//------------------------------// // Wherein Geneva Finds Herself // Story: Wonderbolt Down // by Rebonack //------------------------------// “And then I said 'Shop smart, shop S-Mart!' and shoved a shelf full of canned peaches on top of it! And that's how we took back the grocery story from the evil chaos spirits!” Surprise rambles. After the realization that I couldn't watch her flashback Surprise was nice enough to actually explain everything that had happened. Her story was a bit rambling and disjointed but that's just Surprise for you. I think I'm actually happy for the silliness if only to cast what's going on in a less apocalyptic light. The existence of shape-shifting monsters on Earth makes my skin crawl. There's no telling what organizations they've infiltrated and who they might have replaced already. How long have they been on Earth setting up for this? It's certainly a sobering thought. And what about all the rest of them? Whatever a bunch of evil monsters from Pony Hell have in planed can't possibly be a good thing. And apparently they're looking forward to a little shindig twenty five days after this whole insane mess started. Five score divided by four. That can't possibly be a coincidence. “Welp! I'm going to help with the round-up so we can get everypony back to town,” Surprise comments brightly. “A little cheer goes a long way when somepony is in a funk. Especially a funk from those mean old chaos spirits. You should help too!” I blink as Surprise flitters away. How am I supposed to help? Give out hugs? Heh... Considering the way these demon things apparently work that might actually be a viable defense. Whilst pondering how best to make myself useful my ear flicks toward nearby voices. “Ah darn, we've got a pony popcicle,” a black unicorn mare mutters as she and a human woman pull Bobby Pin out of his cage. The pony is completely encased inside an irregular slab of ice. “I'll drag him to the jeep, he can thaw out on the way. Morinda? Go find Meadow Song, have her sing for him. That seems to help.” The human woman nods before hurrying off. “Sure thing Star Field.” I can feel my curiosity prodding at me and so I trot over to inspect the frozen pony. “What happened to him? Can I help you move him?” “Mm? Oh. One of those windego things got to him. Fills your heart up with hate and freezes you from the inside out,” the mare says with a sad shake of her head. “If you move quick you can thaw them out with love and cheer. This stuff is crazy, let me tell you. I thought all the windegos were sealed so deep in Tartaurus that they wouldn't ever get out.” Then she wraps Bobby in a red field of magic and effortlessly hoists him into the air. Wow. That's pretty neat. I mean, I know unicorns can levitate things, but this mare seems like she's in a whole different league. Might have something to do with her cutie mark. A cartoonish one ton weight inside a red four-pointed star. Maybe her special talent is focused on her telekinetic magic like mine is focused on air pressure magic? “So... Star Field, was it? You remember a lot about Equestria?” I ask curiously as I follow her toward a nearby jeep. “I've started getting my Equestrian memories back, but it's just a little bit at a time.” “I remember everything from Equestria,” Star Field replies as she plops the pony popcicle into the back of the jeep. “And nothing about Earth. One moment I'm writhing under the effect of Discord's curse and the next thing I know I'm a human here in this town. I wasn't aware that any time had passed until Morinda told me about it.” She doesn't remember... Anything. From the past twenty five years. Nothing at all. Not her family. Not her friends. Not her childhood. Not growing up. Her hopes and dreams, her fears and aspirations, her triumphs and failures. All gone. All of those memories. All of those moments. Lost. Lost... Like tears in the rain. “I'm so sorry...” I mutter breathlessly. “It isn't that bad for me,” Star Field says. Though she's trying to sound strong I can tell that she's hurting. Though it isn't the sort of hurt one feels for themselves. It's the pain of empathy felt toward a friend. “To me it's like nothing happened. There isn't anything for me to miss. I feel awful for Morinda, though...” “Was she...?” I ask, leaving the question hanging in the air. “Yeah. She was the human's wife,” Star Field confirms, her tone heavy with regret. I can't help but wince. “She and I have gotten to be really good friends over the past couple days. I told her about what happened to me. She explained everything we did together before, well... before the darn curse wore off. Helped me get through growing back into my old body. That same day these chaos spirits started coming out of the woodwork. We really haven't had much time to really think about what happened, but I hear her crying at night,” Star Field sighs. “I kind of wish that I had just... stayed gone. I feel like I killed her special somepony.” “Maybe... you'll start getting your human memories back?” I offer hopefully. I