1: Calm Days and Storm Clouds
It was late into the evening as Alexia slouched at her computer desk. The darkened study was lit only by a single crystal that reacted to her mana to create a pale white light that barely went past the desk’s sole occupant. It was joined by the glowing computer monitor, and the trace amount of light from the town below through an octagon window. The house the citizens of Trinity had gifted her with was hardly quiet. Yesterday marked the twins’, Aurora Sky and Violet Spark, first birthday. The rest of the family was getting the two fillies, along with their half-brother Dusty Tinker, ready for bed so that the adults could hopefully get a full night’s rest.
As much as the silver alicorn wanted to be a part of that, she felt it was necessary to start something new: a journal. Her chair had an arching padded back rest to which she lounged in, with the keyboard laying across her hind legs and a forehoof resting on the keys. Her magic was ready to start typing once its master called for it, but at the moment she stared at the blinking black cursor at a loss on how to start.
A glass of red wine sat in an aura of azure light, and a bottle sitting on the far side of the desk read Tour De Belfort 2010. It was a gift from President Fitzgerald, his way of ensuring a cordial friendship between the two of them. She didn’t expect to receive another. Not because of declining relations between them, but of recent world events.
With the twins having been weaned from nursing, the last brief feeding being two weeks ago, the mare was at last allowed to partake in Earth’s favorite beverage: alcohol. Her mood was less than content at the topics she would transcript to into data, and took a sip to try and raise them.
The spicy aroma tingled in her nose as the fruity suppleness tantalized her senses. Nothing like a dry spell to make your first taste all the better. Her mood was improved, but only just.
Without really knowing how to start, she simply began with what was on her mind.
January 11th 2015
I’m not really supposed to keep a journal. CIA regulation sees it as a security risk and I can’t say I disagree. So it is for that reason I’m probably just going to keep this computer cut off from the Net or just format the hard drive later.
But I feel that I have to have an unbiased confessor. Even if all the computer will ever say back is this silent, blinking cursor, ever hungry for words.
Well I guess I can start with the good. Spark and Sky are going strong and Tinker is a fun little guy. But I missed Spark and Sky’s first words! I was so pissed because I was covering Kellerman’s class on abjuration magic when they spoke. I did get to see them make their first steps but in all honesty… a foal learning to walk isn’t as big of an accomplishment for human babies learning to walk on two legs rather than our four. But it was still a proud moment to witness.
I’m glad to say my personal life for the past year has been more or less uneventful. At least in the grand scheme of things. After all the insanity with changing species, The Ranch, Bowler, Section Nine, and that last mission at Oppenheim… Blah. I really needed some peace, no. WE needed some peace. Get a chance to have some normality in our lives.
Crimson needed time to find a way to balance her own motherhood and keeping up her medical apprenticeship like I have with magic. Conrad’s even had to limit his involvement with the weather company thanks to the heavy load Thompson’s put on our training schedule. Thankfully Gill Highwind was more than capable of picking up the slack.
Loki. Loki is the only pony I know who has magic I can’t even fathom. I find its best not to think of it too hard and just be glad she’s on our side. I will say this though. She’s taken a shine to Dusty that rivals Crimson. She gets along with Sky and Spark too, but the way that mare acts, you’d think Tinker was her kid.
Trinity has been growing steadily and I would be remiss to forget that my work as a training instructor under Thompson has been rewarding. Even if this computer isn’t connected to the net, I’m not going into any details here. But I can say that ponies are well on their way to showing the world that we can stand side by side with humanity outside of Trinity.
As for the home front though, I did have to tell Julie to heavily scale back on what she presents to me to work with around town. It was impossible to juggle motherhood, work, and all of the political decisions East kept throwing my way. I get that she wants me to be active in the community for morale purposes, but I refuse to be one of those parents who is too busy to be a parent.
Besides, East does a fine job, and her heart is in the right place. And if I’m going to be completely honest with myself, I don’t want the life of a politician. As dangerous as it is, I’d prefer to stay on with the CIA. Let the terrans decide policy for themselves and leave me to their defense. They need both in equal measure, and I’d rather let the public decide how they want to be governed.
Trinity is doing what it does best, push boundaries. We’ve reached seven thousand people now.
Alexia paused before retyping the last sentence.
Our local population is at seven thousand terrans now. I get the feeling they like that term; Terrans. There’s been some rough spots, and growing pains, but nothing that I think will stymie our progress for long. I know other parts of the world are rather… resistant to ponies. But I can at least say we’re seeing more acceptance in a few countries outside of the States.
Just last week, Germany started granting a few more civil rights to its equine population. It really only took a month after my first news conference before the last of the world’s countries finally stopped lying to its people and admitted we ponies exist. Now if only acknowledgement and restoration of civil liberty meant the same thing, but alas it is not the case.
Many countries out there were both shocked and appalled at how quickly Fitzgerald granted us freedoms after deeming us safe for social integration. He received a lot of flak for the decision, and some claimed it as political suicide. But I think it could have been worse if the siege on D.C. hadn’t have taken a lot of the thunder out of the announcement.
A good many like China, Russia, Ukraine, Spain, even Italy are still treating ponies as both threats and potential weapons. And as for our predominantly female population, I’m not going into the quagmire that started in certain areas of the world.
But I will say this much about it, both the States and Canada have received a ton of pony immigrates. I think it’s mostly because America’s hat followed Fitzgerald’s lead in opening the doors to ponies in the same week. Britain has too, as far as my clearance level tells me anyway, but they were a little late in ratifying our kind into their legislature because the Prez didn’t let anyone know he was planning on bringing us into the light when he did.
Alexia stopped typing to think, taking another sip of wine as she did. It was only then that she realized she was typing in Equish. She wasn’t using the pony’s alphabet, but typing it phonetically with the Latin one. It caught her off-guard for a moment to realize that she was using it automatically. Well if anything, its just another layer of encryption.
As much as I love seeing more of my people, they’ve proven to be rather overzealous at times. Especially immigrants from countries who don’t see us as people. I’ll be walking, flying, or doing something in town and a bunch of ponies will come up to me and beg for a moment of my time. If only to see me in person.
It’s really easy to tell they’re foreigners. What with the accents, broken if not completely absent English, and most telling of all; almost none of them have cutie marks. But the scary ones are those suffering from Soul Rot. They’ll be dragged or carried by their friends or family of either species to wherever I am and beg for me to heal them.
I really don’t have a problem with using my… I guess it would be proper to say alicorn magic… to heal them. But I found out fairly quickly that my alicorn soul-bridging magic only works on TV if the broadcast is live, so viral videos in intolerant nations don’t work and any scheduled broadcasts are censored.
That in of itself isn’t what really scares me though, it’s the reactions I receive when their loved ones regain their color and vitality. I feel like one of those televangelists claiming he can cure cancer by just faith and his touch alone.
Personally I couldn’t care less what other people believe in religions that don’t concern me, but sometimes it’s really hard to keep them from putting me on the same pedestal as Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, Elvis, or whoever other person people pray to. I had a nightmare once where I walked in on a church dedicated to me.
The silver mare took a large swig of wine at the thought of it before continuing.
Luckily I’ve managed to avoid becoming the latest in a long line of messiahs. It really helps that I can fully explain how my magic works. The world has enough religions as it is. And to be perfectly honest, it’s damn creepy to be worshipped like that. Hero and celebrity worship is bad enough, but I can tolerate that because us Americans love our celebrities. Especially in these days. But deity worship? You can forget it.
