//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: The Next Day's Surprises 
// Story: Power Ponies: the First of the Secret Generation 
// by dracone 
//------------------------------//

														The Next Day's Surprises

Aura Mane woke with a start, looking around she found the harness she had Aurora (just the thought of the filly filled her with joy and fear, all part of being a mother Aura thought as she tried to get back thinking analytically because being emotional could prove problematic) been told to wear the night before. “Aurora, where are you?” called Aura recalling what the filly had said was her calculated  worst case scenario.
“Whime owva hwere,” came a young foal's voice, Aura followed the voice to find a four month old sea green filly wrapped in a blanket lying on a couch pillow by the couch on the floor.
“Was this one of your better scenarios? Or one of the worse ones?” said Aura with smile as she laid down next to the filly.
“Bwoth,” said the filly, “Vhwy can't Why twalk white anymwore?”
“You're young body hasn't built up proper structure for verbal communication,” said Aura, “so your voice comes out in the adorable young foal speak that you're using now. Personally I prefer it like this, makes explaining things easier to my parents.”
“Whime gwonna mweet mwy gwand pwarants?” said the now foalized Aurora. Aura smiled and nodded.”
“Mwy bwacelet fwell woff, wit's umbwer duh kwouch,” Aurora gestured towards the couch she was next to. Aura reached under the couch and pulled out the bracer, “wit swaid mwy bwody wiz twoo one. Why mweed twoo mwait a thwew mwears.”
“Good, because I'm not letting my daughter do what I do late at night,” said Aura with a stern voice.
“Aura, Aurora,” came Melodies voice, “where are you dears?”
“By the couch,” said Aura, “Aurora had an age regression a little before I woke up, she's physically a four month old filly and her speech is showing it. Everything about her just so cute.”
“Did seeing her like this,” came Melody's voice as she drew closer, “make you decide on something?”
“Yes,” said Aura, “I've resolved to see my parents again, it's been eight years since I last had anything to do with them. The last time I saw them I had been Matter-Horn for two years and kept it from them, so poorly that I'm surprised that they didn't call me out on my falsehoods. I'm telling them everything, and I'm taking Aurora to meet them. She is in effect their grand-filly and I want her to meet the ponies that raised me. I also want my parents to give me pointers because I'm going to officially name her as my daughter.” The filly looked at the mare with surprise.
“What's all the racket in this room...” the rest of Rose's question died when she saw the foalized Aurora.
“Hwy, Woes,” said the filly, turning to Aura she said, “Mwommy, mwill thwoo tweach mwee twoo fwy?”
“Yes,” said Aura, “but I think your grandparents would like to be part of that experience. The bracer taught you that, but without all the basic knowledge it gave you is fading.
“Wepsept spweech, wit weft mwee spweech, Land wit wallso weft mwee duh imthough Why gwathered wacktwivley fwom wit,” said Aurora.
“She sounds so cute,” said Rose.
“Mwy cwowculated mwoo mwood wage wegwess waz wa gwood swoonario,” said the foal, “mwoe mwatter gutt woo war mwy bwest fwend, Woes.”
“Scratch that,” said Rose Adamant with a furious blush as she trotted up next to Melody, “we'll be departing now, it'll take a while to get to house I called home from here by conventional means, wish I could use my armor.”
“You're almost as bad Aurora,” said Melody, “you've grown a near dependence on your super persona's capabilities that you need to readjust to doing things like everypony else. In Aurora's case she's been forced into waiting a few years before she can reclaim her powers,” at the mention of this Aurora's ears drooped.
“She's right Aurora,” said Aura, “you even mentioned that as the Guardians their knowledge told you that your actions were ill advised and you still followed through on it. I wish I had something like the knowledge of the Guardians when I assumed my mantle ten years ago, you've only been the Guardians a few months. Granted that was most of your life up until this point, but my reasoning still stands. I'll return the bracer to you when you're older and have proved you can be far more responsible than you were with it when I first found you. I know you'll argue that you've been doing a lot good and responsible things since you got, but can you tell me why?”
“I wanted to do something other than sit around those rooms in blissful ignorance,” started Aurora, “I genuinely wanted to help ponies, when I become the Guardians they drive me to be somepony that protects others. The influence is there even when I'm not the Guardians.”
“It drives the pony wearing it to be a protector?” asked Aura in surprise, “my horn amplifies certain aspects of my character when I wear it, it just so happens most of those magnified aspects drive me be a protector. We're similar in that respect. You both need to learn about power abuse, especially you Aurora because if your alter egos were warning you against power abuse and you ignored them then you were just a few steps away from becoming a villain instead of hero. You're lucky that Melody and I found you two before it got worse.” As she said all this she walked over to her travel case and went through the ritual for getting her outfit then threw the bracer on the outfit before resetting the system to look like a regular travel case.
During the chastising mother-daughter conversation Melody and Rose had left the room. “How long will it take to get to the place you called home?” asked Melody asked they walked the halls to the elevator.
“Forty minutes if we take a the nearest trolley, which has a stop off a five minute walk from this building,” said Rose, “then another half hour to get to my secret entrance and exit, another ten minutes actually get the doors to open, then another five minutes to climb the stairs to the main level from my lab.”
“It'll take us roughly two hours to get into building proper,” said Melody, “I take it the complex is in the wealthy part of town.”
“No,” said Rose, “it's near the industrial sector of town, the trolley doesn't go anywhere the rich sector, you'd need to get a private taxi for that.”
“And those are rather pricey,” said Melody, “at least last time I checked.”
“It's true here as well,” said Rose.


