stepped into the story her magic stepped in with her. And between words pinned and her mind's eye a wondrous illusion was cast that brought the book to life.
Suffice to say Winter was rather excited over finding out how her special talent works. “Oh my gosh! Look! It's just like the trolls in the story! Oh my gosh this is so cool!”
Corn Silk found herself grinning like a foal as she watched and listened. She gazed on in hushed awe when Bilbo and his friends slunk their way through Mirkwood and got themselves captured by a gaggle of giant spiders. The earth pony reached out with a hoof and waved it through the insubstantial trunk of a phantom tree. “This is way better than that Peter Jackson movie.”
That's probably how the rest of the day would have went. Winter Night creating impromptu movie adaptions of books while Silk listened eagerly.
Yes, that's how the rest of the day would have went.
If their front door hadn't been smashed in.
Night's illusion faltered at the panic that gripped her heart. In the blink of an eye the room had filled with four imposing looking men in SWAT gear pointing weapons at them. Both ponies were frozen in fear. That was certainly bad enough. Then things went and got worse.
The G-Man stepped in.
Shades, perfectly combed black hair with a few traces of grey, immaculately pressed suit, and a no-nonsense expression on his face. If there were a better example of a faceless government agent it would be hard to find them. There was the slightest crunch of splinters underfoot when his neatly shined shoes pressed down on them. His every motion seemed careful and calculated.
The G-Man touched a finger to his ear and nodded almost imperceptibly. Then he spoke to the ponies.
“Missus Sutter, I presume,” the G-Man said to Silk in an emotionless, deliberate tone. “And that would make you Miss Rose. I am going to ask you both to come with me. You will be moved to a secure location were specialists are working to resolve the threat your conditions represent.”
The two mares exchanged a fearful look. Something about this smelled all wrong. If they're just asking nicely why did they knock the door in? Why the show of force? It was almost as if they were trying to get the mares to bolt. And not too long ago Geneva had explained in detail what the limits of current genetic engineering technology could do. Simply put, short of something just as supernatural as their transformation there was no way to become human again.
“Did the government start employing wizards when no one was looking?” Silk asked.
The G-Man replied far more levelly than Silk had hoped. Not even so much as an eyebrow quirk from him. “Not to my knowledge, Missus Sutter. Not to my knowledge.”
No way. This whole situation had Corn Silk on edge. The cagey explanations weren't making her feel at ease, either. A plan slowly formed in the back of her mind. It would be risky, but right now it felt like going with these mysterious government agents would be worse.
“Alright, we'll come with you,” Silk said. Then she turned her gaze toward Night as she trotted toward the G-Man. “You were just getting to the park about Smaug, right?”
A look of understanding flashed in Night's eyes and she quickly flipped to the proper portion of the book, pages a blur in the field of her icy blue magic.
“Thank you,” the G-Man replied. “For your cooperation.”
Corn Silk trotted forward, her head hung low.
And then turned on a dime and bucked the G-Man square in the chest with everything she had, sending him tumbling over backwards into the armed humans. “Now Night! Do it now!”
Winter Night didn't have to be told twice. Her magic flared to life and she read of the horrible destruction wrought by the book's antagonist. And when she did a hulking phantom dragon filled the room snorting smoke and flames. The illusionary beast opened his jaws and let loose a roar that rattled the windows and sent several of the SWAT troopers stumbling away in fright.
Her distraction cast Night turned on her hooves and galloped toward the back door as quickly as she could.
Silk hesitated a moment too long to make her own escape. She heard a loud popping noise and felt a prick in her flank. She turned her head toward the source of the dull pain and noticed the dart sticking out of her haunches. The world around her began to swim under her hooves but she remained upright. “Going to... going to take more than that to put an earth pony down.”
“I am very disappointed Missus Sutter. I had hoped that you would not cause us any undue trouble,” the G-Man said. He climbed back to his feet and neatly adjusted his tie that had been knocked off kilter by the force of Silk's kick. “Very disappointed indeed.”
The phantom dragon was already coming undone now that Night was out of the room. Silk stumbled toward the back door, but another popping sound gave her pause. Silk looked down lazily at the second dart sticking out of her. When had that one appeared? Then back up at the G-Man standing in front of her who looked no worse for wear. It was becoming increasingly difficult for her to focus. And it didn't help that the floor decided to leap up at her. Corn Silk's world slowly faded into a chemically induced slumber.