Moving on.
Tune let the glass rest on the desk as she pressed a hoof on her forehead. She exhaled slowly to release the tension the next topic brought up in her.
Mion.
Just saying the name is grounds for a pay grade and security clearance reduction. But as of last month its on everyone’s lips in the agency thanks to a letter signed by what we believe to be the Cult leader here in North America, Tzadavek. It was delivered to the White House in person before the messenger shot himself. The contents are classified, but it was about as what you could expect. Threats against both the president and the American people in general along with promises to bring down the diseased temple that is the current administration.
Thankfully, the top dogs of both intelligence agencies regarded the threat seriously as it basically pointed out that the attack on D.C. was only the beginning, saying that they had people placed in the highest levels of government. So…Who do you think everyone turned to, to root out the moles? Section Nine.
Alexia refilled her glass as her mood went from sour to a touch of pride.
I can’t tell you how happy I was that my efforts with Thompson made Section Nine’s services in extremely high demand. All of it thanks to that little retrieval operation in Oppenheim. I’m still refining it, but I’ve almost perfected the divination array that can isolate Mions from normal humans. The trick is locating the newly infected as quickly as possible.
All it took was Thompson letting the brass know about my array and they practically threw themselves at our feet/hooves begging to place us in key major cities and transport hubs. Well, they did so with a lot more tact than that, but you get the idea.
I didn’t personally get involved in any of the sweep-and-clean operations that followed. It was all handled by my trainees.
The first thing we did was silently sweep all intelligence and military agencies for moles like Whisker. We cleaned out over two thousand cultists from the Army alone and the rest of the branches in the space of a few months.
Such a number is terrifying to say the least, and the Mions didn’t always go down easy or cleanly either. Plus they got smart fast. After we cleared the upper ranks of the military, FBI, and CIA, there was a sudden upswing in people going AWOL among the lower ranks.
Yet all of that was before they found out how we were tracking them down. It was just outside Keesler AFB when it first started. A promising cadet of mine, Jake Palmer, was going to power the array when a sniper’s bullet ended his life. Right outside the damn security gate. They never did find the bastard. But the assassination told us that it was the work of a professional, so we certainly have the cult’s attention. Poor Jake left behind two mares and a foal. He was the first of thirty one agents who died trying to uncover more Mion cells in the past year.
The alicorn found it difficult to remain professionally detached. She turned to look at the family portrait that sat on the desk. It had been taken right after reuniting with her sister. It was backdropped by Elizabeth’s boarding school. The herd had subconsciously made Alexia take the center of the photo with the twins held in her magic with the other ponies standing at her side. Elizabeth was a seventeen year old young woman who had shoulder blade length red hair and a fair complexion. She was thin as a rail thanks to her spending far too much time out on nature hikes, and not enough time studying. Much to her chagrin, that also nearly made her as flat chested as Alexia.
Tune’s sister stood behind the alicorn with a massive smile on her face.
Alexia stared at the framed photo with a trace of a frown as Palmer stayed in her mind’s eye. “How long will it be… before that happens to one of us?” she asked the air rhetorically. “Thompson’s being pushed to put us back in the field.”
She grabbed the picture in her magic to bring it over for closer inspection. “Will it be me?” She couldn’t bear the thought of tempting fate with any of her herdmates. “Will the Cult even wait that long and instead come for us here? Do they even know Trinity is the source of the CIA’s pony members? I have to assume they do. And if so, why haven’t they moved against us?”
Tune’s thoughts drifted to what Twilight told her in regards to Discord’s warning. Lunacy.
Alexia had been working with Conrad in refining her divination array after being given the life sign data from the other two Mions who were captured at the Oppenheim. The twins were with Loki and Crimson as the two earth mares took them on a walk through the woods.
Conrad’s part in the running experiments was to wear a harness that had twenty different crystals on it to simulate the data so he would appear as a Mion to Alexia’s array. He had gotten the idea after watching reruns of Star Trek with Crimson, and Alexia jumped on it to make him her test subject.
They were about to run the fifth trial when the tome indicated that Twilight Sparkle had returned from her prolonged archeology expedition. Both earthlings dropped what they were doing to activate their side of the tome. The lavender princess’s avatar appeared moments later. “Alex, Conrad! Its been far too long.”
Tune was glad to see her mentor again. “It has Sensei. Was your trip fruitful?”
Twilight rubbed the back of her neck in a sheepish expression. “I got way more than I bargained for, but it was highly productive. I managed to secure Commander Hurricane’s journal from a sealed off archive in the frozen wastes. It gave firsthoof account of the pegasi’s last emperor before they and the other two tribes unified into a single banner.”
“Sounds like it was worth it then,” Conrad commented with a trace of a congratulatory smile.
Sparkle was very satisfied with herself. “Very much so. I’m already planning to start rectifying historical inaccuracies with the journal. Hurricane sounds like a very honest pony, and wasn’t afraid to put unflattering things about himself in there for the sake of the truth.” She waved a hoof at the air to push the topic away. “But enough about that. How have you been doing?” She fully inspected Tune. “Sorry I missed the twin’s birthday.”
Alexia pulled Conrad in for a side long hug. “It’s fine. Hopefully those two fur balls will have plenty more birthdays to come.”
The lavender mare smiled at that. “I bet they will. So how’s Trinity coming along? Last I heard you were just getting it started up.”
Conrad held up a restraining wing. “We’d love to tell you all about it, but I’ve been wondering about something Discord warned us about recently.”
Twilight’s smile vanished. “He didn’t foalnap you again did he?” she directed the question to Alexia.
“No. He came here in the form of smoke. But Conny’s right. I was kind of concerned about what he said.” She was far more than a little worried, but she didn’t want to make her mentor overreact. “He gave me a warning about two things: the lunacy phenomena, and an immortal’s pain.”
Twilight’s frown soured into sadness as her face went cold. “I see he’s not willing to wait then.”
“Wait for what?” inquired the fellow alicorn.
Twilight sat on her haunches and took a slow breath to calm herself. “Alex. You should know that we alicorns don’t decay with time.”
The stallion was confused by that. “What do you mean don’t decay?”
Sparkle feared what her student’s reaction would be. It has to be done. “We alicorns do not measure our lives in years or decades. In fact, we do not measure them at all because age is meaningless to us. So long as no calamity befalls you Alexia, you will never die.”
Tune paled. “Y-you mean I’m immortal?”
Twilight regained more of her composure. “No. You can die. But it takes a lot to do so, more so than an average pony. And as you get older, it will be increasingly difficult for you to die as your power will only increase over time.” She hated talking about death, but the question needed a thorough answer. “But no matter your age, you will never be truly immortal.”
The room’s attention shifted to the silver alicorn who let go of her mate and stumbled to sit on her rump. “Y-you mean. Everyone I love…”
Twilight remembered Celestia’s own talk regarding this subject and assumed a stern visage. “Don’t start worrying about mortality Alex. Don’t dwell on what you will lose. Plan for the future, but live in the present.”
Her mentor’s words sparked a memory of what Loki said weeks earlier. “Don’t fret over eventually losing something. Live in the moment and enjoy what you’ve got while you’ve got it,” Tune quoted so low it was almost inaudible. The memory of Loki’s infectious laughter chipped away at the short-lived despair.