**********************************

Forty minutes, and one very annoying trolley ride later (both the mare and filly were hit on by a father and son duo, much to the utter disgust of both) the two were walking path to the industrial sector when Rose turned off the main path, followed by Melody, on to a side rode and came to an impressive looking two story building with a clearly visible basement.
“My lab is in the basement,” said Rose as they came up to what looked like an ordinary exterior wall and she started tapping seemingly random points on the wall for ten minutes.
At the fifty minute mark Melody was surprised the filly was still dedicated to a twenty minute song that song that would have even professional singers question their dedication, once the filly finished her song the well hidden doors popped open. “Well, you certainly have a level of dedication that many adult ponies are lacking,” said Melody as they descended into the basement. Looking over to her right as the doors closed behind her Melody noticed a door next to a collection of different armors that had “Sub-Basement” written over it.
Noticing the stare Rose Adamant said, “don't bother I've tried, even with my armors, at getting that door open and had no success. The main level is this way,” the filly motioned the opposite direction of the door surrounded by armors.”
“We're getting through that door later,” said Melody as they ascended to the main level, “we need to know what those two were up to down there, for the good of everypo...ny,” her long pause was at seeing the lavish furnishings upon entering the kitchen.
“Intruder Intruder,” came a mechanical voice, “you have six seconds to...”
“Command override R5-Zeta 7,” Rose cut the voice off.
“Welcome honored guest,” came the same voice, “how may this complex assist you?”
Melody smiled and said, “I would like all the files on project R053 4D4M4NT, and a case to hold them with plenty of space.”
“Those files are restricted,” said the mechanical voice, “state authorizer and authorization code.
Melody prided herself on being a quick thinker, but saying some random code after saying the name of one of the residents of house could be dangerous. She quickly went through everything she new about Rose's 'parents' before saying, “Gold Hoof, designation code GH-G-568-R4C-9DP,”
“Welcome director,” said the mechanical voice, “you wish to access all data on the subject for the Military Super Pony project, the appropriate case is being retrieved from its secure vault, please wait.” Both ponies looked at each other. Ten minutes later a hefty briefcase, half the size of Aura's travel case, was at Melody's hooves.
“I was not told the access code for the... attache case provided,” said Melody as she once again was thinking on her hooves.
“It is not required,” said the mechanical voice, which now had Rose wanting strip the control unit of out of every wall in the house, “merely saying the name of the project and the two ponies responsible for it in short succession will unlock the case for you, speed and efficiency is the main concern after all.”
“Of course,” said Melody, “can you direct me to a discreet exit, this project is classified after all.” Without another word the wall next Rose opened and the two walked through the long hall provided only to come out by by the Trolley station that had come by only two hours prior. Without a word the two rode the trolley back to their original departure point (this ride was far more enjoyable due to the fact that they were the only ponies on the trolley).

