//------------------------------// // Encounter // Story: MLPs: Agents of Harmony // by Amante //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle woke with a start. Shaking off her drowsiness, her mind finally realized a message was being broadcast over the Canterlot Center’s intercom. “-not a drill. Class 7 magical anomaly detected in Eastern Canterlot. Location: Memorial Park. Reaction Teams Five and Six are to report to the east gate. Obfuscation Team Four and Seven are to join Team One and secure a one mile radius around the area. All Medical teams are to be on standby for emergency deployments.” She almost wished she hadn’t gotten up. Shining Armor was quietly frenetic. He was looking at one of the Control Room’s window panes that had shifted to display a radar map of Canterlot. Over on the right side of the map was a massive, flashing red dot. “How long until the first team gets there?” he asked an operator. “The closest we have is Team Two. ETA, three minutes,” she answered. Shining looked to his superior. “Central, isn’t this a bit worrying?” “I agree,” Celestia nodded. “A Class 7 the morning after a Class 10. Perhaps it could just be an amazingly unfortunate coincidence, but more than likely, the two events are related.” “I guess the little demon’s performance caused a lot more trouble for us than we thought.” Only a handful of people could have noticed the tiny wrinkles that formed on Celestia’s forehead at her officer’s choice of words. “Sir, looks like we have a reaction agent within sight of the area,” said an operator. “What? Why didn’t we know about him sooner?” asked Shining. “He’s an inserted agent; the one assigned to keep an eye on a, Miss Fluttershy.” Several trees were uprooted as the ball of light expanded. It grew and grew until it was easily the size of a house. Slowly, it began to compress as the sphere took on a shape. The glowing aura then faded to reveal fur and scales. It was a bizarre creature to say the least. The ferocious and furry head of a tigress, fangs bared, loomed ominously overhead, ready to devour anything it so desired. Behind it the slithering, slimy form of a snake, stretched out and surveyed the landscape for its next succulent snack. Yet, between them was the horned, long haired, and seemingly innocuous head of a mountain goat that stared aimlessly into the distance. The five friends stood, paralyzed by the sight of the abomination that manifested before them. Finally, the pinkest of them spoke up. “Girls, I think I know what the shivering was about.” None of them dared move lest they incur the wrath of the chimaera before them. Unfortunately that did not stop the monster from noticing them instead. Without warning, it pounced towards them and brought its claws to bear. Halfway through its flight, however, its snout met with a large, ghostly fist that sent it rearing back. The owner of the fist landed neatly in front of the five friends and readied himself to strike again. He felt a slight tingle at the back of his head, a signal from his commanders. “Stone?!” exclaimed Fluttershy. Rainbow was impressed. “Your bodyguard?” The indigo agent turned his head to look at the girls as he said, “Get out of here no-” His warning was cut off by the chimaera’s tail swooping down and taking him with an open mouth. But Stonefist was quick to activate his ghostly namesakes, stopping the reptile from closing its jaw while simultaneously preventing any serious injury. The rest of the monster got back on all fours and looked down to its five course meal. It raised a mighty paw and brought it down against the closest target, Pinkie Pie. Just before it hit, the young girl casually took a step to the right, narrowly avoiding getting squished. It raised its paw and tried again with the same results. Every attempt to pin her was foiled by a hop, skip, or a jump. It was almost as if she had a sense for where it would strike. A Pinkie Sense, she considered. The tigress’ snarl widened. With the feline distracted, Rainbow grabbed Applejack and dashed around it to see if they could help free Stonefist. The snake flailed wildly in the air as it tried to dislodge the agent. Thinking quickly, Applejack signaled Rainbow to toss her upwards. The country girl soared through the air and landed right on the snake’s head as she gave it a punch strong enough to knock all the fruit off an apple tree. Just like the tree, the snake’s jaw loosened enough for Stonefist to free himself. The only problem with this plan was that Applejack was now clinging onto an out-of-control snake head with no way to get down. Rainbow ran around for an opening of some kind to help her friend when she noticed the goat head staring ominously at her. She briefly wondered why it had a goat head just before a bolt of fire suddenly came hurtling towards her. Pushing her legs, she just barely escaped the blast radius. Now she understood the purpose of the middle head. Barely dodging the next few, the last one was close enough to knock her off balance and sent her tumbling down. She tried to get up as another bout of flame came towards her. She knew wouldn’t be able to move in time. She would have burned had it not been for a park bench intercepting the fire. It exploded into a shower of ashes. She looked to where