also offer a silent prayer of thanks that I wasn't subjected to what Star Field is suffering through. I think it's fair to say this 'joke' of Discord's is nothing short of sick. “Sort of like how I'm getting my memories from Equestria back?” “Yeah. Maybe,” Star mutters. “Come on, work to do and ponies to move. I think this might be enough to really stick it to the chaos spirits. Ever since we started intercepting pony shipments the other day things have been getting easier for us.” Our herd of ponies, humans, and a few four wheel drive vehicles begin trundling back toward the town. I'm finally getting a good feel for where I've been dropped. Arid mountains this way. Arid mountains that way. Dusty soil and prickly shrubs as far as the eye can see. The sun is dipping low on the horizon now. Considering how early it was when I set off from my parent's house this must have been quite the drive. Probably southern California somewhere. Maybe in Arizona? I'm about to ask one of the ponies who rescued us when I feel something in the air above us. Several somethings. I turn my eyes skyward and quickly wish that I hadn't. Monsters. Demons. Like some sort of blasphemous fusion of skeletal human and insect. These must be the- “Changelings! It's an ambush!” Star Field hisses as she lights up her horn and begins lobbing red beams of raw telekinetic power skyward. The amount of magic she's throwing around is pretty impressive. Strong enough to make my wings itch. When she scores a direct hit on one of the monsters it gets blown apart like a paper bag filled with pickle relish. “Behind the vehicles everypony! Take cover!” Oh I take cover alright. Bolts of weird green fire begin sizzling through the air all around. Most of these ponies don't know the first thing about combat and panic is beginning to set in. A pony to my right is hit, giving a shriek of pain and crumpling into a heap. The scent of burnt hair accosts my nose as I spare the stallion a quick glance. The burn is minor at worst and he's still breathing. Some kind of stunning weapon? Makes sense if they want us alive. The feelings of panic hit me suddenly. One moment I'm getting ready to launch myself at one of the changelings in the sky and the next I feel like hiding under my blankets. It isn't a natural fear in the least and one that I remember quite clearly. I grit my teeth and begin searching for the source. There. Four of those agents or men in black or whatever they are. They're walking toward us at a measured pace in perfect lock-step with each other. Now that I'm actually looking at some of them side by side it's obvious that they aren't actually the same person. They're different, they're just so unremarkably bland and lacking in any interesting distinguishing characteristics that they may as well be the same person. Ponies are running in sheer panic from them or just dropping prone and cowering. One of the G-Men pauses to grab a unicorn by the horn, causing growths of black crystals to spread over it. Which... is probably bad. How are we supposed to deal with four G-Men and a gaggle of changelings? I was hardly able to take down one. I'm still sore from the thrashing I took. That's when I hear the singing. And then music. “When I was a little filly and the sun was going down~!” Surprise. Of course. “The darkness and the shadows they would always make me frown~!” The G-Men immediately zero in on her. Or at least try to. Her voice is coming from somewhere, but it's difficult to pin-point. “Find the Miss Liggett immediately.” “I'd hide under my pillow~! From what I thought I saw~! But Granny Pie said that's not the way to deal with fears at all~!” Ponies and humans alike are beginning to focus and fight back as the irrational terror is dispelled. “She said Pinkie you've got to stand up tall and face your fears~! You'll see that they can't hurt you so just laugh to make them disappear~!” “There,” one of the G-Men droned, pointing straight at Surprise. As one they draw their sidearms and riddle my friend with holes. I'm about to cry out in despair when I realize that isn't Surprise at all. It's a cactus wearing a yellow wig. “Ha~!” Surprise nails one of the G-Men in the face with a left jab. “Ha~!” Followed by a mean right hook. “Ha~!” And then lays it flat with a buck to the face. The G-Man goes skidding across the ground and shakily picks itself back up, its glasses broken, suit dirtied, and hair disheveled. “Soooooooo~!” And thus begins a rousing rendition of 'Giggle at the Ghosties' while we all fight for our lives. Though... somehow it doesn't seem so life-threatening anymore. It's more like a song and dance rather than a desperate bid for survival. Despite myself I can feel bubbling laughter welling up inside me. I leap over the jeep, give my wings a beat to keep myself in the air a moment longer, and tackle one of the remaining G-Men. With a snikt! out come my talons and I bury one set in the G-Man's face and the other in its torso. Before it had felt like I was trying to dig my claws into a