Chapter 2 - Games and Theories
Heinkel walked out of the outpatient facility with a slight wiggle in her hips. “Man, that feels weird,” she commented as she paused in the corridor. She shifted her back end to the side and looked at the new symbol now emblazoned on her flanks.
“Everyone who gets one always says that,” Cadance chimed in, after she had followed the unicorn out and closed the door behind her with her magic. “I would think that the procedure would be similar to what you went through to get the new body.”
Lisa shook her head in reply as she turned to face the princess and shift her body to a normal quadrupedal stance. “Nah. We're knocked out the whole time that's happening, so we're not aware of what the nanites are doing to us. This, though,” she added, and then glanced back towards her flank again. “You can feel the little buggers at work, and it's kinda creepy. And the feeling doesn't seem to go away right off the bat, either.”
Cadance chuckled as Lisa turned her head back towards her. “I suppose I may have to try it myself one day, just to see how it feels,” she mused, even as she turned and began to walk down the corridor. Lisa quickly moved to join her, and the alacorn continued to speak. “I admit I'm intensely curious. The whole notion of changing into an entirely different species with a different stance and abilities is enticing.”
“I suppose,” Lisa replied, with a brief dip of her forward body that marked a shrug on the move. “I mean, I was just never big on the idea myself.”
“Oh?” Cadance asked, with a glance to the smaller pony. “If that's so, then why go through the change, or even enter this program at all?”
A moment of silence passed between them, broken only by the muted clopping of their hooves on the carpeted deck. After a moment, Lisa sighed. “To be honest, well... you do know how adorable you ponies look to humans, right?”
Cadance let out a hearty chuckle at that. “Oh, I see now,” she said, with a grin aimed at Heinkel. “You just wanted to give hugs to all the cute ponies?”
“Noooo,” Lisa retorted, with heat in her voice. The slight blush on her face, though, showed the alacorn her question wasn't too far off the mark. “It's just...” Heinkel let her voice trail into silence, and then took a moment to think, before she let out a huff. “My father was a police officer when I was growing up, and whenever I asked why he was always gone so late, he and mom always talked about how important his job was to protect others. When I got older I really took that to heart, and when I read about you guys and saw how innocent you seemed, I asked myself 'who protects them?'
“Then I read about Aegis, and I kinda decided I wanted to be part of it so I could be a protector like my father,” Lisa added, as the two entered another lift. There was a pause as they turned around to face the doors, and for Cadance to press the control for their next destination, but soon the unicorn continued. “I guess I just never grew out of that mindset. It's been the focus of my schooling and, frankly, I just feel right being here.” She paused again, this time to lift up a foreleg and look at the hoof on it. “Well, mostly; I miss my hands.”
Another chuckle left Cadance's throat, though it was smaller than the previous one. “Every human says that,” she observed. “It's one of those things that makes me consider trying out the change sometime, if only to see what's so great about having fingers over flexible, magic-gripping hooves.”
Lisa couldn't help but chuckle back. “Trust me, you'll know the instant you get them,” she replied. Then she tilted her head to the side as a new idea ran through her mind. “Well, maybe not right away. It'll probably be a bit of trouble to learn how to use them; hooves are fairly easy for humans because we can imagine we're walking on our knuckles or something, but it takes us years as kids to learn how to get fingers down.”
“Perhaps,” Cadance allowed, as the lift slowed to a stop and the doors opened. The two ponies quickly stepped out and began to move down the empty corridor at a slight trot. “I think I will definitely have to find out for myself sometime. But let us focus on the immediate future,” she added, as she slowed her pace down a bit as the pair approached a door. “Right now we need to take the teleporter down to Canterlot and start getting you acclimatized to pony culture.”
“Teleporter?” Lisa asked. She glanced around from where she stood at the alacorn's side, and once again found herself reading a sign by the far more impressive doors:
TELEPORTER ROOM 12A-7X
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
All Persons Subject to Search
Cadance barely paused at the entrance long enough to use her magic to operate the door controls, and then walked in. Lisa followed right after, and then took a moment to drink in the surroundings. I never thought I'd see one of these in person, she mused, as she looked at the oddly familiar room. It was mostly plain gray wall paneling and beige carpet on the floor, save for the operator's console, the seat for said operator, and the large, circular demi-chamber set into the opposite wall. Within the half-room of the teleporter chamber were two very large flat discs of some pale material, one each mounted to the floor and ceiling. Funny how Star Trek got this right, even if the physics behind it are completely different, Lisa mused.
Her ruminating was interrupted as the man seated behind the operator's console stood and faced them. “Madam princess, nice to see you again,” he said, politely.
Cadance just shook her head. “Honestly Clarence, are you asking for another bap on the head?”
The man, Clarence, laughed. “I just love tweaking your nose, Cadance, you know that.”