it came from and saw Rarity with arms extended and breathing deeply as a bead of sweat flowed down her face. Twilight Sparkle rushed into the control room. The first thing she noticed were two reptilian eyes staring menacingly through the windows. The second thing she noticed was Applejack looking determinedly at the creature. She immediately approached the center of the room. “What’s going on?” she asked. Celestia turned and noticed that her student had her brows furrowed in worry. “It would seem that the five girls from last night have found the magic within them. Unfortunately, they also seem to have attracted some unfriendly company.” Twilight gave her mentor a desperate look. “All five of them have awakened? At the same time?” Celestia gave her a solemn nod. “And it is more likely that them being together in one place is what caused this chimaera to appear and not, as we first assumed, the events of last night.” Shining Armor turned around as he heard the conversation take place. He smiled and nodded to his sister who returned the gestures in greeting. He faced the screen and observed the battle taking place through the eyes of Agent Stonefist. It was impressive that the girls actually decided to help rather than simply run away. It was either that or really really stupid. Nonetheless, the display of their abilities was enough to convince him that the five girls would fit right in with them. “Reaction Team Two, inbound. Casting Eyes Open spell in three, two, one,” declared an operator over to the right. The three window panes on the right of the room shimmered as each began to display the point of view of an agent. All of them were quickly approaching a monstrous, three-headed figure. Shining Armor took a breath. “Finally, some good news.” A group of motorcyclists sped through the city at breakneck pace, their grey blazers flickering against their bodies. Lives depended on them and they knew that very well. The lead cyclist perked up as her tiny earpiece began to speak. “Agent Red Letter, you and your team are to subdue a Class 7 chimaera using any means necessary. Agent Stonefist has already engaged the beast but needs support. Also, five newly awakened are in the area. They have been designated priority one and are to be protected at all costs.” Red Letter narrowed her eyes as she swerved through traffic. “Understood, Control. Red Letter out.” With a thought, her earpiece connected to those of the two bikers following her. “Alright team, looks like we got ourselves a bit of an escort mission going for us. A bunch of newbies are apparently at the site and are in need of a couple of guardians. Wind Shear,” —the biker to her left— “You and I are going to engage the anomaly directly. Sweet Melody,” —the biker on the right— “your main objectives are the five packages. Keep ‘em safe.” “Yes, ma’am!” the two said in unison. As they rounded the next corner, they felt a slight tingly feeling at the back of their heads. Eyes Open was active and Control was watching. Red’s eyes widened at the sight of their target. It was much larger than she anticipated. Nonetheless, she steeled herself and got ready. A silver ruby ring on Red’s right hand melted into her palm then expanded into a saber that had a large red crystal for a blade. Weapon in hand, she tilted her bike forward and with its momentum launched herself towards the tigress’ head. Taken by surprise, the feline received a large gash right across its snout. The wound did not bleed as tiny particles of light instead made their way out of its injury. The crimson haired agent landed neatly on the other side and prepared to strike again. When he reached the edge of the park he swerved his bike sideways and leapt. He glided effortlessly on invisible wings and landed just behind Applejack. Grabbing her, he tossed her off the snake to where a waiting Stonefist caught her. Now that she wasn’t in contact with the beast, he grabbed onto its scaly skin and drove a generous amount of electricity into it. Its body stiffened as the energy messed with its nervous system. He stopped only when the entirety of the beast whipped itself around, flinging him off. He landed gracefully by a stunned Rainbow Dash. Just as the agents prepared to strike again, the goat head reared back and screamed. Everybody in the Canterlot Control Room reached for their ears and tried, desperately, to block out the sound. The only exception was Celestia who, instead, scrunched her face and held her chair’s armrests in a death grip. The shrieking was the unholy auditory equivalent of  needles being forced between your fingernails whilst being beaten by a hammer. The four screens showing the encounter started to flicker with static. One of the operator’s began to bleed through his nose whilst another through her ear. On the other side of the room, an operator had lost consciousness. The next few seconds were utter agony. A moment after it ended, several people in white blazers, medical agents, entered the room. The two operators who suffered clear injuries and the one incapacitated were brought to the medical bays as three other red coats entered and took their place. The white coats began to scan the room’s occupants. “What in the world was that?!” demanded Twilight as a white coat examined her