Conrad tilted the silver mare’s head up with a hoof, giving her a chiding smile. “Don’t be weeping over my grave before I’m in it ok?” Her down cast ears perked back up as he planted a kiss on her, burning away the fear that Loki’s words left behind. Alexia let him take command of the embrace and he seized it without hesitation.
Twilight blushed at the affectionate display, silently chiding herself for not finding a herd of her own. Eventually, Conrad broke contact and hugged Alexia tightly. He felt honor-bound to protect his alpha from every serious threat, but he knew enough not to coddle her. Now was one of those times. Sparkle gasped slightly when she saw his sword and shield cutie mark glowing slightly.
The stallion folded his wings around his mate. “Alex. Don’t even start thinking about out living us. You do that and it’ll drive you mad.” He made sure to impart as much love as possible in his words. “Loki’s insane. Criminally most of the time, but she’s right. Live in the present, not the future.”
Tune returned the embrace, relishing in his strength and nuzzled him. “I think I can do that.” Her fears were placated for the moment and she slowly let go of him only to catch sight of Twilight and grinned sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”
Sparkle was glad that Conrad had been present to keep Alexia calm. “Think nothing of it.”
As much as he hated to drag the conversation back down, Conrad felt it was necessary to ask about the other topic. “Can you tell us about Lunacy? I’m guessing it has to do with going crazy.”
Both alicorns sobered, with the purple one nodded. “An odd similarity in both of our native tongues, but yes it does. As you may have already been aware of Alex, your mana flare was a precursor to your awakening as an alicorn. Since you’ve repaired the damage it left behind, how does your level of mana feel compared to your time as a unicorn?”
“Almost inexhaustible. I’ve cut back all meat in my diet and I still feel like I’m sitting on a time bomb here.”
Twilight understood the feeling all too well. “So long as you keep your mana discipline up, you’ll be perfectly stable. But as time goes on, your mana will only induce further changes.” The lavender mare turned to the side and pulled her mane up and to the side with a hoof. The earthlings didn’t know what they were looking for a first, but Conrad noticed a few points of light in the purple princess’s mane that seemed to sparkle like stars. They were small, and were only perceivable because Twilight was trying to show them. “Eventually, your mana will begin maturing and changing your fur and hair.”
“That’s—unsettling,” Alexia began carefully, “but what does that have to do with lunacy?”
Twilight let her mane and leg fall back to their normal positions. “Lunacy is only the most recent name for a…condition that can afflict any alicorn who is driven to the brink of insanity. Be it from despair, jealousy, or simple overzealousness; we are more deeply affected by madness than a normal pony. So much so that it has its own name: Nightmare.”
Her memories of the stark differences between Night Mare Moon and Luna caused a worm of fear to seed its way into Twilight, making her worry that she could suffer such a fate, as well as her student. “An alicorn’s magic becomes twisted as such feelings start to erode at you until you physically become a dark reflection of your normal self.”
Alexia’s concern was blunted again by Loki’s eerie predictions. “So I would become Darth Alexia.”
Twilight was unfamiliar with the term, but Conrad made the same connection. “I’m not exactly sure how you can protect yourself against something like that without cutting yourself off from the world or your emotions.”
Alexia’s thoughts danced around the idea. It seemed abhorrent, but so did falling to nightmare. “Is that how Celestia and Luna live?”
Sparkle became unreadable. “They remain warm and cordial to everypony, but they form few lasting relationships. They most certainly do not cut themselves off from the world however.”
Tune stood up to put some steel in her voice. “Then I see no reason to do the same. You’re sure the nightmare can only be triggered by my own emotions? No external forces?”
Sparkle shrugged in spite of herself. “I have no idea. The history books don’t go too deeply into what caused Luna’s fall, and neither she nor Celestia wished to go too far into it. It’s a—painful subject.”
The silver mare could sympathize, but the topic at hand was still mostly focused on her. “Well unless they say it takes something else to trigger a fall, then I’m not going to dwell on it.” She looked at Conrad for his freely given assurances before turning back to her mentor. “Why think about eternity if I might not see tomorrow?”
Both other ponies caught on to her moderate flippancy. Conrad knew her well enough that she wanted to push it from her mind, while Twilight knew exactly how Tune felt. She needs time, and that’s one thing she has plenty of.
Alexia snapped to the present when the computer screen went black from lack of use. Despite her claim, the silver pony’s thoughts always seemed to drift back to the idea of being ageless and succumbing to lunacy. Tune chased them away when she finally noticed the rest of the house had gone silent and checked the clock. Half past nine, and we have work tomorrow. I’ve got a bit more time. She jiggled the mouse with her kinesis to wake the machine back up and started typing again.
Of course, one can’t really write about the Mions without talking about those damnable clouds. We’re still not exactly sure what came first, either the Mions were just normal people who were corrupted by the brown clouds that covering the Earth at random places; or the cult is perpetrating the clouds somehow. The random nature of how they drop to the surface, most of them by far end up in the sea, makes the brass think the Mions might be a symptom of the clouds. Not the other way around.
Either way, we know they’re linked. As to what we can do about them, other than duck and cover, is just try to find the source/s.
Trinity was hit by a cloud just last week. We lost five terrans to that, three humans and two pegasi. They kept trying to divert the brown mist away or simply break it up, but those fogs are unnatural. Pegasi magic doesn’t affect them at all, no matter how much the weather team tried, the brown fog would not be broken up or driven away. The ponies we lost were due to choking and falling out of the sky and crashing hard.
The humans had been in one of the older buildings that didn’t have an air tight room. By the time we found them, they were already awake and raving mad.
It was… difficult to handle. It was Trinity’s first deaths. Inside our borders anyway. You would think after all the death the herd and I have dealt in the field I’d be sort of numbed by it. But it hurts just as hard the last time as it did the first. I asked Loki about it offhandedly, and she brought up an interesting point. As to whether its true or not, I can’t say.
But she thinks it might be based in our herd mentality. Crimson’s already suspected that’s the reason none of us seems to get depressed for very long. Loki’s theory is that we can never build an emotional barrier against harsh events because of how open we are to each other. Sure I can logically accept death as a normal part of life and our job, but if this theory is correct, then we can never emotionally protect ourselves. Only recover from it quicker.
At least so long as we’re part of a herd, and I don’t see that ending any time soon. Crimson took a personal interest in this and has been studying equestrian text on this topic. But I haven’t asked her about her progress as of late.
Alexia stopped typing to think about her mates. She held the family picture up again. Each person in it tugged at her heartstrings and brought a smile to her lips, at least until Elizabeth’s presence reminded the alicorn of her parents. “They still won’t talk to me.” She huffed disdainfully. “At least not after they ask me if I’m still in the herd. Doesn’t matter that they’ve barely ever heard my feminine voice, they can tell when I try and lie.” I wonder if I’ll gain that parental lie detector ability with Sky and Spark, she thought absently. “Maybe with Dusty too.”
Tune didn’t want to think about her parents anymore as they left a bitter taste in her mouth, and regarded her journal. She contemplated saving it or not with the mouse hovering over the save button. Better give it top level encryption. After doing just that, she shut the computer down. Alexia corked the bottle and downed the last of her glass before walking off to the kitchen, a slight buzz helping to alleviate her various worries.