Lisa watched the interplay with the normal passivity of someone waiting to enter a conversation, but soon grinned as a thought entered her head. “Clarence,” she said, as she looked to the human, and then glanced to the alacorn. “Cadence. Cadance,” she repeated, and then glanced over to the man again. “Clarence.”
Surprisingly, the others grinned at her. “We have clearance, Clarence,” Cadance said to the operator.
“Roger, Roger,” the man replied, as his grin grew wider. “What's our vector, Victor?”
Lisa's mouth dropped open at that. “You both know that old movie?” she asked, shocked.
Both Clarence and Cadance chuckled at the unicorn's surprise. “Clarence was familiar with it, and introduced me soon after he was assigned as the chief teleporter technician when he noticed the similarity of our names,” Cadance explained, with a smile. “That scene makes me laugh every time I watch it.”
“Yeah, and we never pass up a chance to tweak the newcomers,” Clarence added. “Honestly, I'm surprised you got it.”
Lisa managed a faint smirk at that. “My father really loved those old comedies from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, so we watched them a lot. I'm pretty sure it warped me,” she added, with a wink.
Another round of polite chuckles filled the room, albeit briefly. “Well, to business,” Cadance said, not unkindly but with direction in her tone. She turned to Clarence and then nodded to him. “We need to get to the castle grounds, if you would be so kind.”
“But of course, milady,” Clarence replied, with a feigned accent. He then turned to his console and picked up a headset resting on it. “Go ahead and get on the transport pad while I call down to make sure they got their receivers turned on.”
Cadance moved off to the aforementioned pad, with Lisa immediately following. “Receivers?” the unicorn asked, as she stepped up and onto the raised, plastic-like pad.
“Yes,” Cadance replied, as the pair of ponies reached the general center of the pad, and then turned around to face towards the operator's station. “I am not too clear on the exact mechanics, but from what I've pieced together translation teleports can be affected by local conditions, so the further you go the more power you need to make sure it goes off without a hitch. And get to the right place, as well. Normally, unicorns who can self-teleport can only go a quarter mile to a mile. Oh, right,” she added, with a sheepish grin. “I forgot, you use the metric system. That's from around seven to sixteen hectometers.”
Cadance paused to let that sink in, and Lisa remained silent as she hastily dug up old school memories for a definition of the sparsely-used measurement. “But we're going like, thirty-six thousand kilometers,” she said, after a moment.
“Hence the need for dedicated platforms linked to each other,” Cadance affirmed, with a nod.
Further conversation was put on hold then, as Clarence spoke up. “Alright you two, they're ready and waiting. You ready for the transport?” Both of the ponies answered affirmative, and the human nodded to them before he turned his attention back to his controls. “Good. Hope you didn't have a big breakfast, today,” he added, just as he initiated the teleport.
“Wait, what?” Lisa asked, just before reality twisted in non-Euclidean patterns. For a period of time too short to be measured, yet too long to be ignored, the former human's mind was assaulted with the unfortunate sensation of being everywhere in the universe at once. Fortunately, her viewpoint quickly collapsed to show a room similar to the one she had just been in, only with stone walls instead of metal and a pony instead of a human behind the control panel.
Not that Lisa was paying it much attention, as she had dropped to the floor and curled up into a ball of pain. Oh God, oh God, oh God, what the Hell was that?! she mentally raged, as her stomach shifted, pulled, and did all it could to expel its contents in any manner possible. Heinkel, meanwhile, desperately exerted her entire will and focus on keeping said material inside where it belonged. Think of something besides the nausea! Uh, football? Aussie, American, or European? Ugh, not distracting enough, how about what mom was asking me? The nausea shifted from pure agony down into mere pained disgust, and Lisa slowly started to take deeper breaths. Okay, that makes me want to throw up, but in a different way, so that kind of works. Why the Hell are my parents so weird?
A voice finally started to intrude on her consciousness, and Lisa realized that Cadance had been attempting to speak to her. “Lisa, please say something,” the worried alacorn said, from where her head was held just above the unicorn's own.
“'M fine,” Lisa managed to grate out, and then paused to take another, deep breath. “I just... gimme a moment.”
“Of course,” Cadance said, and then looked up to the pony teleporter operator, who had come over from the controls. “Night Shimmer, please go get a nurse.”
“Yes, your majesty,” the mare—her voice a dead giveaway to Lisa—replied, and then ran off.
Lisa frowned as she slowly uncurled from her balled position. “I said I was fine,” she reiterated, with a glance up at Cadance.
“Maybe so, but I just want to be sure,” the alacorn replied, evenly. “Most persons who go through a teleport the first time usually find it disconcerting, and when your first time is through a long-range teleport that makes even seasoned veterans sick in the stomach, well I just want to make sure you won't have a more adverse reaction.”
Heinkel grunted at that, and then began to stand as the pain continued to subside. “I'm fine, really,” she said, with strength in her voice. “It was just a gut punch I didn't expect.”