wall of solid rock. Now it's more like ripping into a solidly packed cliff of sand. Still tough, but something I can actually sink my talons into. The G-Man catches me in the chest with a punch carrying enough force to hurl me away. Oof. They still hit absurdly hard, though. But using my magic to blunt that attack didn't feel quite as draining as it had just a few hours ago. Huh. Before I was afraid. I was terrified. I had no idea what I was up against and I didn't think I could win. And beating that thing had taken every ounce of my strength and more magical explosions than were probably healthy. But this time? It's tough, but I can take it down no sweat. Laughter. Laughter banishes the fear. If my fear was making them stronger then my cheer is having the opposite effect. Note to self. Try to avoid fighting these things when Surprise isn't around. I give my wings a fluff and spread them out with a sound of metal on metal. I fan one in front of me to swat a punch aside and then deliver a punchline all my own. “No wonder you guys never laugh. You can't take a joke,” I snark as I hew through the monster with a wing. Its limb goes limp and it follows up with a snap-kick. I catch the thing's foot in my talons and launch myself into the air with a rush of wings. One quick spin later I hurl the G-Man headlong into the dirt and drop on him with a hammer-blow from my wings. With a resounding crack the chaos spirit is rent in twain and crumbles into a heap of black sand whilst a wisp of purple and green drifts away on the wind. “Ha! Those who can't take a joke will be given one instead!” I crow at the fallen demon. Then catch a kick square in the ribs from the remaining G-Man. I'm sent tumbling across the ground and have my impromptu roll ended by an unpleasantly positioned rock. Oow. The G-Man looms over me. “I believe that now would be an ideal time to end your threat to our operations, Mister Hopkins,” it states as it stoops down and yanks a rock of head-smashing size out of the ground. “I've heard Elysium is quite pleasant this time of year. Give my regards to Princess Celestia.” Oh God. This is it, isn't it? My skull is about to get splatted. I guess I'll be finding out if the whole eternal life thing applies to hippogriffs or if it's a human-only deal. Right as my life starts flashing before my eyes one of the G-Man's arms gets blasted into a cloud of dust by a bolt of red magic. Now bereft of one arm the G-Man loses its grip on the head-smashing rock and drops the thing whilst toppling over backwards. Oof... Looks like it was destined to be a head-smashing rock all along. “That was kind of sad,” Star Field comments as she offers a hoof to help me up. “I expected a bit more from a Wonderbolt.” I wheeze slightly as I hoist myself up. “Sorry. I still don't remember most of my training,” I reply lamely. It's becoming more and more obvious that the sooner I get my Equestrian memories back the better. I furrow my brow and think. What's the last thing I remember? Finishing flight school. Snowflake and Brighteyes moving to Ponyville while I stayed in Los Pegasus. I remember writing books on magic theory, though they didn't sell very well. So I had to supplement with weather work. It was enough to get by on and gave me plenty of time for research and more writing. Then...? All just a haze of emotion after that. “Hey,” I feel Star Field bop me in the side with a hoof. I wince when she hits a bruise. Boy am I ever going to be sore in the morning. “We won, let's get moving.” We have a few more unconscious ponies thanks to the sneak attack, but we make it back to town in one piece. By now Bobby Pin has been thawed, but he's pretty out of it still. A pony named Meadow Song is busy singing to any ponies who have been inflicted with those black crystals that apparently prevent a pony from tapping into their magic. Star Field jokingly refers to the malady as horn herpes. The resistance is set up in the town's school if only to take advantage of the ample floor space it provides. It's getting late and everypony (and human) looks to be getting ready to eat and bed down. Guards are almost exclusively ponies due to the human-shaped changelings being unable to mimic them. Thank God for that. There's some degree of paranoia regarding changeling infiltrators, but I suppose that's par for course with changelings. Everyone is kept in groups of at least three at all times to help discourage changeling attacks. After dinner Star Field begins training the unicorns in the use of a simple offensive spell. I may not be able to use unicorn magic, but the theory is still interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about normal ponies being taught to fight like this, though. The Wonderbolts are something of an Equestrian air force. Sure we do lots of stunts, but we have more defensive uses as well. After all we were called on when Twilight Sparkle's pet dragon grew to Godzilla size and started rampaging around. But... I suppose learning to fight is necessary when the the Elements