After dealing with the dishes and evening hygienics, she went back up to the master bedroom to find a sight that always burned away any fear or apprehension; her family. Between work and the three foals, the late hour had driven them to exhaustion.
The three adults formed an incomplete box around the infants with the position at the head of the bed being left open for Alexia. Sky and Spark were nestled between Loki and their father, while the grey colt was curled up next to his mother.
Tune was especially happy with how Loki treated the foals, doting on them as if they were her own. It came as no real surprise to the alicorn that all three children would end up seeing the other two mares as mothers as well, given how much they all cared for one another.
The silver alicorn eased her way onto the bed and used her magic to pluck Aurora from her resting place. The little alabaster pegasus had been washed and fed, but her father had passed out before he could preen her wings.
She held the foal close to her face so she could whisper. “Did he fall asleep on the job again?” she asked playfully. Aurora only mumbled in tired incoherent gibberish while fluttering her wings. “He did? For shame.”
Preening was one of the few activities Tune did by mouth instead of magic. It was something she could never quite explain why it was a personal preference to do it the hard way. Alexia wrapped the filly in a large wing and gently preened the little pegasus with only a mild horn light spell to see with. With tender care, she pulled the wing open with her magic and gently bit on the awry feathers and moved them back into their proper place. She repeated this action five more times on the underside of Aurora’s wing. She smiled at seeing the look of utter contentment on her daughter’s face. I never knew how amazing it felt for him when I used to help Conrad preen. But after he returned the favor for the first time. She paused and smirked at how worn out they were after that night. We ended up having to preen again.
Alexia found a very different form of satisfaction at helping her daughter preen. After finishing the filly’s wing, Tune had a motherly smile from the act of successfully straightening Sky’s feathers, which was only reaffirmed after seeing the right wing was a pristine and smooth white. I never expected the act of grooming another would feel so fulfilling.
She chuckled as Aurora cooed in her sleep. The foal burrowed into her mother’s silver wings, mussing up Alexia’s feathers. Tune’s heart melted over the adorable little filly and silently preened the other wing.
With her work complete, the silver mare let the filly sleep on her mother’s belly with a silver wing draped over Sky to keep her warm. Good night little one.
Midshipman Sanders was a little tense as he sat in front of the sonar console aboard the HMAS Sheean. The Australian submarine was participating in joint war games with British and American naval forces in the southern Pacific. The activity was meant to test each nation’s capabilities in the event of war. However the war games had been delayed by three months so each nation could test their equine seamen to see if they could continue to effectively serve on ships that were unfriendly to hooves.
The Sheean lacked any pony crewmen and was on an active hunt for the British submarine. A fellow Australian destroyer caught wind of it but lost track of its prey ten minutes ago. Acting Captain Roberts was eager to prove himself worthy of captaincy. He kept a pleasant, if stern hold on the crew. Yet it was his ambition that currently put a lot of strain on Sanders who currently had Roberts breathing down his neck as the Midshipman tried to locate the British vessel.
“Anything yet?”
“No sir,” Sanders whispered back. The Sheean was operating on silent running and was trying to catch the British in case they tried to make a break to the north.
With the vessel so quiet that the sonar operator could hear a pin drop in a ship over a kilometer away, Sanders waited and listened for over three hours as the Sheean silently crept around in a search pattern at close to one thousand feet below the waves. That was when the Midshipman heard the most peculiar noise. Sanders’ sudden shift in position made Roberts walk back over to his side. He knew his presence was known, and that Sanders would speak when he could.
“I’m not sure what it is, but there’s definitely something coming our way.”
“Is it the Brits?”
Sanders pressed the headset into his ear. “Not a chance. It’s very feint, but it sounds like…a heavy metal wheel or semi-hollow sphere is rolling across the ocean floor.”
That threw the skipper for a loop. “The ocean floor?” It was a rhetorical question as he trusted the sonar operator to know what he was doing. “Think it might be a new kind of decoy? Something the Yanks are field testing?”
Roberts was becoming a little put off by the signal return. “They’re crazy enough to do a lot of things skipper, but I don’t think they’d waste money to what amounts to a loud ball on the floor. Whatever it is, its big, way too big to be a deployable decoy.”
The captain’s curiosity was piqued. “Where is it going?”
“The object is at grid one seven point six nine, bearing seven degrees north northwest at seven knots. Its going to pass within a hundred meters of the X-axis.”
Roberts mulled over the information. I think Sanders is right. This is a little odd for it to be a decoy. Perhaps its some new weapon the war games are supposed to be testing. If the latter is true, then that would explain why no one was told about it during the briefings. This could guarantee my promotion if I’m able to tail it and knock it out of the game. He made his way to the helm officer. “Match our heading to keep up with the object, but don’t spook it. Let’s see if its just here for surveillance, or if it’s a weapon system.”
“Aye aye sir.”
Sanders made his way back to the captain’s chair and typed in his findings and actions into the main computer for later review by the military brass.
The giant sphere designated as XJ-29 moved along the ocean floor, crushing or rolling over anything in its path. It cared for nothing save fulfilling its directive. Relocation protocol: terminated. Initiating disbursement directive.
As it had been doing for the past two years, it sucked in massive amounts of water and converted all of the biological impurities into building blocks for the Mion Plague. Yet unlike every time before, someone was listening.
The Sheean drifted to a halt just under a kilometer to the south and three and half kilometers above. Roberts had to keep himself from pacing so he wouldn’t create any excess noise. So, it stopped right outside of the war zone. I doubt the Yanks or Brits would violate the RoE just to better hide their toy. At least not if they were going to have it participate in the games.
“Skipper, what do you make of this?” Sanders asked as he handed the headset over his shoulder. The captain took it and listened in. What played out of the speakers was the sound of what he could only guess to be machinery, but unlike any he had ever heard before. In addition, the sound of rushing water and hydro pumps was also detectable.
He stood there, listening to it, for several minutes trying to figure how he should proceed. The skipper went over to his XO. “Make sure all of this is being recorded. I don’t want anything to be missed.”
Disbursement directive forty nine percent complete… Subroutine Eight twelve time elapsed. Commencing active scan of surrounding area.
So as to avoid any tectonic hot spots and other hazards, XJ-29’s sensors swept the deep waters in a ten thousand square kilometer area. As the computer mapped out the landscape, the submarine was picked up and was too close to be ignored. Anomalous signal detected. Analyzing… small pocket of atmosphere surrounded by metallic alloy shell. Narrowing scanners… Alert. Human life signs detected. Vessel sensor suite is capable of detecting this unit. Scanning vessel armament… Current depth beyond vessel’s capability to attack. Likelihood of engagement… Zero percent. Vessel threat index: negligible.
Native technological reassessment subroutine active…
Extrapolating technology level required to create target vessel… Error. Human technology level far above projected estimates.
Contingency Protocol stage one activated. Query: contact homeworld? Under evaluation. Possibility of transmission interception: High. Reevaluating Mion timetable… Estimated time for human extinction within acceptable parameters. Query: possibility of encryption failure upon transmission? Deemed low. Query: probability of humans conferring transmission of being nonhuman origin? Ninety nine point zero one percent.
Repeat query: contact homeworld? Negative. Mions have same access to human technology. Human extermination will occur within acceptable time frame. Humans unaware of this unit’s purpose or origins.
Ignore vessel deemed best action. Query: halt Contingency Protocol? Negative. Move to standby status. Continuing disbursement directive.