**************************

After a very somber five minutes, plus the six minute elevator ride, the two were back in room. And the sight that greeted them couldn't stop the two from laughing. What greeted them was Aura braiding Aurora's tail, the filly's mane was already braided in the practical style Aura was known for. The look of delight on Aurora's face added to the amusement. After laughing for a good three minutes, during which Aura was still braiding the filly's tail, Melody said, “you swore you would never have anypony share the styles you use with your mane and tail.”
“Technically I'm staying true to the spirit of that claim,” said Aura as she finished braiding the filly's tail, “she is a copy of me.”
“Fwisically and gemetically,” said Aurora with delight, “bwut hour mwinds war stwill diffwent there mwost thood sway wit mwatters.”
“Aurora,” said Rose with laughter still in her voice, “as cute as you sound like now I think it would be in everypony's best interest if you only talked in front of your 'mother' and who she tells you can speak with.”
“Like my parents,” said Aura, “like I said, I want to come clean with them.”
“Speaking of coming clean,” said Melody floating the briefcase over to Aura, “all you have to do is say Rose's original name and that of her 'parents' to unlock it, it holds all the information regarding her. On a related note she is apparently part of a secret military project.”
“Figures,” said Aura, “can the military just try making their projects public just once, why does everything have be classified with them?”
“How you think I feel about it?” said Rose, “I'm a pet project for politically minded ponies, I just want to live a semblance of a normal life! But I was going to be taken by the military after I reached a certain age, no wonder those two were distant with me most of the time.”
“We have some friends looking into the incident involving those two,” said Aura as she put on a a dress uniform and put a new smaller monitor vest on Aurora before putting on the matching headband, “at least we can get a more realistic demonstration of these units right now, still feels like Saddle Rager bucked my head when I put on the band though, how did it feel when I put the vest on you Aurora?”
“Like strong buck the chest after being caught in somepony's security line, I'm guessing,” said Melody, Aurora gave curt nod at the mare's summary.
“You two go and find something to do,” said Aura, “Melody and I have to go over the R053 4D4M4NT files that Gold Hoof and Racing Stride were,” the case hissed open, “working on.”
Aurora just yawned and crawled on to Aura's back before falling asleep, “well there go most of my plans,” said Rose, “I guess I'll see what I can do with the kitchen equipment.”
“You are not laying a hoof on any of those appliances young filly,” retorted Melody as she pulled several files out with her magic, “Aura just said that to preoccupy Aurora, who is now sleeping on her back, you will be helping us go over these files because they all talk about you in one form or another.”