of Harmony are busy with their own problems and the royal guard is scattered to the four winds of the Earth. And I'm sure things were probably a lot less peaceful back in the days before the chaos spirits were all sealed away. Back in the days when fighting was magic. Huh. Spike's attack on Ponyville. When did... I wobble a bit. The memories are coming back faster now. I think... “Alright everypony, listen up!” Star Field yells. “I'm going to teach you Evening Star's Bolt. This is quite literally the simplest combat spell a unicorn can learn. If you can use levitation then you can manage this. The stronger your levitation is then the stronger this spell will be. So watch carefully.” I don't watch carefully. I stumble back into the common sleeping room for all the mares and flop down on a cot. It feels like my head is spinning. Or maybe the room is spinning. Whatever is spinning I would rather like it to stop. My memories are getting all muddled up. Like somepony dropped my brain into a blender and set it to frappe. I remember... I remember Snowflake encouraging me to try out for the Wonderbolts. I remember passing the entrance exam. I remember my first air show and my first mission. I remember meeting Lightning Dust and Surprise Party and grumpy old Silver Lining. Remember when the seal on Tartaurus began to weaken. I remember being sent out to deal with the monsters that were popping up all over Equestria. I remember being stationed in Cloudsdale when we got a code message that none of us ever imagined possible. The sun has set. I remember... I remember everything. Except when I fell asleep. ~~~~~ Blue sky above. Green grass below. I'm laying on my back and there's something warm and heavy on top of me. Something furry and feathery. I give a surprised yell and shove it off, rolling to my feet. She gives an awkward squawk at the sudden movement and stumbles trying to find her footing. I stare at her. And she stares back at me with those intense yellow eyes. She's... a hippogriff. Mythical offspring of a griffin and a horse. But that's impossible. Griffins aren't real. “Who are you?” I ask. I'm laying on my belly and there's something thin and bony under me. Something with smooth beige skin and almost comically small poofs of fur. Suddenly he cries out and pushes me away. I squawk and my legs begin scrabbling at the grass under my feet as I struggle to keep myself from falling over. My sleep addled brains tries in vain to make sense of the creature I was laying on top of. It's an unnaturally gangly beast standing on two legs. Human... why do I recognize him? I haven't ever seen one before, have I? Then he speaks to me. He asks me a question. So I open my beak and answer. “I'm you. Aren't I? But how could I be you? You're a human, Lance Hopkins. And I'm a hippogriff, Geneva Pressure Front.” I wrinkle my nose at the hippogriff's reply. That can't be right, can it? How can she be you if I'm you? How can there be two yous? Wouldn't that make me us? I scratch at my hair with my fingers in puzzlement. But it isn't hair, it's a mane. And they aren't fingers, they're claws. “But if you're me, then who are we?” I think about her question. My question. Our question. Who's asking the question again? Is it me? Or is it you? It is beginning to make more sense. She's me. And so am I. She was a human, but now she isn't, not anymore. Now she's me. “I don't think we're we. I think we're me.” I grind my beak and ponder what I, we, no, me just said. Ponder the other hippogriff mare standing in front of me. I ponder my reflection, my double, my shadow. I ponder my pasts. I ponder my life-times. Two different life times. Two different mes. Once sundered but now made whole again. She's me. And I'm her. There isn't any we. There never was a we. It has always been me. But I had forgotten. There is only one hippogriff mare. There is only me. And now I remember. “Only me... I'm me. Who else could I be?” I ask myself. No one answers because I'm alone. Who was the hippogriff? Me. Who was the human? Me. Who am I now? Me. I spread my wings wide and give them a beat. Gravity has no hold on me. The embrace of the world can not contain me. I calls for me to come crashing down, but I spurn it with a flick of my tail and a rush of my wings. “It's so nice to meet you again, me,” I say to myself. “I'm going to have such fun together, you and I.” There is a peace in knowing that I'm finally whole again. Five score divided by four, I was taken from me. But now? I'm me. And I'm free. And at last I'm all mine. ~~~~~ Day Nine Sixteen Days Remain It is still dark when I open my eyes. There are mares all around me along with a few female humans. That makes sense. I sleep with the other mares because I'm a mare, too. But then I wasn't. But now I am again. Slowly I stretch out my wings and roll my shoulders. Joints pop and magic pulses. I lost my wings and my magic for a long time. But now I have them both again. That makes me glad. I remember I didn't miss my wings so much when I didn't have them because