The other pony simply gave her an appraising look for a few long moments, but eventually nodded. “Alright, but if you start feeling bad again you should tell me and we'll get you checked out,” Cadance stated, the tone of her voice made it clear she would brook no argument. “We'll wait for Shimmer to come back with the nurse and let her give you a quick vitals check. If you're still good by then, we'll move on.”
* * * *
The checkup from the nurse was quick, and soon Cadance was leading Lisa through stone-lined corridors lit by strange torch-like lights that glowed in a manner which the former human found eerie. “So, I guess we're under the castle?” she asked, wanting a distraction, as well as being genuinely curious.
“Indeed,” Cadance replied, with a nod, without looking back. “We're heading for the gardens, where we'll meet your tutor for Equestrian customs. After you two get to know each other, I'll let her take you through Canterlot while I go finish my paperwork for our part of the transfer.”
Lisa took her eyes off of the chiseled walls to give the alacorn a curious look. “You guys got to deal with paperwork?” she asked.
“Unfortunately,” Cadance admitted, with a sigh. She glanced back at Heinkel, and gave the former human a wan smile. “Even in a monarchy, records must be kept and information filed.”
“More like bureaucrats wasting our time,” Lisa said, with a snort. “I've filed dozens of reports, term papers up the wazoo, and more government documents than I can count, and I've yet to see any of them have any appreciable effect on my life beyond finally letting me do what I could have done before I filled them out.”
“Maybe so, but try not to say that where the bureaucrats can hear you,” Cadance replied. “You know how they get when someone criticizes their life's work.”
“If you could call that sort of mindless drone a life,” Lisa opined. “Or categorize what they do as work.”
“To be fair,” Cadance interjected. “There's always going to be a need to keep records and hold ponies—or people, even—accountable.” She then cast a sideways glance at the smaller pony. “A being who can handle that has their uses.”
“True,” Lisa admitted, and then shook her head. “But the ones who actually do the job well and correctly are always few and far between. The vast majority of bureaucrats are just lazy, good-for-nothing slackers who sit on their asses napping half the time, and the other half making the jobs of people who actually do the real work more difficult with half-assed rules and regulations and procedures that don't actually do anything but justify some new office or position so that their cronies can also have a job sitting on their ass getting fat and micro-managing others!”
A moment of silence passed between the two mares before Cadance finally spoke up. “It sounds like this is from first-hoof experience?” she ventured. Lisa's only reply was an un-ponylike growl, and the princess sighed. “Well, I guess we'll just have to keep you from Parliament, then,” she offered, jokingly.
Lisa snorted in amusement. “Yeah, I'd be tempted to try out this thing on them,” she said, as she stopped to tap her horn with a hoof.
Cadance had paused with her, and gave a short chuckle. “I know I've felt that way sometimes,” she said, as the two resumed their walk along the corridor, which was now rising upwards to form a gentle ramp. “Still, I hope you can at least remain civil?”
Heinkel released a sigh. “Yeah, yeah,” she said, tiredly. “Just don't expect me to enjoy it.”
“Perish the thought,” Cadance replied. The two then fell silent as they reached a set of doors at the end of the ramp. “And we're here,” the princess added, and then used her magic to pull open the doors. Lisa had to screw her eyes shut against the harsh glare of the sun, but they adjusted quickly and she opened them again to greedily drink in the sight before her. Spectacular, she thought, as the worlds famous Canterlot Royal Gardens were revealed to her in person.
The doors opened up onto a small balcony that overlooked the lush, low-lying gardens, and thus Heinkel could easily gaze over the hedges that cut the garden into various miniature biomes. Some portions were square or rectangular, while others were circular or ovoid, and a few were sinuous and even a bit random. Each one, though, had a variety of plants and, in some cases, animals from different environments, some of which were surprising. “Is that block over there filled with snow?” Lisa asked, without taking her eyes off of the summertime anomaly.
Cadance chuckled, which finally prompted the unicorn to look away and over at the princess. “Amazing, isn't it?” she asked, with a friendly smile. She then began to walk towards a set of stairs leading down into the gardens and resumed speaking as Lisa caught up. “Pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies all work together to maintain various spells and conditions in the gardens so that we can keep plants and animals from around the world,” she explained, while she and Heinkel reached the soft grass that covered much of the ground and continued into the gardens proper. “The winter taiga biome is the most extreme you'll find in the gardens, but the high desert and mangrove swamp sections are also works of art in their own right.”
“Wow,” Lisa said, as she followed Cadance through the maze-like paths. “I read about this place before I came here, but seeing it like that is just... wow,” she concluded.
The alacorn had to refrain from another chuckle at that. Instead, she just smiled again and decided to change the topic a bit. “In any case, we'll be heading to the 'jade cliffs' biome to meet with your training officer,” she explained, with a brief pause in her walk to lift a hoof and point it towards a cluster of tall pines three dozen meters away.