eye. “Since when were chimaera capable of that?!” Shining asked as a white coat put two fingers to his temple. Celestia waved off a white coat who offered to check on her. “It would seem this particular chimaera is in a league of its own.” Her face slowly began to grimace. “How are our people on the ground?” asked Shining to any available operator. “Several med squads have been deployed to the surrounding areas,” called one of the replacements. “What about those at the site itself?” Rainbow Dash was shouting in an attempt to cancel out the terrible sound. Fluttershy and Rarity were on their knees. Applejack’s eyes bulged as she tried to mentally block the pain. Pinkie Pie was on the ground in a fetal position. The agents around them weren’t faring any better either. Red’s saber had returned to ring form as she tried to drive her hands deeper into her skull, Stonefist and Wind Shear were on bended knee, and Sweet Melody was close to tears. When it ended, the goat returned to staring blankly at nothing in particular. The beast spun around and, with its snake tail, sent Rainbow and Wind flying across the park. Slightly regaining himself, Wind grabbed the girl and used himself to soften their impact with the ground. Sweeping a massive paw in an arc, Red, Stone and Applejack found themselves in a painfully tangled pile several tens of meters from where they had been previously. Finally, the tigress lunged down to consume in one glorious bite, Pinkie Pie, who was still on the ground. “NO!” The word echoed through the park. The chimaera stopped in its tracks. Rarity looked to the source of the sound. Icy chills ran down her spine as she saw her dear friend, Fluttershy, give the monster a glare that could, literally, kill. Never before had she seen her friend like this and it was to say the least, absolutely terrifying. On the one hand, it felt like she would do anything to please her just to make it stop, but on the other it was also so paralyzing that you couldn’t even think straight let alone act. But a chimaera has three heads and two of them weren’t entranced by Fluttershy. The goat head leaned over and sent a speeding streak of fire straight towards the butter-colored girl. It was then that a translucent blue sheet appeared and shielded her from the flame. It shattered on contact. Sweet Melody’s cyan hair was disheveled. She took several deep breaths. Her ears were still ringing. She blocked every missile the goat launched with her shields, a few of them aimed at her. She couldn’t keep it up forever, though. Each charge took more and more effort and her mind was still frayed from the auditory assault. The goat puffed its cheeks as it took in a large gulp of air and faced Melody. With a sickening vomiting sound, it unleashed a stream of fire towards the haggard agent. Raising her arms in front of her, she put up a blue crystal-like wall using whatever strength she could gather. She dropped to her knees as the flame bombarded her defence. “Sweets!” shouted a voice that reared up from behind the goat’s head. Without warning, Wind Shear raised a shining, silver baseball bat and clubbed the billy right on its crown bringing the beast down. At the same time, Melody had collapsed from exhaustion and would have burned to a crisp had Rarity not pulled her over to her with her ability. This action had the consequence of dislodging the tigress enough that its eyes went elsewhere from Fluttershy’s stare. The yellow girl then proceeded to collapse before being scooped up by a blue blur. The next thing she knew, she was sitting under a tree on the far side of the park. When her senses finally allowed her to perceive the world around her, she noticed Rainbow Dash carrying their friend Pinkie Pie, towards her. Behind her she could see her bodyguard and the two others dressed similarly to him jumping around and taking potshots at the monster who was starting to get up once more. Rainbow Dash laid Pinkie Pie, who was shivering and grasping her head, before kneeling in front of Fluttershy. “You okay?” “I-I think so… But what about Pinkie?” “I dunno. I-I-I- I really don’t know. Fluttershy. Can you help her? Please tell me you can help her.” She looked to her quivering pink friend. “I’ll do whatever I can.” Rainbow nodded. “Thank you. I gotta get back there, AJ still needs me watching her back.” Right before she left, Fluttershy grabbed her arm and looked at her. “Why?” “Huh?” “Why are you going back?! Why don’t you just get Applejack and Rarity and let’s all get out of here?!” “Fluttershy-” “No, Rainbow. Please. Don’t.” “Hey.” She grabbed the yellow hand grasping her and held it tight. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. I’m awesome, remember?” “No. Rainbow, would you look at Pinkie. Please. Just let Stonefist and his friends handle it. This isn’t our fight.” They stared at each other for a moment. “Maybe,” Rainbow finally said. “But what if it is? When Pinkie called me earlier, she said that we were all turning into superheroes. What if she was right?” Rainbow removed Fluttershy’s arm and grasped her shoulders as she looked her dead in the eyes. “And what if they do need our help? What if, when we leave, it gets the drop on them? If that happens, then that thing is free to roam around Canterlot. I’m sorry, Fluttershy, but I can’t let that happen. I won’t let that happen.” She conceded. Her head lowered slightly under Rainbow’s gaze. The blue girl let go and ran back into the fray. Fluttershy leaned over and checked her other friend. “Pinkie? What’s wrong?” “Too much,” she squeaked. “It’s too much.” “What’s too much, Pinkie?” “Too much.” She started squinting badly. “All at once.” She was cut off by a violent explosion originating at the foot of the monster. It was too far away for her to be sure, but she was felt certain that she saw a very familiar purple figure standing defiantly between the beast and Applejack. Several moments earlier, the staff at the Canterlot Control Room had recovered and were back in business as they monitored the situation going on in the city. “Make sure the filter enchantments are active on the windows now.” said Shining Armor. “If it wasn’t so painful, I bet that screech would make a great research project.” Shining smirked at his sister’s remark before noticing Agent Sweet Melody’s point-of-view. She was erecting barrier after barrier against the goat’s balls of fire. He couldn’t help but think that her form was just a little bit off. But that little bit could costa shield-caster a lot of energy in the long run. The mentor in him shut up, though, when he noticed that the shield she was casting to protect herself from a stream of flame was starting to wane. Thanks to a timely intervention from Agent Wind Shear and one of the awakened, Agent Melody came out relatively unscathed. He noticed something blue zoom by in her peripheral vision. Sweet Melody was draped around the one named Rarity as she tried to bring her a ways away from the center of the conflict. Agent Red Letter had also gotten up and was currently defending herself from some very fast snake strikes. She got a chance to strike back every once in a while thanks to a little interference from, Applejack, as he recalled. He admitted to himself that these girls were admirable for their spunk. And the fact that they were still alive despite everything. Twilight was getting anxious. She started rubbing her foot on the ground as she watched the battle pick up once more. Their people were at a stalemate against the chimaera’s heads. Wind Shear bounced around delivering several moving strikes against the goat while Red Letter and Applejack alternated hitting the pesky snake tail. She couldn’t help but feel something was missing. Her feelings were confirmed when the tigress’ head reared back up and, taking him by surprise, caught Wind Shear mid-leap and tossed him aside like a ragdoll. From Red Letter’s point-of-view, the tigress moved the entire beast’s body around and pinned an equally surprised Applejack to the ground. It drove its maw straight towards her face. Red wouldn’t be able to get to her in time. Twilight’s face took on a scowl of rage as she disappeared in a bright flash of purple light. Several operators jumped as their terminals gave a considerable amount of electrical feedback. “Twilight? What happened?” demanded Shining. “Sir, Vault 1 is acting up again, but it looks like it’s just the Orb of Magic,” answered an operator. “But where’s Twilight?” “It looks like her blazer is transmitting from, Memorial Park? Casting Eyes Open.” A window on the left shimmered and showed the form of the troubling beast staring right at them. It looked—and was—much larger from directly below it. Twilight stood defiantly between the glaring tigress’ head and the wide eyed cowgirl. “Twi-” Applejack was interrupted by a savage roar from the feline. Twilight stood unfazed. She brought her hands out to her sides as they burst into glorious violet flames. Just under her breath, she muttered, “Don’t you touch her.” Slamming her palms together, a gigantic column of purple-hued light shot forwards straight through the chimaera. The three heads twitched and turned as its body slowly started disintegrating into tiny flakes of light. Those watching the scene shielded their eyes from the blinding flare. When the bright lights faded, the beast was nowhere to be seen. Twilight had eradicated it. She stood there, breathing heavily with her arms still raised. Behind her, Applejack stood up and approached the purple girl. “Twi-” Twilight began to collapse. But before hitting the ground, she disappeared in a flash of light— —and reappeared at the main atrium, right beside the fountain, of the Canterlot Control Center. The agents at the facility were more than a little surprised to see the her appear out of nowhere. Several white coats rushed to her side as the doors to the Control Room burst open allowing a visibly frenetic Officer to rush out. “Twiley!” He slid to her side and held her in his arms. A white coat placed two fingers right above her heart and concentrated for a moment. Her eyes opened in shock as she pulled her hand back. “Get her to the med bay now!” she barked at Shining Armor. Back inside the control room, Celestia sat on her throne, brows furrowed. “Deploy every available obfuscation agent to Eastern Canterlot. It would seem they have quite a bit of work to get done. Inform Officer Inkwell that she is authorized to use Level 5 methods for the cleanup, Get a pickup team to Memorial Park ASAP and inform them that they cannot