The G-Man stepped forward through the snarling dragon and knelt next the unconscious pony. Satisfied with her state he motioned to the still nervous looking SWAT troopers. “Load the specimen.”
While the unconscious pony was loaded into an animal crate the G-Man touched a finger to his ear and spoke in that same dispassionate tone. “Missus Sutter has been detained. Allow Miss Rose to flee twelve blocks. Then put her down.”
Winter Night's hooves thundered against the pavement and her heart thundered against her ribs. What had happened to Corn Silk? Wasn't she right behind her? Had she just died to save her? What's going on? Who are those people? Her mind was a blur of uncertainty and fear. Her instincts were screaming at her to keep running and never look back. She heard shouts of confusion and alarm as she galloped down the middle of the road. At this point she wasn't thinking about being stealthy. She was thinking about escaping. About surviving. Surely there would be someone who could help her, right?
“A pony!”
Night's ears swiveled toward the sound of a young girl's voice and hope leaped inside her heart. A little girl, perhaps five years old, was playing with some My Little Pony dolls of all things in her front yard. The brown unicorn immediately veered toward her.
“Please, can you take me inside?” Night pleaded. “There are bad men after me.”
“Do you like books?” the girl asked, oblivious to the panic in the unicorn's voice. “Like Princess Twilight?”
That question came completely out of left field. Night had to pause and back up a few steps to process it. “Books?”
The child pointed at the book still suspended in Night's icy blue magic.
“Oh. Oh! Yes, I really like books. If you let me inside I can read you any story you like!” Night said.
“Okay!” the little girl replied without a trace of hurry in her tone. She began picking up her toys with excruciating slowness. “I'm Molly. What's your name? I don't think I have a toy of you.”
The unicorn snatched up a small constellation of plastic ponies in her magic field. “I'm Winter Night. Please please please hurry. We have to go inside right now.”
At last the child led the pony through the front door of her home. Night gave a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't being followed by any imposing men in black suits. To Night's relief she found none and gently eased the door closed behind her with a hoof.
“Mommy!” the little girl yelled through the house. “I met a unicorn outside! She's going to read me stories in my room!”
“That's nice, Molly,” came the reply. “Just be quiet, mommy is having an important conference.”
“Come on Winter Night!” the child giggled. “You can read me Dora and the Unicorn King!”
Child and pony crept up the stairs to Molly's bedroom. A little sanctuary of innocence all decked out in soft colors and more than a few horses. Horses ranging from realistic looking models to fantastical unicorns to the ponies Night had become acquainted with after her own transformation. One might say that little Molly had a horse obsession. Not particularly unusual for a girl of her age.
The child held out her favorite book, worn from countless readings, for Winter Night to recite. For a few short minutes little Molly was enraptured with the illusions dancing around her while the unicorn read the story with animation and joy. The story might have been simple and child-like, but that just meant it had even more room for imagination.
Story time only lasted a few short minutes, though. Because it took only a few short minutes for Molly's mother to realize that the voice of an adult woman she didn't recognize was coming from her daughter's room. There are few forces in the world that will motivate a parent more than the fear of their child being in danger.
Molly's mother burst onto the scene and found something quite unlike what she had expected. Molly was sitting on her bed bouncing up and down with glee watching some kind of hologram that was projected over her whole room. A projection that turned the room into a fairytale wonderland. Galloping around near the ceiling was a white unicorn with a little girl wearing a backpack riding on it. The mother almost didn't notice the brown unicorn staring up at her with equal parts hope and fear. At least not until the unicorn stopped reading and the illusion faltered.
Night's eyes locked with those of Molly's mother.
And then in a flash the middle-aged human snatched her daughter off the bed and interposed herself between child and tiny cartoonish horse.
“Stay away from my daughter!” the woman shrieked. “Get out of my house!”
Night's ears fell flat and she backed away. “But...”
“Get out!”
Winter Night turned and fled. She could hear Molly bawling her little heart out behind her over the sound of the girl's mother trying to comfort her. She nearly tumbled headlong down the stairs and scrabbled uselessly at the doorknob for a few moments before she finally managed to grip it in her magic and pull it open.