Back aboard the Sheean, Roberts looked at his watch. Yank stealth toy or not, Command will have my arse if I linger here any longer. “Helm. Bring us about and back to our original station. Knowing the Brits, they’ve probably been sipping tea the whole time and haven’t budged.”
“Aye aye skipper.”
A few minutes later the XO approached his captain. “Think Command will tell the Brits or Yanks what we found?”
“No doubt. Its part of standard procedure that all ship actions are accounted for the duration of the exercise.” He gave the XO a troubled glance. “Shouldn’t you already know that?”
The officer shrugged. “Just making sure you know it. That way if you don’t get this promotion, you know who and what to blame.”
Roberts gave him a smug grin. “We’ll see.”
A charcoal earth mare pressed herself against a tree. The midday sun lit forest around her was quiet. Far too quiet for her liking, but she had a target that needed eliminating. So caution was in order. The target had a hostage at gun point and she needed to be exact in her attack or both would die.
She kept her breathing calm and level as to reduce noise. Okay Bethy, the ground’s uneven, so you have to comp for that. Plus he’s holding the hostage really tight, so I need to make sure not to screw it up.
She gathered a heavy dose of mana in her right foreleg and found a patch of moss to stomp down on. Her hooffall was quiet and the magic coursed through the earth to impale the target. The ground rippled and cracked with moderate noise between her and the target. She watched with satisfaction as a spear of stone shot out and stabbed right through the terrorist’s chest in an explosion of straw and brightly colored confetti.
She pumped a hoof and quietly hissed a cheer, yet it proved to be short lived. The charcoal pony heard a slight crackling of wood and almost pushed off and away from the tree in time before five branches shot out from the trunk and ensnared her limbs. She struggled for a few seconds, but the branches thickened until she was completely immobilized.
She sagged as she knew what was coming. Loki dropped out of the tree and landed heavily on the ground next to the trainee. She blew on her left hoof as if it was a smoking gun barrel. “Know what you did wrong cadet?”
“I went up against Houdini in pony form,” the trainee muttered to herself a she tested her restrains again.
It wasn’t meant to be heard, but Loki picked it up anyway. “Partially, but mostly because you let the mana trail between you and the target run too close to the surface. Even a magic blind human could see the rippling in the ground.”
Loki lightly tapped a hoof on the tree and the braches broke off. The bark reformed so the plant would suffer no lasting damage. The charcoal mare looked up at the top branches and saw no hiding spot or any climbing equipment Loki could have used. “Mind if I ask how you got up there ma’am? I didn’t see you on the way in.”
Both ponies knew the use of invisibly bracelets was forbidden under the assumption that the enemy would have a counter to them. Namely, a hostile pony. It wasn’t something Loki or the herd liked to think about, but it was hardly outside of the realm of possibility.
However that was not what was currently on the green mare’s mind. Loki scowled at the pony in front of her. “What have I said about calling me ma’am?”
The trainee cringed a little. “Sorry boss.”
Satisfied, the hacker gave a cryptic answer to the previous question. “Because I wanted to. Now go back to the starting area and get a better camo job this time. Solid charcoal is only good in a few areas around here.”
The cadet nodded in acceptance. “Yes boss.”
The green mare was about to hunt down the next trainee when her headset crackled to life. “Loki, its Alex. How’s your group doing?”
The green mare waited until the trainee was far out of earshot. “We’re making progress. Some of them don’t like painting themselves in camo colors though.”
Tune’s snide smirk could be heard through the radio. “This coming from the mare who never touches the stuff.”
“Pah. I could sneak up on you even if you were using a divination array. I don’t need it.”
That had actually been proven as fact, and it irked the alicorn to no end. “How do you do that anyway? Give it to me straight this time.”
“Easy. I just think of myself as still being human.”
“But…” Alexia’s brain skipped a synapse at the completely serious tone that told the silver pony that she wasn’t lying this time. “That’s not how arrays work!”
“Works for me,” Loki deadpanned.
Alexia groaned loudly as her ear ticked in irritation. At least you’re the only person who can do that. “Anyway, this isn’t why I called. My sister Elizabeth will be arriving earlier than expected. She’ll be at the post office in an hour.”
Loki looked at her phone from her small satchel. “Sorry, work’s going to take a few more hours. But I have to ask, why this early?”
“Bummer. Beth wouldn’t say why over the phone. She was extremely pissed at the folks so I can only imagine she mouthed off to them for the last time.”
Loki started trotting back to the marshaling area after putting the phone away. “They’re still against that?” disgust evident in her tone.
Tune was more than a little despondent. “They and half the country. People like them don’t believe the three to one gender imbalance. Every other mammal on Earth has fifty/fifty.”
“They do know our species didn’t originate on Earth right?”
Alexia sighed in depleted exasperation over the phone. “I don’t know. We’ve told everyone that time and time again, but some of the more paranoid people are still convinced we’re a genetic experiment from the government.”
Loki saw the simple wood and straw sun shade where the other trainees were milling as she crested a ridge. “Well good luck. I gotta go.”
The cadets snapped to attention at her approach. “Alright lads and lasses, those of you who failed get to run laps around the yard.” A round of muted groans came from over half the group. “The rest of you, still get to run laps around the DQ before you get a blizzard.”
The victors were mostly grateful for that, except for one of the very newest trainees. “What if we don’t like ice cream?”
Loki was appalled, and every cadet knew what the green mare’s view on sweets was. “How could you possibly hate ice cream Cadet Biggs?” her tone was level for the moment.
The drab green paint was wearing off of the mustard yellow stallion. Some thought that was from the amount of sweating he was doing under Loki’s scrutiny. “L-lactose intolerant?”
Loki eyed him carefully for several seconds. “Funny. Your medical file doesn’t mention that.”
His brow furrowed. “I was told no one but Bravo level and higher had clearance to see medical files.”
“It doesn’t matter how I got it,” Loki replied to derail the accusation. “You and I are going to have an ice cream eating contest, and you better not wimp out before the first two gallons.”
“With all due respect ma’am. That hardly seems like proper use of government tax dollars.”
The rest of the trainees inched away from the stallion as Loki’s face grew cold as ice. “That’s why its not coming out of the agency’s pocket,” she said as she walked over to get in his face. “Its coming out of yours if you lose. I think right after our contest you and I are going to do some suicide sprints. One hundred yards at ten yard intervals. Do I make myself clear?”
He paled behind his camo paint. “Right after binging on ice cream? But ma’am-”
Her brow twitched at the address far more than the complaining. “Two hundred.”
“I-I”
One of the mares in the sidelines shouted so Loki couldn’t identify her. “Just shut up Biggs.”
He complied, prompting Loki to face the small gathering. “Well don’t just stand there. Get going.” As Biggs followed suit, Loki spoke as he passed. “See you at the DQ, Mustard.”
Alexia had just returned from the daycare with the herd’s three foals and lounged on a plastic covered metal bench in front of the post office. The two fillies and one colt squealed with laughter as she danced them around in her kinesis. Sky was enjoying the activity far more than her siblings, causing her mother’s smile to broaden. She’s a pegasus alright. Aurora can’t get enough of the air.
Tune was especially happy that her fellow citizens of Trinity were quite comfortable referring to themselves as Terrans. She stopped dancing the foals in the air and settled them down onto the ground so they could run about. It’s a good feeling, to think of myself as a terran first and pony second. Sort of how like the three tribes think of themselves as ponies first and foremost, instead of as separate tribes.