I had forgotten that they ever were. Forgetting my own special talent... Forgetting my friends and my parents... Discord's curse is a truly insidious thing. I think of Star Field and Bobby Pin. I think of them and I quietly weep for them. They still don't remember. One can't remember his life in beautiful Equestria, a land so much like a fairy tale compared to this one. And one can't remember her life here on Earth, having forgotten her own very special somepony. I think of my human mother and the agony she's gone through over me. I think of Corn Silk's special somepony and the suffering he must be going through over her violent disappearance. I think of the suffering that everypony and all those that care for and love them are enduring. I hope the Elements of Harmony can set it right. I pray the Elements of Harmony can set it right. Because Discord has done a pretty good job of breaking two worlds. Not that Discord had to try very hard to break Earth. Earth was already broken. My mind wanders to what I know about the degree of human misery around the world that's nothing short of common place and I can't help but contrast to my home of Equestria. It feels... Sad. Deeply, terribly sad. I know I tried to help. At least a little bit. I gave money to help pay for wells so a village in... India I think? So it could get fresh water. And I once went on a short term mission trip to help build a school overseas. But... Why didn't I do more? Why didn't everyone do more? I'm sure if everyone worked together in harmony we could fix things. Why did Equestria live in such beautiful harmony while Earth was just so... Sick. My home for the past twenty five years is desperately sick and needs to be well. “I feel so strange,” I quietly confide in the ceiling. “I feel more... everything. Empathy I guess? I'm not really sure. I sort of knew about all the suffering that was going on around the world but I think this is the first time I've really felt it. And I feel kind of... bad... that I never felt it before. At least not like this. I guess I just never had anything to contrast Earth with before now.” Thinking about that is... well... it isn't pleasant. Once our current crisis is over I'm sure teams of earth ponies, pegasus, and unicorns working together could steadily terraform some of the less hospitable parts of the world to ease the pressure there. I heave a heavy sigh and slowly close my wings. My mind wanders to the events of yesterday. I can't help but smile when I recall my mom. The morning with her hadn't gone perfectly, but it was still better than what I was expecting. I am different now. I'm certain of that. Even more different now than I was yesterday morning. After all, I hadn't found myself again. Over half of my life had been cut from my mind. But now it was back. Hehe... yeah. I'm dead certain I must be different now. But so long as she still loves me I think I'm okay with being considered a different person even if I'm still me. Because I'll always be me. Who else could I be? Then there were the battles... Ugh... I feel embarrassed over my performance. I was fighting like a complete foal out there. No finesse to speak of. I was wasting so much magic and I never even used any of my best tricks! I could excuse myself for having lost my memories, but still! If Snowflake had seen me flailing around like a delirious fledgling I would never hear the end of it. And what that boogie said to me when it was about to kill me... What it said. It said... Elysium... That was... sort of a compliment, wasn't it? Only ponies of great virtue go to Elysium when they die. Which I guess dying while defending my friends would count as. Loyalty. That would have been a very loyal way to die. Achieving Elysium would be a great honor. My ears droop. No... That isn't right. You don't have to be some kind of paragon of perfection to be saved. You can't earn your way into favor. It's about faith. Then doing your best because it's the right thing to do, not because you'll get some kind of reward out of it. But... yes it is. The virtuous go to Elysian Fields. Ponies that were neither pious nor wicked go to the Asphodel Meadows. And bad, naughty, wicked, evil ponies are locked away in Tartaurus to be punished for their crimes. No matter where a pony goes they would eventually drink from the waters of the Lethe to strip away their identity so they could be reborn again. I whimper and clutch my head in my hands. N-no! That's wrong! That's horrible! There's no death more complete than the annihilation of a person's self. The whole point of being saved is to bring perfect resolution of character and identity, not to dissolve it! People don't just stop existing. But I did. Half of me stopped existing for the past twenty five years. New souls can't just be conjured out of nothing. The cycle of death and rebirth is needed to keep the world in harmony. But that doesn't make any sense! How could half of me stop existing if it came back? Half of me wasn't gone. It was just... forgotten... And