Out on the street again. The sun was bright, warm, and pleasant. Not at all fitting for the danger the brown unicorn found herself in. She had to find someone else who could hide her. Someone who would be willing to hide her.
The first thing she saw was the black sedan slowly driving toward her. Night's eyes widened in terror as realization dawned on her. Run. She had to run. Now.
Now!
She bolted off down the street again. Her hooves thundered against the pavement. Her heart thundered against her ribs. The panic was worse now. So much worse that the object of her fear was within sight.
There!
Night spotted a man standing in his open garage door, brief case in hand and jaw slack.
Winter made a snap decision and ran toward the human.
“Please! You have to help me!” the unicorn cried.
The human took several uneasy steps backwards before turning and running into the garage. He began to desperately pound at the 'close' button while the mutant alien horse thing charged toward him. At the last moment the door rattled shut and he could hear the creature's hooves crashing against it from the outside.
“No! Oh God no! Please! Don't leave me out here!”
He was breathing heavily, hand gripping his heart. What the hell was that monster? How could it talk?
“Please open the door! They took Silk and they're going to take me, too!”
Then there was a loud pop and a cry of pain.
“Please...” the monster whimpered. “Help...”
The pounding gradually grew weaker and at lasted it died away altogether. The man hurried into his house and peaked out a window. What he saw made him heave a sigh of relief. A bunch of official looking folks were loading an animal crate into the back of a black sedan. That thing must have been... what? Some kind of escaped experiment? He couldn't even begin to guess. But at least the government arrived to take it away before it hurt someone.
The G-Man oversaw the capture of the pony and gave a dispassionate nod. Once more his hand touched to his ear. “Miss Rose is in custody. Mister Hopkins and his associates had already moved on. We will arrive at the hanger in fifteen minutes with the new specimens.”
No rest of the wicked, after all. Not when there are still ponies to corral.
~~~~~
Cages.
There are ponies in cages.
Eight of them down there. Six ponies of the usual Equestrian type and two... mundane ones. These people are rounding us up like animals. Including those of us who have been reduced to animals. Several of the Equestrians look depressed. Though a few of them look vaguely hopeful as well. Maybe they had been told that the government has some way to make them human again? I can't help but scoff at that thought. Short of magic on the order of what this Discord guy throws around being human again is probably out of the question. And I doubt asking the avatar of chaos for help would turn out well. Probably more likely to turn inside out.
It takes all of my self control to avoid leaping into the middle of the room and begin freeing them. That would probably just get me caught. Those cages are built like tanks and secured with some kind of heavy duty electronic lock. There are several humans in SWAT gear milling around inside the hanger in addition to two scientist looking folks and one G-Man eerily similar to the one that's guarding the back door. Same black hair. Same suit. Same shades. Same dour expression. I think he might be looking at me, but it's hard to tell.
“We've got eight ponies down here,” I whisper into my head set.
Surprise yells, “Caw caw!” rather loudly right next to my ear. I glower at her and then continue.
“Two of them have gone bland. The rest are still pastel.”
“And guards?” Silver asks.
“Four dudes with guns. One Men in Black style scowly-guy inside and a second outside. And two scientists,” I report.
“Darn. Outnumbered and out-gunned,” Silver swears. “How quickly could you get those cages open?”
“They're some kind of fancy digital lock. Maybe if I had some powered bolt cutters I could chew through them, but barring that?”
This is looking pretty grim for the captured ponies.
“Alright, listen. If we try freeing any of these ponies this place is going to be crawling with guards in no time flat. We won't do anypony any good if we get caught, too,” Silver says.
“We can't just leave them here to rot!” Dust snarls over the com. “There's no way we're going to just turn tail and run because things get too hard!”
“If we go in there hooves flailing all it takes is one guy calling for help and we're bucked,” Silver shoots back. “We need to pick fights that we can win. We need to know when to hold 'em, when to fold 'em, and when to run. We're looking at a fold scenario right now. And if we dive into trouble head-first it'll turn into a 'run' in a bucking hurry.”