*********************************

Three hours all three ponies that had been looking over the paperwork were groaning. “I never thought the interesting secret government documents could be so dry,” said Rose, “I mean those two weren't supposed to add samples of their code to make me, in fact according to their readings my body has been trying to actively reject their samples.”
“That explains why they were giving such high concentrations of stabilizing agents,” said Aura messaging her head with her fore-hooves, “according to the readings Melody's sample is trying to exceed fifty percent, there's no telling what happens when your body completes rejecting Gold and Stride's samples and Melody's sample becomes more dominant.”
“According these things my being a contributor was non-negotiable, the directing head pony mandated that I be the primary contribution to the project. Also it appears that somepony was crunching numbers of their own for the project. Their formulas and calculations aren't nearly as elegant as Aura's, or even Aurora's.” She floated the folder with all the formulas and calculations to Aura.
“Their calculations are also wrong,” said Aura after cursory glance, “they failed to account for the personality of the contributors, it's been recently proven to us that certain personality traits are indeed genetic,” she turned her head and smiled at the sleeping bundle on her back before continuing, “even without those facts it has been part of working theory for the past six years. According to all these files the project was initiated twenty-five years ago and didn't start it's practical stage until two years ago, at which point they would have all the cutting edge and most recent theories. It seems that everypony involved didn't even consider the personality theory at any point in the project. This is just a subset of a large project anyway, Rose as at least five 'siblings' from what I've been able to discern from the files. Thank goodness I wasn't part of her mix as well, that would be disturbing for me and Aurora.”
“And us as well,” said Melody and Rose in unison.
“Why is she sleeping so much?” asked Rose gesturing towards Aurora.
“Foals spend a lot of their time sleeping during their first year,” said Aura, “their bodies can't sustain the energy output they display, so they tire easily and sleep for extended periods of time in secure places near the mare they perceive as their mother. You might undergo an age regression when your medication times out, and when that happens you might end up at about her age with similar characteristics.”
“That's a terrifying thought,” said Rose, “especially since before today she never experienced foal-hood, and I certainly haven't.”
“I'm looking forward to playing the part of a genuine mother,” said Melody.
“What is it that you do?” asked Rose, “it must pay well if you're able to maintain high life type living.”
“I'm an image consultant with an acting career,” said Melody before giving an exaggerated toss of her mane, “I've only been in a few shows.”
“But they were major hits, you always were nominated for best supporting actress,” said Aura.
“Yes, well,” said Melody, “may parents wanted me to go into music, like them. Rose darling, you're a very bright filly, but your singing voice and dedication to it are simple marvelous. My parents will be ecstatic to meet you, they won't care how you came to be, for all intents and purposes you are as much my daughter as Aurora is Aura's.”
“I'm your daughter?” asked Rose as she looked at the unicorn mare with surprise.
“I am the your 'primary contributor', I think that gives full legal rights to spend as much time with you as I want. The military can come beating down my door as hard and often as they want, but I will fight them with everything I have,” then gave a smirk said, “and so will Radiance.”

***********************************

Two hours later all the files were copied with a duplication spell Radiance had picked up, the copies of the files went into the briefcase while the originals were stashed with Aura's outfit alongside Aurora's  bracer. Melody, minus Rose, returned the briefcase and told the system to purge everything having to do with her visit from the past ninety-four hours from its memory (she wanted to be very thorough, and when the real director finally came for the files they would get surprise because in addition to nearly perfect duplicate files they had placed a series of specialty covert observation items in the case itself and on some of the files).
While Melody was focused on her part of the task Aura was watching Rose and Aurora while sending covert Power Pony signals to the rest of the team about what they had uncovered (in a code that she and Mistress Mare-velous had devised, just because the Power Ponies had their own secret private magi-com channel didn't mean somepony couldn't hijack their signal) while wondering what to do next. Aurora had mentioned that she had calculated that Rose Adamant had three more days until she felt the effects of being off her genetic stabilizing agents. She decided to crunch the numbers herself.
“Rose,” said Aura, “what was the dosage of your medication?”
“Somewhere between 19 and 23 milligrams per tablet, I usually had to pop three or four. Aurora only consumed a total of about 9 to 10 milligrams with each serving of food.”
“How many daily meals did she get?”
“I think she said 3, but she said she only had a bite of lunch a few days ago and completely skipped dinner that day.”
“Thanks for reminding me of the time delay,” said Aura, “that would mean she usually consumed about 27 milligrams of stabilizing agent regularly and only had about 12 milligrams in her system. That all held of her reaction for about a good 30 hours. You consume roughly three times what she does regularly and stopped using the supplement almost 20 hours ago. So that would mean,” she mulled over the calculations a bit in her head, “some time in the next two to three days your body will stop processing the stabilizing agent. Aurora is pretty good with calculations.”
“Wust wyke mwy mwommy,” came Aurora's voice with a yawn, “Why omwee hwerd duh pwart abwout mwee land mumburs.”
“And I thought we agreed your talking like that was a little disconcerting to me, I'm use you articulating your words with a bit more finesse,” said Rose.
“She will again,” said Aura, “when she's physically four or five at the earliest, until then she'll talk in this cute little way,” at the last part she nuzzled Aurora who in turn elicited a giggle.