Lisa could only nod as she followed Cadance through the pathways, as her head kept moving on a swivel to peer into the various sections as they passed. Even with our adoption of so much knowledge from the M'fon, we still can't get this level of transition field manipulation so casually, she thought. And yet here they are with it all in the open like this! Absolutely astounding.
Soon enough they entered the section filled with pines, and Lisa was impressed to see that a literal cliff (albeit a tiny one) had been put into place to provide a perch for the perennial subspecies. Such thoughts were then put to the side, however, as a pony was waiting for them as Cadance promised, and Lisa set her mind back on track. Right, time for business mode, she thought to herself, as she followed Cadance over to the pink-coated, purple-maned unicorn.
“Your majesty,” the new pony said to Cadance, as the latter led Heinkel over. The unicorn also gave a brief but respectful bow on her front legs.
“Amethyst Star,” Cadance friendlily replied, as the addressed mare stood back up. “Allow me to introduce you to your charge, Lisa Heinkel,” she added, as she waved a hoof towards where Heinkel stood at her side. “Lisa, this is Amethyst Star, chief agent in charge of cultural acclimation.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Lisa said, as she held up a foreleg towards Amethyst Star.
“Likewise,” Amethyst replied, as she shook the proffered hoof with a warm smile. “Welcome to Equestria.”
“Thank you,” Lisa responded, as the two broke the shake. “I'm happy to be here.”
“Oh, that will change,” Amethyst replied, with a smirk.
“Be nice, Star,” Cadance gently chided, although she still wore a small smile. “Miss Heinkel was fast tracked to her position, so don't push her too much.”
Heinkel felt the fur over her shoulders bristle a bit at that, and she let loose a light huff. “I may be new, but I'm not going to trip over my own feet,” she said.
Amethyst turned to give the former human a measuring look. “I would hope not, considering you have hooves now,” she replied, and then waited a beat while Lisa blushed. “It's because of verbal missteps like that my position exists,” Amethyst continued, even as she began to leisurely pace. “For reasons that only Celestia and the M'fon know, they molded our language to mimic yours closely, but even then there are some cultural differences that can reveal an outsider to all but the most oblivious of ponies.
“Hence why we're both here,” the native unicorn added, and then stopped in her pacing to face Heinkel. “While you're with me, you will learn how to speak and act like a common pony, so that you can better blend into our population. You will learn social mores so that you will not accidentally offend, and finally you will learn the common laws of our land that may be different from what you are familiar with.”
A moment of silence fell over the trio as Heinkel absorbed Amethyst's words, though it was brief as Cadance spoke up after only a few seconds. “Well, you are in good hooves with Amethyst Star,” she said to Heinkel. “So I'm going to take my leave and go take care of the paperwork I mentioned.”
“Understood, princess,” Lisa responded, and then offered a brief salute. “Thank you for your time.”
“It was no problem” Cadance replied, and then looked over to Star. “Amethyst, I'll be in my office or meeting with Celestia if you need me.”
“Understood, your majesty,” Amethyst said, in a near echo of Heinkel. “But we should be fine for the rest of the day.”
“I'm glad to hear it,” Cadance replied. “Stop by when you're done with today's lessons and I should have quarters assigned for miss Heinkel. Or rather, I should say 'Miss Heartstrings,” she added, and then gave a wink to Lisa. “It would be best if you started using your new name immediately, so from now on we'll be referring to you as such, Lyra.”
Lisa blinked at that, and then nodded. “That sounds perfectly reasonable,” she replied, somewhat hesitantly. “Once again, I thank you for your time.”
“Of course,” Cadance said, and then nodded to Amethyst Star before she turned and walked off. “Take care, you two,” she called out over her shoulder as she left the habitat.
Amethyst waited for the princess to leave before she once again turned to Heinkel. “So, Lyra Heartstrings, eh?” she asked, and then began to walk around the other unicorn.
Lisa nodded as the native pony continued her visual inspection. “Yeah. It's alliterative to my real name and it kind of fits into my hobby of playing old style string instruments.”
“Ah ah,” Amethyst said, as she stopped in front of Heinkel, and then waved a hoof in the air in front of the green pony. “Do not think that way; don't think of your birth name as your only real name. Your name is Lyra Heartstrings now,” she added, as she lowered her hoof back to the ground and then locked eyes with Lisa/Lyra. “In order to fit in here, you must internalize that name, and accept it as part of you. Otherwise you will find yourself accidentally ignoring ponies when they speak with you, and you will never feel at ease even when you acknowledge the name.”
The new pony frowned at that, and she had to mentally quash an urge to shuffle her legs. “I... guess I can see that,” she said, carefully.