The hopeless look in those pony's eyes is like a knife in my heart. They're no more than twenty feet away from me. And it may as well be a thousand miles. “What about a distraction?” I suggest. “Have Dust hit one of the planes on the runway with a lightning bolt or something? Maybe they'll all run outside to see what happened and then we can swoop in and save everypony.”
“Oooh, I like that plan.”
No points for guessing who made that comment.
“Assuming these humans aren't bucking stupid they'll just hunker down and call for support,” Silver replies. “Distractions like that only work in action movies and bad fanfiction.”
Scratch that idea.
“Great,” I huff. “Well what are we going to do then?”
“Nothing,” Silver sighs. “We're going to do nothing. We can't help these ponies.”
Several things occur to me at once.
First, I really don't like this plan.
Second, Surprise isn't standing next to me anymore.
Third, her headset is.
Fourth, she's casually trotting up to one of the guards in the hanger.
“Huh. Well. I guess we can give Surprise's plan a shot,” I mutter.
“What's Surprise's plan?” Silver asks.
“I have absolutely no idea.”
She's probably making it up as she goes.
“Hiya!” the quirky pegasus shouts from behind one of the SWAT looking guys.
The human whirls around, bringing his weapon to bear on my friend with practiced precision. It's pretty obvious that he was startled and the irritation is plain in his voice. “Where the hell did you come from?”
Surprise considers that question for a few moments. “Well, when a mommy pegasus and a daddy pegasus love each other very much...”
“No, I mean- Damn it, never mind,” the human gestures at one of the empty cages with his weapon. “Get inside and pipe down.”
The caged ponies watch in silence as Surprise gleefully trots into one of the cages and allows it to be shut behind her. It makes a humming noise followed by a loud click, announcing that she is well and truly locked inside.
A pink unicorn mare next to my friend asks curiously, “Who are you?”
“The name's Party,” the quirky pegasus replies. “Surprise Party. I'm here to rescue you.”
The pink mare gives an irritated snort. “Yeah? Well who's going to rescue you?”
I can tell my friend is about to reply with something silly and encouraging, but she falls silent when the G-Man looms in front of her.
“Who indeed, Miss Liggett?” the human in the black suit inquires hypothetically. “Who indeed.”
“Oh, we haven't met yet have we?” my friend giggles at the impersonal wall of pressed suit-clad government authority standing in front of her cage. “I'm Surprise! Who are you?”
“Miss Liggett,” the G-Man continues in his droning voice. “I'm afraid you fail to grasp the gravity of your situation.”
“Silly!” Surprise giggles. “That's my old last name! I meant who are you? And I've gotten pretty bad at grasping gravity,” Surprise admits thoughtfully. “I think pegasus wings flapping must really bother it because it ignores us when we do that. Don't you think that's really rude? Ignoring people isn't nice at all!”
“Miss Liggett. Please tell us where the rest of the ponies are,” the G-Man says without missing a beat.
“Right over there of course!” Surprise laughs, pointing with a hoof at all the caged ponies next to her.
I've got to admit that I'm impressed. Either this stuffed suit has super-human patience or his emotional centers have been surgically removed because I can't see so much of a hint of irritation at Surprise's shenanigans. He briefly looks toward the caged ponies before turning his attention back to Surprise.
“Perhaps I need clarify, Miss Liggett. Where is Mister Hopkins and the rest of your associates?” the G-Man asks.
“Aaww, I can't tell you that!” Surprise says. “That would ruin the surprise!”
“I see. That is an unfortunate decision, Miss Liggett. Most unfortunate.”
And with that the G-Man walks back over to where he was previously standing guard without a word. Once at his post again the guy may as well be a statue.
“Hey!” Surprise yells. “You never told me your name!”
It should come as no surprise that the stuffed suit doesn't reply.
“Not introducing yourself is really rude!” Surprise yells. At the continued lack of reply the pegasus humphs and lays down in her cage.
“She trotted in there and got herself caught, didn't she?” Silver asks over the com.
“Yep.”
“Buck. Head back up to the Cloudmobile. We need to figure out what to do next,” Silver sighs.
I give a nod, grab Surprise's head-set, and then freeze obediently when I hear, “You there in the window! Freeze!”
Wuh oh.
Surprise's stealth mojo apparently wore off.