*****************************

An hour later Melody trotted through the door with eight large, flat-looking square cardboard boxes. The two fillies looked at the box with interest, even more so when Melody said, “there's absolutely no place to get a proper meal here, and none of us has properly eaten since last night so I got us some pizzas.”
“An image consultant getting pizza?” came Rose's voice, “I thought that stuff was filled with everything you want ponies to avoid.”
“It is,” said Melody with a smile, “but indulging in junk food every now and then is guilt pleasure that I fully endorse.”
“Why mwever hwad Pete Za,” said Aurora.
“All the food I had was containers micro-biotic meal plans that were carefully set up to keep me at the peak of health and my immune system at its highest performance,” said Rose, “I just know about it because it was part of my reading program, of course most of the reading said about how it's actually bad for me.”
Both mares stared at the fillies, “did you like your carefully regulated meals?” asked Melody, both fillies shook their heads.
“Good enough for me,” said Aura, “I'm all for smart and healthy choices in your diet, but that just sounded something so cold and clinical that it was meant for a lab setting, not home life. What about you Aurora, what was your diet like before you stopped.” The foal gestured to the identically colored mare and whispered into her ear. Aura showed surprise, then anger before finally saying, “she was fed foods that were grown on site, but said foods were engineered to have low nutritional value so as to keep her at roughly the minimum for functioning. It's a miracle she... you saved up some extra pieces every few days to get the experience of full stomach.” The green filly nodded.
The rest of the day was the fillies trying the different pizzas that had been brought before them. Aurora showed her favorite was a daffodil and clover pizza, the same as Aura (much to the joy of the green mare, and amusement of Melody), whiled Rose showed a preference for a rose petal and mint leaf pizza, Melody stated she preferred the rose petal and daisy pizza. Aurora only had two and a half slices before her little belly was fully and she collapsed against Aura's chest in a happy slumber. Rose polished off half a pizza before heading for bed. Despite it only being the afternoon the two mares decided to join the fillies in sleeping, Melody placed their left over pizza in the fridge before joining Rose in the bed they shared.
As Melody was getting comfortable she heard Aura saying, “no matter what mommy will always be here for you baby girl, even if I have to fight the world to keep you one more second I will do it.” Melody smiled and just stroked the mane of a sleeping Rose Adamant as she drifted off to sleep then whispered as sleep began to take her, “that's a promise, and one of my unbreakable rules is you always follow through on promise...”
Melody whispered in the sleeping Rose's ear, “I've as much right to be your mom as Aura does Aurora, and remember no matter what I will fight for you. I never got a chance at this before, and there is no way I'm going to throw it away now that it's right in front of me,” then fell asleep next to the filly.

*********************************

Melody woke up in the middle of the night to the sight of two sleeping fillies beside them. Melody could easily remove herself from Rose's side, but Aurora was considerably tangled around Aura's chest. Melody gave the other mare an amused smile before saying in a near whisper, “I'll solo this one, you're needed for a much important task here.”
“I suppose you're right,” said Aura in the same manner before gentling stroking Aurora's mane with her wing then, “The official excuse to the public should help explain things without anypony getting to suspicious, but I'm worried about...”
“Coming clean with your family,” finished Melody as she slipped on her bracelet and donned the uniform of Radiance.
“It's the right thing to do,” said Aura, pausing momentarily and the foal on her chest lightly stirred before continuing with, “but I'm sure it's the best thing to do.”
“I'm sure they've figured out some of our little secrets,” said Radiance, “it won't hurt to confirm or show a few on your own terms. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a patrol to get to.” With that she was off over the balcony.