The alicorn had an understanding with the citizens of Trinity. While she was more than happy to play the part of princess, she made it quite clear that if she was not wearing her crown, she was not to be the subject of fawning or celebrity harassment. In her own words, “If the crown is off, I’m off the clock”. The locals were willing to accommodate the unwritten rule. After all, they saw her almost on a daily basis and the glamour of having her live amongst them became a normal part of life.
Yet that understanding didn’t always reach pilgrims before they saw her. I hate that word, she thought to herself. Acting as if I’m some messiah, but the way new arrivals act towards me, there really isn’t a better word to describe them.
She checked her phone to see Elizabeth was still twenty minutes away. Upon putting the phone down, she saw them. Pilgrims were painfully obvious to her by now. The seven ponies and three humans that were piling out of the commuter bus smacked of weary travelers. None of them have cutie marks either. Only new arrivals lack them anymore…well aside from the foal population anyway.
The teal colored Russian unicorn by the name of Yakim was exhausted and filled with energy. A paradox only possible when someone was physically tired and was exuberant at the same time. “We’ve done it comrades. Printsessa Alexia is here. I can feel it.”
His human sister smacked him with annoyance. “Would you stop calling us comrade you stupid idiot.”
The term had greatly fallen out of favor in Russia, yet Yakim used it anyway out of spite. “Comrade Lyudmila. Why torment your only brother?” Three other ponies punched Yakim to shut him up. “Help, help! I’m being repressed.”
His sister was getting tired of his idiocy, even if it was deliberately meant to amuse himself. Maybe he’ll meet an American that rides a scooter and shouts about freedom all day. Let them kill each other.
Alexia chuckled at the rough but friendly banter as she watched all of this from a distance, even if she couldn’t understand the language. She mentally prepared herself to speak with them as she fully expected the Russians to zero in on her soon enough. I hope I can get them to leave before Beth shows up.
One of the immigrants saw Alexia and jabbed his companions to get their attention. “There she is! The Printsessa.”
They saw right away that they had her attention, so they huddled together to work up a plan of action.
“How do we speak with her?” asked a navy blue mare.
“Just walk up to her,” offered her human brother Rurik.
“We can’t do that govniuk,” hissed a purple stallion. “She’s royalty! You think the Danish queen would let you just walk up to her?”
“I don’t see guards or a crown. Are you sure that’s her?” asked Lyudmila.
“Maybe the Americans don’t know how to protect the royal family. They’ve never had one before,” commented one of the other stallions.
Rurik groaned in exasperation. “Durak.” He adopted a pleasant expression and walked across the street to prove them all wrong. Approachable or not, he knew with children running around her hooves, that she would become hostile if he came across as belligerent. He knew right off that the silver pony was the correct person thanks to the presence of wings and a horn. He tried to remain polite, but the year and a half journey out of Russia had been extremely taxing. While the Motherland had recently opened civil rights to its equine population, the Federal Security Service was still tailing them in particular. Mostly because some of their group had to take violent measures to escape custody more than once.
Glad my English is better than most, he thought as he closed to a respectable distance. Alexia’s smile was polite, but her eyes displayed a clear warning in regards to the foals. “Ah-greetings I am Rurik Arsov. You are Printsessa Alexia, yes?”
Tune did not activate her crown, and responded in a patient tone. “I am. Is there something I can do for you?”
“Not for me so much. But my friends back there.” He jabbed a thumb behind him. “Would love to talk with you, if only for a moment.”
She nodded, much to his relief. “I can spare some time.”
Tune could already tell her passive alicorn magic was affecting the Russian ponies. As soon as Rurik gave the signal, all seven ran over and stopped in a semicircle with Yakim in the center. Every single one of them had expressions of admiration and respect. “Printsessa Alexia. We submit ourselves to your will.” He practiced that line for months to making sure his accent wouldn’t color it too badly.
Why do they always do this? the alicorn groaned internally, while keeping a pleasant expression. “Listen. I don’t know what your preconceptions of me are, but I regard my royal status as a job. Not entitlement. All of you are free to do as you will, within the constraints of the law of course.”
Yakim wasn’t quite satisfied with that after Rurik translated. As Alexia predicted, it did much to crumble the holy pedestal pilgrims tended to bestow on her. “Is there anything you require of us?”
She remained polite. “Only that if you decide to stay in Trinity, that you do everything in your power to make it better. We still have to prove to the world that long-term relations between our two species is not only possible, but also mutually beneficial.” She pointed with a wing to the post office behind her. “There is an office inside that can help you get situated with that if you like. Talk to Miss Barrymore at the front desk for more information.”
The human travelers thought she was far more down to Earth than expected, but the alicorn’s passive magic made their equine companions hang on her every word. All they saw was that the silver alicorn, who had been the reason of their flight from their homeland, was offering them an opportunity to serve her. The very thing they wanted to do. Yakim’s faith was redoubled. She grants us to not only live in the same city, but to help unite the races? She is everything I could have hoped for. He faced his companions. “Oi Comrades, let’s go.”
The other ponies waited until they were inside and out of earshot of Alexia before pounding more physical abuse on him for being distasteful.
Alexia sighed and picked up Dusty in her magic to give the colt a bottle. “Well that was relatively painless.”
Sky and Spark were far more energetic than their brother and were actively chasing each other now that the mass of visitors had left. Tune could already tell that they were different from other foals and not just because of their age. Violet was plagued by magic surges at least three times every week, and Aurora’s magic tended to leave the filly weightless every now and then.
Violet’s first episode terrified her mother the first time it happened, thinking it was a mana flare. Thankfully Crimson was already informed of infant unicorns having random magic surges and that it was normal. What was not normal however, was the frequency. It was a side effect to Alexia’s mana flare, and Aurora’s condition was potentially dangerous in its own right.
Sky’s bouts of weightlessness were funny the first few times until the pegasus’s magic returned to normal and she nearly hit her head on the way back down. Had Loki not been there to catch her, Sky might have suffered serious injury.
Just as that though crossed her mind, Tune noticed Aurora trip over her hooves and instead of face planting the ground, she started to drift away into the air. Alexia kept a gentle telekinetic hold over the giggling alabaster filly as she buzzed her wings to try and fly properly. This only doubled her power and made Alexia have to put extra effort in keeping the foal from flying off. She guided the upside down pegasus back over so that she stopped next to her mother. “You are such a goofball, you know that?”
Aurora wiggled in the air to hug the silver mare. “Mama.”
“Daww.” Alexia loved every time Sky called her that and pulled the currently weightless filly over so she could rest next to her brother.
Violet propped herself up onto the bench to try and get at her sister. A familiar voice called out from the street. “I thought I’d never see the day someone calls you mom.”
The silver pony looked away from her child to see Elizabeth Tune standing by the sidewalk. Alexia’s grin threatened to split her face and she left the foals on the bench and dove through the air to glomp her sister.
Elizabeth had only a second to brace herself against the hatchback as the alicorn collided with her. “Beth! Oh I’m so glad you finally came. Its been AGES!”
“I know right?” It had in actuality only been a few months. “But when our totally understanding and accepting parents don’t agree with what we like, we find ourselves not only disowned, but out of money too.”
That got Alexia to back off, her smile gone. “They actually disowned you? You’re not just saying that are you?”