I give my wings a powerful flap and launch myself to the side. My pressure sense informs me that something small and fast just whizzed through the air where I was previously. Judging from the loud pop I just avoided being shot. Unfortunately that aerial leap to the side hurled me right into the line of sight of the other G-Man standing guard at the back door.
He doesn't look at all bewildered by the fact that a hippogriff flew in front of him. He doesn't shout in surprise or panic. All he does is smoothly reach into his jacket and pull out a handgun.
Snap decision time.
I pour magic into my lungs and roar.
The reverberating boom knocks the dart that would have sealed my capture off course. It also blasts the G-Man off his feet and sends him tumbling across the pavement. Oh geeze, I hope I didn't hurt him.
Not much time to ponder that, though. I need to get back to my friends and out of range. I begin pumping my wings for all I'm worth and go rocketing into the sky, my spiraling contrail behind me. I'm about two hundred feet up when something occurs to me. If I head straight for the Cloudmobile they might be able to track me.
“Meet me over the lake outside the city,” I call over the com. I adjust my posture in the air and go shooting back down toward the ground away from the direction I had just sent my friends in. “Once I'm sure I've lost these people I'll circle back around and join you.”
“Got it Geneva!” Dust replies. “Don't get yourself caught.”
Nope.
Not planning on getting caught like Surprise. I have no idea what Surprise is thinking. She's got to have some sort of weird plan she didn't feel inclined to share with us. At least I hope she does.
No, I'm not getting caught.
But I think it's about time to start making a scene. These spooky men in black obviously know about us. And they obviously don't feel inclined to tell anyone about us. And they obviously have no issue with sticking us in cages like animals and then shipping us off to a lab where we'll probably never see the light of day again. They don't want people to know that ponies are on the loose?
Well buck them.
I angle myself toward the river I had spotted to the east and take off like a shot less than fifty feet above the ground. Just high enough to avoid getting myself tangled in any electrical lines. Plenty low enough to be spotted by anyone who happens to be awake at the moment. If there's one thing I've noticed about flight magic it's that once you're going fast enough to leave a magical contrail you get loud.
Loud as in fighter jet flying overhead loud.
Like a missile I roar over the middle of a wide street lined with larger buildings on either side. People on the sidewalks are pausing and pointing up at me as I go racing past. More than a few phones are hefted skyward. I can't help but grin at the sight. Try covering this up you bucking sons of a mule.
Another large cluster of buildings and an enormous parking lot looms in front of me. That has got to be a mall. And a mall means tons of humans wandering around. I give my wings another powerful flap to launch myself up and over the roof where a wide open out-door promenade stretches below me. This couldn't be any more perfect. People inside the mall have already spotted me and are pointing skyward.
I spread my wings wide and begin beating them to bleed off my forward momentum before coming in for a slow landing next to a fountain and several large potted plants. Humans are already moving closer with phones at the ready to film me, though they're all keeping a respectful distance. I can imagine what most of them are probably thinking. This must be some sort of publicity stunt, right? Well, time to dismiss that notion.
“Good morning ladies and gentlemen!” I call out, mixing just enough magic into my voice to amplify it for all to hear. “I just flew in from Narnia and man are my wings tired! I should probably take the wardrobe next time, right?”
No idea where that joke came from. It was pretty awful, but it immediately lightens the mood. There's a chorus of laughter and a few humans start moving in for a closer look. I hop up on top of a table, plop down on my haunches, and curl my tail around my feet. Hopefully 'giant catbird on a table' is considered non-threatening.
Despite myself I'm grinning like an idiot. There are more than a few oohs and aahs as humans gather around. By this time people are starting to come out of the stores to see what all the commotion is about.
“Jokes aside, I'm here on more serious matters. I'll try to keep this brief and answer as many questions as I can since there are some nice folks in slick shades and black suits who don't want me talking to you,” I continue. That gets some murmurs of discontent from some of the humans while others begin backing off. Mysterious men in black and government cover-ups are a pretty common trope in popular culture after all. And I imagine that I probably look the part of something that would require covering up.
Considering that there are in fact men in black trying to keep the existence of Equestrians under wraps sort of lends credence to things.