there were five billion humans back in the nineteen nineties and there are nearly eight billion now. And... and the population in Equestria and the other nations of the world are going up too! Not as fast as here on Earth but that's still something. Those souls must be coming from somewhere, right? I don't... I don't know. Maybe animal souls can be uplifted? But that doesn't solve anything. It just pushes the problem into the future. I can feel hairs springing free in my mane. Oh God I'm arguing with myself. I have two totally mutually exclusive sets of beliefs that are utterly incompatible with each other. And I'm arguing with myself over which one is right. I take in a deep breath and slowly breath out in a futile bid to calm down. Despite my best efforts my thoughts are still tussling about inside my head waging a battle for spiritual domination. If I don't find some sort of compromise to settle this cognitive dissonance then I'm going to be a complete wreck until I do manage to work something out. “Help?” I whimper at the ceiling. But why would I ever expect help? The gods of old are vast, distant, and uncaring. They began the cosmos and the ponies and spirits have kept it running like clockwork since then. If I want help then I need to rely on the magic of friendship. And I have a whole herd of potential friends all around me! I give a strangled gasp as those thoughts cross my mind. No. No no no no! I don't mean that! I don't believe that! But I do. But I don't! But... I know you're there! I know you're listening! You gave me comfort when I needed it the most. You made sure I got exactly the message I needed. Things like that have happened so many times! I'm sure you've heard my prayers! You do care! You do you do you do! Cognitive dissonance. The state of mental discomfort felt when holding two or more conflicting ideas, beliefs, values, or emotional reactions. Right now my mental discomfort is hovering right around 'I feel like my head is about to explode'. How am I supposed to think straight when my own beliefs are trying to rip me in half? Then I feel hooves around me. A hug? I blink uncertainly at the pony nestled up against me. “Hey,” she says. “You seemed kind of upset. I thought you could use... y'know.” “I'm just... hehe...” I titter. “Just having a little crisis of faith. I got my old memories from Equestria back and I'm trying to make sense of them.” Another pony scoots over and puts her hooves around me as well. Then another. Then a yellow-maned nut grabs me and whispers, “Group hugs are the best hugs.” Before long there's a small mob of ponies clinging to me and I can feel myself quickly settling down. It's... nice. Really nice. And as my mind calms I realize that there's an incredibly simple compromise to rectify my divergent sets of beliefs. Mom and dad. Mom held to the favored set of pony religious ideals. Dad believed in Valhalla and Hel and the griffin concepts of honor and combat. They agreed to disagree. Griffins had one afterlife and ponies had another. Maybe... Maybe that was true of humans, too? Maybe both are somehow right. Just... just different system created for different races. But... but I'm not human anymore, am I? Though I still pledged my soul while I was one. Does that still count? Could an agreement like that ever be broken? I... don't know... The pony virtues of harmony really aren't that different from the virtues I had been taught about as a human since I was just a kid. I can uphold both at the same time. Magic and love. Kindness. Honesty and integrity. Loyalty and faithfulness. Charity and generosity. Joy and laughter. Yeah... That should work. That should make everything work out just fine. Yeah. Everything will be just fine. Heh... hehe... Turns out I just need the magic of friendship to help get my head together. Exactly the sort of help I needed. Considering that smelling someone's emotional state is quite possible I guess everypony was able to tell that I was getting a little unhinged. “Thanks everypony. I needed that,” I say quietly as we disentangle ourselves from each other. Quietly, of course, because plenty of people are still sleeping. There are so many faces and voices and scents that I don't recognize. I really need to make a point of getting to know my new friends. “Hey, you nearly got your head squished like a bug yesterday protecting everypony,” a pegasus mare says sympathetically. “If pony-piling on you with hugs is what we need to do to cheer you up then it's well worth it.” “Anypony want to get some early breakfast?” asks an earth pony mare with a cutie mark of a skillet with a pancake in it. “May as well since we're already awake.” Oh God thank you... My mouth is practically watering already just thinking about the implications of her talent. That's one great thing about ponies. You can often tell at a glance what to expect of them. And right now I'm expecting some absolutely divine breakfast. Turns out the mare's name is Flapjack. Big surprise, right? And it also turns out that her ability to