Elizabeth knew she had a flare for the dramatic sometimes, but her mood kept her from holding it in check. “They did. I got the legal paper work and everything to prove those two backwards—assholes! Dropped us both from the family.”
Alexia’s mood plummeted from the news. “Oh.” She knew it was her fault in the end. “I’m sorry I caused all that.”
Ah shit. Beth knew she had screwed up. “No, its not your fault. I said some really…unkind things to that witch and the topic of pony herds came up and I kinda blew up on them. They only mentioned your disownment in passing.” It helped smooth out Alexia’s mood, prompting Beth to continue. “Besides, what the hell am I doing talking about this first thing?”
She bent down and gave the alicorn a proper hug this time. “I’m really glad to see you sis.”
The silver mare leaned into the affection. “At least someone on my human family uses the proper pronouns.”
Beth spied the foals prancing back to their caretaker. “Speaking of family. Where are those youngins? You didn’t bring them over last time.” Both of them spun around to gather up the foals, with Elizabeth picking Dusty up. “Okay, Alex. I have to say this.” She shrieked in girlish delight. “You ponies are painfully adorable! And who’s this little guy?” She turned to her sister. “It is a guy right?”
Tinker was cradled in her left arm while she tickled his belly with the other. Tune was too busy keeping Sky from floating away again to give anything more than a simple answer. “Yup, his name is Dusty Tinker.” Aurora floated back over to her mother right as the pegasus’s out of control mana normalized and gravity took hold of her once again.
“His fur even makes him looks a little dusty.” She put the squirming colt back on the ground. “Say, I got something for you.”
With Violet and Sky secure in her foal harness, the mare looked to pick Tinker up while Beth went to the black car’s trunk. She reappeared with a half life-sized plush pony shaped doll. Terror crept into Alexia’s mind when she saw the horn, wings, azure mane, silver fur, and black ankh. “Oh bloody hell…” she said slowly. “You didn’t.”
“I did,” The princess’s sister replied with a snarky tone. “And I’ve got ten more back there. I call them Ankh Flank. It doesn’t rhythm all that well, but I made it work.”
Tune saw a few people looking their way with eyes locked on the doll. She cringed deeply and yanked the doll into her magic and shoved it back into the car, eliciting a yelp of indignation from her sister. “No no no no no no no. What the hell Beth?! Do you realize what people do to dolls?”
“Um—collect or play with them?” she offered.
Tune threw her hooves and wings up in exasperation. “Yes play! Have you seen the internet? The last thing I need is some creep doing unspeakable acts to my image.”
“Oh lighten up. Those people would be doing that to you anyway. Besides,” she said while opening the trunk back up. “Its every little girl’s dream to have a unicorn. Now they can have a plushy of a real one.”
Alexia made sure Dusty was not getting into trouble before giving her sister an evil eye. “First off, I’m not a unicorn, nor is the doll. Second, I distinctly remember you never liking girl toys.” She craned her neck to spy the Decepticon logo sticker on the car’s back wind shield. “In fact…what was it you used to do for a certain robot?”
Elizabeth groaned at the coming insult and decided to beat her to the punch. “That I scream for Starscream.” The alicorn snickered derisively at Beth’s discomfort. “He’s hot for a robot. But whatever, I’m talking about more-- traditional girls out there. There are already pony dolls out there, and before you think its weird; there is such a thing as a Barbie doll. So you know full well this sort of thing is normal.”
Alexia didn’t like having this conversation in the middle of a public street, and she would be given a reason why in the form of a middle aged woman tapping Elizabeth on the shoulder. “I’ll pay you two thousand dollars for one of those dolls.”
Alexia was rendered speechless, while Beth was pleasantly flummoxed by the offer. “D-Deal!”
The lady looked at the princess. “Sorry dear, but my daughter in Orlando wants one of you bad.” She pulled a checkbook out and wrote it up and traded it for one of the dolls.
Seeing that the alicorn was too stunned to stop them, a dozen more people lined up by the car, all of them offering exorbitant sums of money. Beth was only too happy to oblige. Tune recovered after the second sale and growled in exasperation and teleported the foals and herself to the roof of the post office.
“Well this is just great! I ask Beth to come over here to take a job as an intern scientist and she comes here as a—as a… toymaker.” She wanted to slump to the ground at not being able to find a fitting and unflattering term for her supposedly dear sister. Instead she kicked the gravel stones around. I should have seen this coming. Beth was always conniving at making a buck when she’s broke.
With Dusty secure in her kinesis and her daughters strapped to the harness, the alicorn flew over to the edge of the building to wait out the impromptu auction Beth set up around the eight dozen people who were trying to buy an Alexia doll. “I hope the cops get over here and break this up soon.”
Ten minutes later, the police came and tactfully ended the auction and ten people walked away with empty wallets and arms full of cotton.
Elizabeth pocketed the checks in her small purse and was thumbing her wad of cash with a massive grin when her sister glided down so she could let the whimpering foals out of the harness so they could run free. “You know we could make a huge toy line with you as the flagship.”
“You can forget it,” Alexia blustered as she took half of the dollar bills in her magic and pulled them into the diaper bag.
Elizabeth tried to grab the fleeing bill, but to no avail. “What the hell sis?”
Tune huffed. “I’m just taking my cut of your ill-gotten gains. You’re using my image after all. Just be glad I don’t take some of the checks too.”
Beth quickly deposited the rest of the cash in her purse. “So hey, why don’t you show me your pad. I bet you got like a million square foot mansion around here.”
Alexia magically pulled Dusty from scampering into the street and directed him towards his sisters. “Why? You going to point out how much of an ecological disaster it is?”
Beth gave her older sister a superior smirk. “That is why you offered me a job here right? To study the ecological impact of pony magic farming.”
The mare scoffed. “You’re here to intern for Doctor Paler who’s doing that. You’re far too young to be a project lead.”
Now, Elizabeth was insulted. “Seventeen is not too young! I’ll have you know I was chairman of my-“
“Of your high school eco team, yes I know,” she interrupted with a pseudo mocking grin. “That hardly qualifies against a doctorate.”
She hated to admit it, but her big sister was right. She pouted in defeat. “Yeah, yeah. Fine. Hey, at least you got me in. Do you wanna use your car or mine?”
“Yours. I don’t use mine in town.”
Beth popped the door locks with the key remote to let Alexia put the foals in the back. “So what? Do you run everywhere?”
Tune’s voice was muffled by the car as Beth walked to the other side. “Either that or fly. I have to keep in shape with what exercise I can. Plus-“ Tune blinked in a flash of light and reappeared in the passenger seat. “I have that too.”
To say Beth was jealous would be a gross understatement. However she was not jealous enough to put up with a tail and fur. Far too much maintenance work if you ask me. And the idea of depersonalized bathing… just eww. And I quite like my hands where they are thank you very much. She slid into the seat and started the engine. “Well, lead the way. The sooner you show me that environmental disaster you call a home, the quicker I can make it greener.”
Tune rolled her eyes, but was in truth glad to have Elizabeth around. “Alright, just keep it real slow and careful. You don’t have any child seats, and the kids don’t like being buckled in.”
As the car drove off to the west, Alexia kept a loose kinetic hold over the foals who were either crying, spouting random words while sucking his hoof, or trying to eat her sister’s ear.