Amethyst sighed at the uncomfortable tone she heard. “I know, it feels weird,” she said, and then offered a wan smile. “A lot of your people mention how it feels like it's denying yourself, and frankly, us native ponies have to do something similar when on assignment,” she added, and then gestured for the green unicorn to follow her as she started to walk off. “Equestrian agents of the Aegis often are assigned to towns and territories far from where we call home in order to help protect our identities and operational security, and assuming a new name is part of that.”
“Oh,” Lisa thought. No, that's not right, she told herself, as she noted her mind slipping the old name into her thoughts. It's 'Lyra' now, so start thinking like it. She then sighed and nodded. “I see what you mean,” she said, and then offered a faint smile of her own as she walked alongside Star. “So I'll just have to get used to it.”
“Good,” Amethyst replied, with a quick, friendly glance back. She returned her head back to a forward-facing position and then continued. “On that note, let's leave the gardens and head out into Canterlot proper so you can get accommodated to being surrounded by large crowds of ponies.”
“Sounds good,” Lisa/Lyra agreed. The two then fell into a companionable silence as they wound their way through the various garden biomes to reach the city. A small stream marked the boundary between the gardens and the parkland surrounding them, and beyond the bridge that crossed it one could see the stately buildings of one of Equestria's oldest cities waiting for them, and the many ponies walking along the streets and boulevards. As she watched, though, Lyra noticed one pony in particular running perpendicular to the garden path in a determined manner, and she furrowed her brows a bit. “Why does that one look familiar?” she asked, half to herself. “She looks like she's panicked about something.”
“That would be Princess Celestia's student, Twilight Sparkle,” Amethyst Star off-handedly replied, as the two began to walk up one side of the footbridge. “Don't worry too much about her, she's always freaking out about something.”
“Twilight Sparkle?” Lyra asked, with a hitch in her throat.
“Yes,” Amethyst replied, and then came to a stop on the top of the bridge's arch to look over at the mint unicorn. “Why do you...” she began, but then trailed off as she saw Lyra smiling and waving a hoof at the lavender unicorn as she ran past the bridge. The smile faded and the waving stopped as Twilight simply ran past without even so much as a glance, and a vague look of mild disappointment settled on Lyra's face. “What are you doing?” Amethyst finally asked.
Lyra startled at that, and then turned her head to give Star a sheepish smile. “Oh, heh, sorry,” she said, and then used her raised hoof to rub the back of her head as she blushed.
“It's fine,” Amethyst replied, with a skeptical tone of voice. “Just... what was that about?”
“Oh, uh,” Lyra said, and then glanced around. Once she saw that the immediate area was clear, she turned back to Amethyst Star. “Well, humans might be a secret here, but ponies are pretty well known on Terra and the colonies,” she began. “There's actually like a small subset of media that reports on the happenings here in Equestria, and well, Celestia's personal student is kinda famous.” She paused at that to gather her thoughts, and then continued, albeit a bit more uncomfortably as she noted Star's befuddled expression. “I mean, yanno, the princess is famous, so anyone—”
“Anypony,” Amethyst interjected. “That's one of those words you're going to have to relearn, otherwise you'll just sound weird to most ponies.”
Lyra frowned a bit as she tried to adjust to the sudden shift in the conversation. “But, isn't that kind of rude to beings who aren't ponies?” she asked.
Amethyst sighed. “Maybe a bit,” she cautiously admitted. “But ponies use it anyway in daily life, so you'll need to use it yourself. But aside from that,” she added, and then spitted her charge with a questioning look. “You were explaining that you seem to have some sort of crush on Celestia's personal student?” she asked, with a raised eyebrow.
“Ugh, no!” Lyra retorted. She took a step back and shook her head before she continued. “Nothing like that! Just... well, you do know your entire species looks adorable to us, right?” she asked of the native.
Now it was Amethyst's turn to blush a bit. “I am aware of that fact,” she slowly replied.
“Well, it means that naturally we're kind of interested in you guys. Big news in Equestria tends to be big news on human planets as well,” Lyra explained, and then shrugged. “So when Celestia gets a new student, it makes the rounds. And when Twilight became her student, well...” Lyra paused at that, and then glanced down. “I'm about the same age as her. So there I was, this young kid curious about ponies, and I see this story of this pony who's as old as I am, and she's like, some kind of awesome prodigy. It really inspired me, and so Twilight's like, kind of a hero to me.” She looked up at this, and saw that Amethyst was still wearing an incredulous expression, and then blushed again and looked off to the side. “I guess that sounds kind of dumb, doesn't it?”
A moment of silence passed between them, but it was soon broken as Amethyst Star sighed. “No, not really,” she quietly said, and then offered a wan smile to Lyra as the latter looked to her again. “Having heroes isn't a bad thing. It's just surprising when I hear somepony say Twilight Sparkle of all ponies is a role model,” she explained, and then chuckled a bit. “She's a nice pony, but a total social hermit. An utter bookworm. I doubt she'd leave the royal library if it didn't close.”