“My name is Geneva Pressure Front. I'm an Equestrian exile here on Earth. There are plenty of other Equestrians like me. Well, not exactly like me. I'm a hippogriff and most of them are ponies. But that's beside the point.”
“I knew it!” yells one person from the crowd. “That Meet the Ponies video was real! You're Geneva! The Geneva who shot it, right?”
“One and the same. Some of you might have heard rumors of pony sightings, they're all true. Or at least some of them are true. I don't know how many ponies were exiled to Earth, but there seem to be quite a few of us.”
Near the back of the crowd I hear someone start shrieking about alien invasions. I can smell the level of fear beginning to rise, but it isn't anywhere near overwhelming yet. We Equestrians have an incredibly powerful weapon on our side when it comes to encouraging humans to trust us.
We're absolutely adorable.
“This isn't an invasion. We're exiles trying to figure out how to get back home. And we can't do that if we're being locked away in secret labs somewhere,” I argue.
“What about the Mane Six!” yells someone else. A few more voices are raised in agreement.
“We're pretty sure that the Elements of Harmony are somewhere here on Earth as well, but we don't know where yet. And I know some of you are familiar with us and so you should be familiar with what we stand for. Joy, compassion, charity, integrity, loyalty, and friendship. We've all lived for the past twenty five years among humans as humans. We aren't strangers to this world. We aren't enemies. We aren't invaders. We aren't here to steal the Earth's water or anything absurd like that.”
That manages to draw a few more laughs from the humans. I extend one of my hands toward the crowd, palm up and open.
“All we want is your friendship, your understanding, and your acceptance. So spread the word! Tell everyone you know! Post the videos you're taking right now all over the Internet!” I call out to the humans surrounding me. “Make it impossible for this to be covered up!”
I spread my wings again and lift onto my hind legs, gradually rising into the air.
“Never forget that friendship is magic, no matter the world or species! Stand with the Equestrians in friendship and we will not be silenced!”
That gets some cheers. Some far more enthusiastic than others. Ha! That was a pretty rousing speech, right?
In a flourish of wings I launch myself back out of the mall and streak off toward the river to the east. Homes and businesses whiz past below me, no doubt prompting even more photo ops from surprised onlookers. My flight path takes me directly above a school, drawing the eyes of more than a few children skyward. On a whim I cut my speed above the playground and drop into a hover about fifty feet off the ground and wave down at the gaggle of children below.
Ah the smiles of kids.
Totally worth it.
I give my wings another pump and continue off toward the river. Once its greenish waters are below me I drop my altitude and begin cruising mere feet above the wave and follow its course. This should keep me well out of sight for the most part considering the raised banks and levies that keep the water in place will mostly obscure me from the roads.
Once I'm beyond the edge of the city I pull up from the river and begin crossing overland toward the lake some miles away. I stick close to the tree tops to limit my visibility as much as possible. I'm not sure if I can even be tracked with radar or not, but I seem to recall that flying low to the ground helps to baffle electronic detection so I may as well stick to that. Before long the lake stretches in front of me and I veer skyward like a rocket. The air is still clear for the most part and spotting the cloudmobile doesn't prove to be terribly difficult. Dust and Silver are both on the roof waiting for me.
“So. We lost Surprise,” Silver mutters.
“Come on, it's Surprise,” Dust replies. “She's got to have some kind of plan.”
“How did the flight back go?” the grey pegasus asks.
“Fine. I landed in the middle of a mall and gave a speech about friendship on the way over,” I say as I idly examine my talons. Don't worry about Surprise. Don't worry about the captured ponies. Surprise knows what she's doing. She hasn't let us down yet.
“Sounds like the horse-apples are going to be hitting the fan, then,” Silver muses as he peers off toward the south. “If I had known a bunch of clandestine suits were going to be rounding up ponies I might have agreed to that interview.” Silver sighs and shakes his head. Then levels his gaze at Dust. “What's our heading?”
“Next pony is to the south,” I report after pulling the pony radar out of my impromptu saddle bags. “Pretty far away, too.”
“Sacramento?” Dust says. Biggest population center in that direction.
“Maybe,” Silver muses. “If we do end up in the state capitol how does making a few public appearances sound?”
Dust can help but grin a wide grin. “I thought you would never ask. Let's go rock their world.”