Why do you keep eating her ear you purple cannibal? The alicorn cast an eye to her own sister from time to time, a thin smile crawled its way to her cheeks. “I’m really glad you’re here sis,” she said at length.
Beth took a stop light as an opportunity to look over at the silver alicorn. A toothy grin on her face. “I am too.” She gave the pony a quick hug before the light change. After a few moments, she saw Alexia doting on the three foals to keep Sky from hitting Violet for constantly biting her ear. At the same time, she pulled a chocolate chip cookie from the diaper bag and broke it in three pieces for each child. “You’ve really thrown yourself into motherhood haven’t you?”
The alicorn raised a sarcastic eyebrow. “Is it that obvious? And here I was trying to be subtle.”
“Okay smartass,” Beth jabs her playfully before her face went flat. “You know I support you and all, but its still weird to see my former brother, a mother.” Ugh. Just the thought of James not only getting it on— she cut that train of thoughts off at the pass before the mental images could assail her. “So I ah, get the impression you’re living the good life now.” She wanted her mind to get as far away from the image of her ponified sibling from having intercourse as possible.
The foals finished the cookie pieces in short order, with Spark finishing first. Sky was actually trying to make the cookie last, but that prompted her sister to try and take it. The alabaster filly started pushing the purple one away so she couldn't steal her treat. "Nou nou!"
Alexia grinned at the baby babble and pulled Violet off of Sky and gave her a teething toy. The purple filly ignored it for the sake of the cookie. The silver mare relented and broke a second cookie apart and gave a piece to each foal.
None of them had any real control over their hooves’ gripping magic yet so they had to use both legs to keep the pastries from falling. “It has its perks." Alexia answered after almost waiting too long. "But I get the feeling the good life won’t stay all good for long.”
Beth stopped at another light. An intense look of concern washed over her at her sister’s foreboding tone. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Tune’s eyes hovered over the children. “You know I can’t tell you about work; aside that its both legal and dangerous. At times anyway. And with the way the world’s going to shit…” She looked at Beth for a long time. “I wanted to make sure you were safe on the west coast.”
Beth was starting to get a little more than just concerned. “Why is the west coast safer than any other part of the U.S.?”
Alexia hated having to keep the media’s truth and the CIA’s truth separate from her last remaining human family member. “You’ve seen the news. Africa’s one step away from going feral. Asia’s not looking good either, and the rest of world, us included, is in hot water.”
Were it not for the alicorn’s direness, Beth would have brushed it off as fear mongering. “What exactly are you trying to say? What kind of work do you really do?”
“I’m a part time politician for the town and a training instructor, nothing more.” Tune felt bad for being so good at half lying. “But I’m trying to say is, be safe, here in Trinity. Or at least remain west of the Rockies.”
Beth parked in front of the estate. A grim look was plastered over her features. “Sure sis. But promise me one thing.”
The mare’s partially haunted gaze told the younger sister that she should take the warning very seriously. “I can try.”
Beth’s grimace deepened. “Promise me that whatever you do out there, you come home safe too. With our parents no longer wanting to be our parents, you’re all I’ve got left too.”
Both adults unbuckled their seat belts so they could share in a tense hug. “I promise Beth.”
The young woman wished her sister would be capable of upholding that promise. “I’ll hold you to that.”
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I'm just wondering now if the Russian ponies, who are seemingly useless to the story will turn out to create Alexia's royal guard. They seemed very insistent that she had one, to a fault. It also seem to make some sense in their odd gender imbalance with three? male's in a group of seven.
Love the chapter, but that AN makes zero sense.
2944650
I think it's talking about the timeskip. We've jumped forwards quite a way in the first chapter, and then the second jumped again.
just outside Keesler AFB a dude was shot by a sniper? must have been the East Gate, as that's the only one with any raised thing allowing for such a thing, which is the Biloxi water tower, which is easily seen from the gate so all the guards'd have to do is look up to see the sniper
I liked the part with Beth, hope we see more points of view to come. Like that of a tourist or businessman who hasn't seen a pony passing thru Trinity, or maybe more TV or radio news, or the Mion's view on the ponies now.
I was totally rolling on the floor when I read the part about the plushies. Nobody else has made any yet? Clearly ponies didn't take off nearly as well as it has irl, though we think it might be because they're also not producing a show about it either. Oh, how divergent worlds can be sometimes.
Aside from a few ambiguous word choice errors (like the AN for one) I really liked this chapter.
Keep going! ;)
2946509
I thought Beth said she saw pony Dolls all ready around? That's ware she got the idea.
2946555
True,
BUT there weren't apparently Alicorn dolls in the image of Alexia.
What I was referring to is the massive amount of MLP fan work created in real life, which apparently didn't see the same response in this universe.
2944601
All I will say on the 3 stallions is that they started off with 12 ponies.
2945965
I present to you the only image of the shooter known to exist.
narwhaler.com/original/aa/f/hitman-gun-cross-ainsley-harriott-aafUvK.jpg
As for how he got away, well...
2946006
You will see other view points. Don't cha worry now.
2954881
Well, making generic dolls is one thing, using a real person's image and then trying to sell it is an entirely different can of legal worms. In America anyway.
2955535
Now that you aren't hiding from me in whatever hole you crawl into when I'm not looking, why won't anyone start teaching them Equish?
Also, quoted from yourself
so I guess there isn't an imbalance at all.
2955558
Its not a hole, its a well furnished cave.
Not that hard to teach Equish when other ponies just have to read one of the books for a couple of weeks.
2955568
But for everything you've said up until this point, specifically at chapter 21 none of the others understood Conrad even after reading their own books for months. Unless that magically changed during the year time-skipped, in which at least Beth should be somewhat confused sometime of what language everyone is speaking.
Also fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/331/d/6/pinkie___i_see_what_you_did_there_by_ambris-d4hh417.png
I really like this relaxing chapter hardly anything bad happened in the present save for most of the bad guys planning and making their moves. Even though Alex is obligated to say other things I wonder how come she can't use other ideas and theories that other people have made, I'm pretty sure plenty made the alien connection to the Mions' clouds in the first place. I'm glad I got to see this before I lose my internet sometime today or this week for my move. It's really been something, but I'll try to find time to read as much as I can. Still though how come she can't use the alien theory, I'm pretty sure that's kind of common, especially for a couple of survivors that didn't contact with the military.
loved this chapter!
I liked how you handled the alicorn age thing.
also go canada!
2955568
It might be good to have a foreign language teacher, to teach humans who want to learn Equish and teach foreign ponies who magically know Equish beater English.
2955624
chapter 21 only stated he spoke in Equish, not that people couldn't understand him. But he did it because not everyone would understand him as only a few ponies received books.
Sides, give me time to put answers in the story.
I've been waiting for this!
The Canadian perspective on that hat thing
satwcomic.com/art/Matter-of-Perspective.jpg
im enjoying reading all your fics. i was going to read everything before comment, but hear i got surprised and I have a comment to do:
Spain as restictive than China and Rusia?! Waaaaaaat? xD Here we have even more rights and liberties than in the states. And militarize the ponies.... well is nice to see that you think the goverment here is competent enough for that XD
Well, I will continue devouring your fics :3
4382580 there is more rights in spain? i admit to knowing little about spain's current government. all i really know is it's warm, has a large quantity of spanish speaking people and its on a peninsula.
I started to read this on Jan 11 2015. When I saw rhe dates, I died laughing. XD