“Really?” Lyra asked, with a tilt of her head. “That bad, huh?”
“Verily,” Amethyst replied, with a nod. “I haven't spoken with her much, to be honest, but from what everypony says she's completely introverted.” She paused to shake her head. “Other than that, I've heard good things about her, but sometimes you have to worry about a pony who can't or won't make friends.”
“Huh,” Lyra mused, and then glanced off in the direction Sparkle had gone. She was not surprised to see that it was a path that lead through the parkland and right up to the Royal Palace itself, though the crowds of ponies walking to and from the building did pique her curiosity. I wonder if that's a normal amount of foot—hoof traffic, or is this another clue to the mystery that got me sent here?
“Well,” Amethyst Star interjected into Lyra's musings, and the latter turned towards the former as she continued to speak. “As interesting as this conversation is, we really should get going on your acclimation.”
“Oh, right, of course,” Lyra said, with a sheepish grin. “Well, I'm ready to go.”
“Right,” Star said, and then turned to walk off. “Follow me.”
* * * *
Some time later, the ticking of a grandfather clock filled an office in the palace with the monotonous sound of its mechanism. Cadance looked up at the large clock set against the far wall, and then stifled a sigh. I've been sitting here for the last hour and I still don't have an idea on what to do, she dejectedly thought. Aunt Celestia's doing something, and she isn't telling anypony a thing about it.
Another few clicks passed as Cadance set her head down on the side rest of a backless couch that served as the pony equivalent of a luxury office chair. The move, she knew, was similar in how humans would lean back in their own style of chair, and she did it for much the same reason; I need to think.
Her last meeting with her adoptive aunt had been somewhat of an upsetting experience for the younger alacorn. She practically blew off the concerns of director Novak, and basically had no instruction in what I'm supposed to do with his redeployment of their assets. She won't even address my concerns, either, Cadance remembered, with a frown crossing her muzzle. I may have been born a pegasus, but I'm no fool when it comes to magic; there's something strange going on with the field. The humans know this, and it's making them nervous. Hay, it's making me nervous, and yet Celestia won't even say anything about it except “it's perfectly normal.” Normal! She snorted at that thought. Normal my tail! My horn's practically itching, and even regular unicorns are starting to feel uneasy, even if they don't quite have the same attunement to know why.
And then there's the way she just shipped Twilight off to Ponyville without warning, Cadance mused, and then shifted on her couch slightly. I mean, don't get me wrong, Twilight has needed to get out of the palace for a long time now, but so suddenly? Everything went from normal to “Twilight's away on a royal mission” in only an hour? And right when all this strange activity is going on? The whole idea that Celestia would be deliberately withholding information, or worse, actively plotting something in secret behind the backs of her allies and closest advisers was disturbing.
No, Cadance thought, and then climbed out of her seat in order to walk around her desk so she could pace in front of it. Auntie can't be doing that, she thought, as she moved back and forth. She wouldn't be so crass, so underhoofed, not after everything she's done. ...Would she?
Cadance stopped moving at this, and then paused to look around her office. Her chair and desk dominated one end of the room, and the other end held a set of several small chairs set around a low table for more relaxed meetings. She regarded these for a moment, and then turned her head left to gaze out of the windows behind her chair that let in the beautiful light of the sun. She was suddenly struck by the need to take a look outside the windows, and so walked over to gaze out through the reinforced glass.
The Equstrian heartland—or at least the portion near Canterlot—was laid out before her, and Cadance sighed a bit as she felt the usual calming sensation she got at looking over the land's natural beauty. Funny how Richard always says the same about the view, but it's the towns and railroads that make him feel relaxed, she mused, as she remembered one of the rare, secret visits of unchanged humans to the palace. Her eyes traced over the nearby towns, two of which could be seen; Ponyville and Hoofington. Cadance cast her eyes on the former, and then frowned as she saw how close it lay to the Everfree Forest. That's where the Summer Sun Celebration will happen, and where Twilight is being sent, she thought, as she recalled that the unicorn was still preparing for her trip. Cadance mentally went over what assets the Aegis had in the town, and she frowned again. Only one agent, Equestrian. Mainly there just to keep an eye on the place since it's right on the Everfree. Not exactly a hefty presence, and yet Celestia won't even hear of assigning any more of our own agents, even temporarily for the festival.
And that just brings up the questions of 'why' again, Cadance went on in her mind, as she stared at the small town in the distance. Why Ponyville? Why move the Summer Sun Celebration out there when it's usually held in a major city? Why is the magic field acting up? Why is Celestia so evasive? Why is Twilight mysteriously being sent out in the middle of all of this? And why is our crown princess ignoring her own security apparatus?