cook is nothing short of masterful. I'll be honest here, I've never really watched earth ponies cook anything before. Back home any cooking was done by dad due to his possession of hands. Mom's ability to acquire dinner basically amounted to tossing bits at somepony else to do the work. Really though, it's a sight to see. Mouth and hooves and even Flapjack's prehensile tail are all put to good use. By now more humans and ponies are filtering into the cafeteria attracted by the scent of food wafting down the corridors of the school. Included amongst their number is Flapjack's special somepony Hashbrown. I can't help but smile. That seems to be how things have often worked out. Discord's curse plopped friends and family members near each other. Humans that were once friends and acquaintances found out that their friendship stretches back further than they had thought. My mind begins to wander to other friends and family. Mom and dad live in Griffinheim of course, so hopefully that put them beyond Discord's reach. The other Wonderbolts are no doubt around somewhere. Like... Snowflake. Last I knew Snowflake was stationed at Canterlot along with Fleetfoot, Cloudchaser, and Firestreak. They would have put up quite the fight defending Princess Luna from Discord along with her Lunar Guard. But... that wasn't a fight they could win. I hope they're alright wherever they are. And Brighteyes. Can't forget Brighteyes. How could I ever forget Brighteyes? A smile tugs at the edges of my beak thinking back on one of my closest friends. She was right in the epicenter of this whole mess. No doubt she would have gone down delivering the mail or defending her daughter depending on where Discord caught her. As soon as I get some Internet access I really need to try to find my old friends. It would be great to get to see Brighteyes again. Assuming she remembers me... Geeze. That's a distressing thought. What if Brighteyes is like Bobby Pin? What if her memory of herself is limited to what's available on Friendship is Magic? What if all she can remember are those awful nicknames everypony called her? I need to find her. As soon as this crisis is over, I need to find her. Heh... my list of 'things to do as soon as the crisis is over' is getting unmanageably large in a hurry. “So I heard some of the big-wigs talking about plans for today,” a human at our table comments. His name is... Geeze, I don't remember. He was one of the guys who broke us loose from our captors, though. I should probably make a point of thanking him. At his comment more than a few sets of ears swivel his way, mine included. Everyone wants to know what our plan of action is. There are people to save and a town to liberate after all. “Well, don't leave us hanging,” a pegasus stallion quips. “What are we doing next?” “Something really big,” the human replies. “I don't think they wanted to give too many details because of, you know. Infiltrators.” Disparaging words are muttered regarding our changeling foes. Because really. There's nothing that sours unity and harmony quite like the paranoia that a changeling might be skulking about wearing the face of someone you trust. I almost wonder if the 'can only take human form' limitation is nothing more than a trick to try to drive a wedge between the humans and ponies in the resistance. That would lead to ponies being inherently suspicious of humans while ponies would get more free reign. Princess Twilight had developed that changeling revealing spell but... I had read the theory behind the concept and it wasn't simple in the least. It took very powerful unicorn or at least a very specialized one to cast it properly. If we had anypony who knew it among our number I'm sure it would be getting utilized. “Can you at least give us an idea of what we're up to?” the pegasus stallion prompts. “Something big. We're in good shape to go on an offensive since we saved a couple more Royal Guard ponies and another one of those special ops types,” the human explains. “What do you call them again?” “The Wonderbolts?” a brownish-red unicorn stallion offers helpfully. Several sets of eyes turn toward my just as I stuff a large chunk of pancake into my beak. I'm sure I must be an inspiring sight right now. The 'special ops' Wonderbolt with a syrup sodden pancake dangling out of her mouth. My eyes feel kind of puffy from crying and I think I still have nervous breakdown mane. With undue haste I wolf down the rest of the pancake since I'm sure I'll be called on to say something at any moment. “Yeah, that's them. The Wonderbolts. Does anyone know what the new one is like? Is he as good as that crazy white pegasus?” the human asks. “Maybe you could just ask her?” the brick-red unicorn pipes up again. He nods in my general direction. The human who had been sitting next to me the whole time glances over and I flash an awkward smile. “Well?” I take a deep breath and nod. “Yeah. I was still pretty scattered yesterday. But today? I think I can show everyone what the Wonderbolts are capable of.”