use teleportation or other space-bending spells to get those girls here. They have to be taken in conventionally and as quickly as possible. Make sure that some medical agents get to look at them first. Lastly, order the magiteks to ready the stabilization chambers and have them set it to be capable of handling at least Class 5 energies.” The operators around her got to work making sure her orders got done. Now that the action was over, it was time for the recovery. Rainbow Dash rushed to her friend’s side. “AJ!” she called. “You okay? What the heck was that?” Applejack just stared at the spot Twilight had been in. Rainbow began to wave a hand in front of her face. “Hey! Yoo-hoo! AJ? What’s up with you?” Rainbow recoiled slightly at the look Applejack gave her. “It was Twilight. She saved me.” “Twilight?! She’s back? Where?” “Well, she disappeared in a flash of light just as soon as she showed up.” “Huh? You sure it was her, cowgirl?” “Course Ah am Dash.” She began to consider. “Then again… How can Ah say this? It looked like her and even felt like ‘er but I could just tell that... it wasn’t her.” “Sorry? I don’t get it? How can it look and feel like her and not be her?” “Ah dunno Dash! You didn’t see her yourself. Somethin’ was different. Like she was an entirely different person.” Rarity decided to join in their discussion as she ran over to them. “Girls! Tell me you saw her. Tell me you saw Twilight.” she puffed. “That’s just it. Applejack here says that she did see her but at the same time, she’s saying that it wasn’t her.” Rarity looked to the very confused, peach girl. “Ah dunno, alright?! Hay, I’m not even sure what just happened here!” It was then that two white vans followed by a small bus emerged from a side street and stopped right at the start of the battlefield. From them emerged several people who were wearing white versions of Stone and his companions’ blazers. Two in particular approached them. One was male and had cream skin and cherry red hair whilst the other was female with teal hair and light green skin. They had introduced themselves as Clean Bill and Top Form respectively. They were both wearing white silken gloves with embroidered symbols in certain areas like the fingertips and the base of the hand. Rarity, of course, was the only one to notice. “Is everyone amongst you still standing?” Top asked the three. “No,” Rainbow said just before running off. She came back a moment later with a now sleeping Pinkie in her arms. “After that thing shouted, she was holding her head real tight and shaking like she was having a seizure or something. Can you help her?” Top smiled. “I think we can.” She placed her fingers to Pinkie’s temples, then just below her jaw, her heart, and finally above her stomach. Her expression became more grim with each body part. “Bill, she needs an equalizer, stat. Her internals are an utter mess. She’ll need to be the first to be stabilized.” “Excuse me?” asked Rarity. “First?” asked Rainbow who now had her eye on the white coat. “Listen, I know that you must be feeling really confused right now. Especially with what you had to go through. But I promise that I’ll explain everything to you on the way.” “Whoa there partner. We ain’t goin’ nowhere until we get at least some idea of what’s going on.” said Applejack. Top nodded. “Of course you have all noticed that you have gained an entirely new set of skills.” The three girls nodded. “And you have just had actual first hand experience with dangerous creatures. I think by now you have realized that magic is very much a real thing i this world. I don’t mean ridiculous parlor tricks, I mean true world-bending, reality altering abilities.” “Yeah, we kinda figured that out yesterday when our friend showed us a talking dog,” Rainbow remarked. Top Form had been briefed on the visitor from the other side. “Indeed. The point is I am part of an organization that makes sure that magic does not go out of control.” “Yeah, still not convinced,” said Rainbow. “We can also help you develop your own abilities for better use. You also get the chance to mingle with those like you.” Rarity raised a finger. “Would you excuse us a moment.” She and her two friends huddled up. “I don’t like this. Smells kinda fishy to me.” “Ah gotta agree with Dash, here. Just who in the hay are these people?” “Come now, darlings. We must give them the benefit of the doubt. You saw how they handled that dreadful monstrosity.” “Yeah, but how do we know it wasn’t them that got that thing here in the first place?” “‘Sides Rarity, we don’t even know who these people here are workin’ for.” “Fine. Think of it this way: Fluttershy’s bodyguard of two years was one of their people this whole time. They were that close to us and we didn’t even know, meaning they could literally be anywhere. I don’t know about you, but I do not want to get on the bad side of an organization with that kind of influence or power.” Reluctantly, the orange and blue girl agreed. “Alright, we have decided to go with you, but we expect to be treated with respect.” “Of course, Miss Rarity. We would never do anything to one of our own. Now if you would just-” “However, we are missing one last member of oru group and we may have to talk to her about everything.” “I don’t think that will be necessary.” She pointed to a pair approaching them from behind. “Fluttershy!” the three girls exclaimed as they crowded the aforementioned. “Are you okay, darling?” “Yes. Thank you.” “Good because we have to talk to you about something.” “Is it about the big organization that’s all about magic?” Rarity opened her mouth to counter but then realized she was right. “Yes. Yes it is. How did you know?” Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile cheekily. “Stonefist explained everything to me.” Rainbow had her arms crossed. “And you’re just going to believe him?” “Well.” She rubbed her arm. “All I know is that I trust him.” Rainbow sighed. “Fine. I guess were doing this then.” They did not, as Rainbow assumed they would, blindfold them and place bags over their heads. Instead, the four friends were on four consecutive seats on one side of the bus whilst their pink friend laid on a long bench on the other. She had a strange apparatus that wrapped around her chest. Top Form was near the front of the bus whilst Clean Bill drove. Rainbow mindlessly watched the streets and building rolled by until she noticed something. “Hey. I know this area. This place is like, two blocks from CHS.” Curiosity piqued, Rarity looked out the window. “She’s right. Sugercube Corner should just be around that, well, corner.” She suddenly realized the silent void the absence of her pink friend created. “Are we close?” “As a matter of fact.” The bus entered a large garage directly behind the school. “We are here.” They began to descend. After several moments of staring at a seemingly endless metal shaft, they entered a chamber very deep underground. It was a large, white, empty room with a copious amount of lights that bathed the room in a sterile glow. One wall had three doors relatively close to each other. The girls noticed five other white coats waiting for them. When they disembarked the bus, a white coat had each offered to escort them to the doors while placing their hands just inches from their bodies like they were feeling a second invisible body of theirs. Top Form, meanwhile, was supervising two white coats who were levitating Pinkie Pie over to the same doors. They entered the leftmost room and found five pods with transparent lids inside, each open. They looked to Top Form who nodded and pointed to them in return. Pinkie Pie was already being loaded into one as her chest apparatus was removed. The door swung down and sealed itself. A slight whistling sound could be heard has the pod began to pressurize. The four girls looked to each other, uneasiness written on their faces. Finally, it was Fluttershy who first stepped towards hers. She trusted her bodyguard with her life, literally, and she knew he would never do anything to intentionally hurt her. She squeaked as the pod closed. She looked at her friends and silently encourage them to do the same. Eventually they proceeded to their own chambers. Once they were all occupied, Top Form left the room through another door. The lights faded until they were nothing but a ghostly glowing on the ceiling. The process was beginning. The girl’s could  feel their insides twisting up. They felt the blood in their veins being forced around their body. Their gag and swallow reflexes started to act up simultaneously. They all started to hyperventilate. Then they started to sweat. They could feel heat building up from inside their core expanding outwards to their extremities. Applejack briefly wondered if this was what it felt like to be microwaved. Finally it ended. The five pods began to depressurize as the lights brightened up. Top Form entered the room with the five white coats from before as the pods opened. The five girls gracelessly fell out and gasped for air. It was a terrible experience. Rainbow looked up at Top Form and was about to speak her mind when she noticed something. She felt wonderful. She didn’t just feel good. She felt great. It was like all the little knots around her body had been ironed out. Judging from the faces of the others, including Pinkie Pies, they all felt the same sentiments. Top Form smiled as she signaled to the white coats. They helped the girsl stand and began a series of physical and magical check-ups. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions, particularly things like ‘who are we,’ ‘what are we,’ or ‘what is this place’ and like I promised your questions will be answered. There just needs to be one more thing. The boss, sorry, the Central Officer wants to meet you all. “Your employer?” asked Rarity. “Our leader. Or commander, whichever is good.” “Ah dunno ‘bout this.” “Oh, don’t be nervous.” said Top Form. “You actually know her pretty well already.” “We do?! Oh, oh, oh, who is she? Have I ever thrown her a party before?” asked the ever excitable Pinkie. Rainbow smiled at the sight of her friends bounciness. “But seriously, how could we have possibly met whoever the hay is in charge of” —she gestured to the entirety of the room— “all of this?” “Actually, you meet me almost everyday, Miss Dash.” said a warm voice from one of the doors. As it opened the five girls’ jaws collectively hit the floor. “Principal Celestia?!” they exclaimed. Celestia gave them a smile. “Technically, down here I am known as Central Officer Celestia.”