Her thoughts stilled for a moment as she tried to make sense of everything. Cadance let her eyes trace over the town that seemed to be at the center of her problems, and then after a few moments, finally sighed. She won't give me any answers, she mused, and then closed her eyes. She doesn't trust me, the alacorn concluded. She doesn't trust anypony. At least, nopony that I know of. She opened her eyes then and turned around to regard her office once again. Her gaze traced along the various photos and shelves full of tomes that filled the walls until they landed on one particular picture. Her horn lit up as Cadance willed her magic into motion, and the frame she eyed floated off the wall to come to a hover in the air in front of her. It was a photograph of her right after her ascension and coronation, and in it were two ponies: herself and Celestia, both dressed in their coronation gowns.
Ugly things, Cadance briefly mused, and then frowned as she focused her eyes on the reproduction of Celestia's. What are you doing, auntie? Why are you playing this so close to the chest? Do you really not trust anyone...? Or... She blinked as a new idea entered her head. Or are you worried? Worried that this is a threat, something so dangerous you don't think anypony can handle it but you?
But, you aren't just handling it yourself, are you? Cadance realized this, and then turned her head to regard another picture, this one propped up on her desk. In it was herself, a bit older than she was at her coronation, with a small, precocious filly, both mugging it up for the camera. You've got Twilight mixed up in whatever plan you have concocted. But is she being sent to safety so she can help from the sidelines, or are you thrusting her into the middle of it all?
“It would be like her,” Cadance muttered to herself, as she turned her attention to levitating the coronation picture back to its place on the wall. She loves these little hooves-on tests. Heavens know I nearly wet myself when she just randomly brought me into a room filled with director Novak and his guards without an ounce of preamble. But this...
Cadance glanced over and through the window again, and then turned her head back to face the documents lying open on her desk. The one on top was a readiness report for the Aegis' rapid deployment teams, both human and pony, while another just under it contained a listing of Aegis assets in and around Canterlot. Her horn lit up again as she lifted the latter out from underneath the former and once again looked at Ponyville's listing:
Agent “Bonbon”
Species: Equis Sapiens Habilis (Native)
Tribe: Earth (Native)
Citizenship: Equestria (Birth)
Rank: Adept
Status: Active
Assignment: Monitor
See agent's personnel file for additional information.
Cadance traced her eyes over the last line, and then closed the folder. I've already read through agent Bonbon's file, and she's quite capable. But her career has been quiet and uneventful, save for the occasional dissuading of a monster in the Everfree. Not to mention she's only one mare. At this, the alacorn huffed a bit as she set the file down on the desk, and then looked at the readiness report again. Novak has all of his assets tied up or restricted use because of Celestia's game, and all of our assets are spread out thin to be the tripwire, so I've got nopony to send to assist in Ponyville.
Nopony, except a new unicorn who just dropped onto my back, she thought, while her eyes widened at the sudden realization. Those eyes then narrowed back down as she levitated a closed folder out from under a pile, and then opened it. And I do have authority to assign all agents on planet who don't already have orders from above. “Well, miss Heartstrings,” Cadance said, to the new agent's personnel file. “Seems you will be getting an assignment right out the gate after all.”
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Yay! I, for one, am happy that I did not wait this long for a piddly 2k word chapter!
Now I eagerly wait for the interaction between Lisa/Lyra and Bonbon.
Time for our little human to get dropped off the deep end, it seems. Ponyville is by no means a calm, stable environment. At least she won't stick out that much. At all. Ever.
That might be important eventually.
Very nice work as usual. It is interesting to see how Celestia is handling things from another perspective here and how others are working around her obstructions. I am also getting the distinct impression that Novak is making plans for drastic action because while he hands may be tied in regards to ground teams so he cannot get them anywhere useful quickly enough, he undoubtedly has some really big toys at his disposal which he is probably getting ready to use if things go really wrong. After all, orbital strikes and ICBMs can hit anything at a moment's notice with more than enough raw power to utterly annihilate just about any problem.
Also, I have no idea what you were trying to say at the end of this sentence:
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Ah, yes. Novak has some toys to use if he deems it so. Let's just say this human government is of the mindset of "be prepared". But mainly I'm thinking of drop teams along the lines of battle armor equipped with BFGs being ready to land and take on whatever threat rears its head. Even have half a mind to have a side story where such a team moves in to take care of a problem, but that's down the line.
As for that sentence, that's another thing where my brain thought it made perfect sense because I know exactly what's going on, but it doesn't convey enough information to someone else.
It's fixed, now. Thank you.
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The words of Jack Nicholson's Joker come to mind. Although it would by Lisa/Lyra saying it.
5686953 Yeah, being prepared for anything is always a good thing and I did somehow forget about orbital insertion
. Then again, a nuke or orbital strike is actually more subtle as bizarre as that may seem because it is just a really big unexplained boom which does not scream "aliens" so it will be written off as Celestia doing it or something and preserve the secret. Ground troops on the other hand are kind of impossible to mistake for anything else, especially when they are bipeds twice the height of the locals wrapped up in massive suits of ultra high tech powered armor. Planetside response teams that look like natives would still be the ideal for solving problems while maintaining cover, especially if you can subtly enhance them with human tech, but if Celestia says no...well, boom time.
Also, it would be tons of fun to read about those teams in action, especially when they inevitably run into ponies who do not know about them. I am leaning towards the Mane Six for this at the moment because you seem to have a good chunk of the background cast accounted for at this point, although the Flower Trio would also be hilarious (unless you do something ridiculous like making them an elite strike team). There is also admittedly a part of me that wants to see them get overwhelmed by the CMC, but there is really no way that would happen because they would be dragging them out of the way and dumping them with a random adult while they blow up whatever the crisis of the day is.
Finally, I figured that was the case. We all make dumb mistakes so I figured I should point it out.
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The spahys mahreens are more of a hammer on hard targets, and the idea I had is the ponies deploy a first reaction team to cordon off the area and then the humans drop down in a shuttle with a cloak or something to do the heavy lifting while the royal guard unit kind of runs interference. Something like, say a diamond dog incursion where they keep raiding but their home base is away from a pony town. Royal Guard comes in, makes sure the locals stay in town, and then deploy illusion spells to help cover the humans as they go in and completely wreck s**t up.
But the idea of transformed humans and native ponies working together is kind of the point of this story.
Lyra/Bonbon is just going to be the focus, but there are other, bigger teams. I don't rule out they might become involved from time to time. And my whole point about the battle armor troops is that they're a step of force application between "clandestine agents" and "weapons of mass destruction". I kind of think there needs to be more of a friendly gradient on that scale. 
And as for the Mane Six, there's going to be interactions with them, but basically they won't know what's "really" going on behind the scenes. This way I preserve the show's stories, at least for a bit.
5687214 Yeah, that was what I was figuring the usual MO was, but that will be a problem if they have to go now because Celestia is crippling those supporting units. That means they will have to drop in with basically nothing but a preliminary report from Lyra and Bon Bon so there will be no cordon or guard interference so the general population will definitely see them.
Also, I am definitely seeing at least one mission following Rarity's abduction to root out that problem before more ponies are affected, although it is making me wonder how they would do a rescue mission in a more typical scenario like that because it is really hard to rescue someone without them knowing who rescued them.
For the Mane Six, I kind of figured that was the case even if you do have some flexibility with working in conversations around the episodes which is why I suggested the Flower Trio, especially given how hilariously badly they will respond to stressful situations. Just have Lyra become friends with at least one of them and the chaos should basically write itself.
5687735 Well, then it's good that they won't necessarily be dropping in. Won't spoil any surprises but there's gonna be a reason the episode went as much as it did.
Rescue mission? Well, thankfully the situation hasn't come up. Yet. As for how it gets handled, well... I have no idea.
Hadn't thought of that, might have to do something with it. 
As for what Lyra does to cause chaos... well... let's just say I've got an idea or two.
5687819 Yeah, I figured that would not actually be necessary, but that is only because I have seen the episode and know there is a good solution to the problem. The characters in the story on the other hand will have no way of knowing any of that so you can bet there will be a lot of worrying about Nightmare Moon and debate on weather she is enough of a problem to send in troops without proper containment and risk blowing their cover wide open.
For rescue missions, that is a definite possibility which could be a lot of fun as are all the other various forms of special operations so it might not be a bad idea to take a look at what they do and see if it gives you any ideas. After all, there are lots of crazy things that have been done in the real world so they could easily happen in Equestria, especially for an organization like this.
As for chaos, I figured you had plans already which should be encouraged by Lyra being Lyra, I was just thinking that the Flower Trio would let you amp things up even more with how panicky they are.
Finally, it might be fun to do something with Cadence's comments about trying out being human at some point, either as part of this story or in a separate one-shot.
Will 'next time' take as long as human pregnancy as well?
5690662
That good enough for ya? Huh? HUH? HUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHH?! 
I'm actually working at it now, smartass.
COME AT ME BRO!
YOU WOT, M8? BISCUITS AND TEA FOR EVERYPONY.
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So, Bonbon is Lisa/Lyra's Equestrian partner in the wonderful, wonderful world of interstellar peacekeeping?
Hmm that is more or less the distance to the geosynchronous orbit... or one tenth the earth moon distance...
It is too much for the destination being on the surface of earth and too little to be anywhere else...
The use of hectometer in metric system places is REALLY rare...
It may be a internal mistake by Cadance
"on the tips of our fingers or something" maybe?
We all have our little quirks, and one of mine is my amusement at people replacing the word, "foot" with "hoof" in an MLP fanfic.
Horses have feet, just as do birds, bears, platypuses, chairs, tables, crutches...
A hoof is just another kind of foot.
So.... no ones gonna mention the alacorn alicorn thing?