• Published 13th Feb 2015
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Five Score: A Velvet Nightfall - kitsy-chan



A small group of US Army Rangers are caught up in a web of corruption and dark deals, as the attempt to deal with 2 of their own, who have had their lives forever changed, by the Five Score curse

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67: Glimmer of Sunshine

“So its 'need verses choice'?”

“I think it’s more fundamental than that.” The President says, leaning back in his chair in the Oval Office.

The Secretary of Defense shakes his head, “Look, if they have the powers, we can make use of them.”

“So they are slaves? To be used at our convenience?” The Director of the CID says as he paces on the floor.

“That’s not what I meant.” The Secretary of Defense grumbles, “If one can control the weather, shouldn’t we use that? What if we could have stopped hurricane Katrina?”

“But where do we draw the line? Oil is vital to national security? If one can locate oil, do we force them to do that for us?” Asks the Director of Homeland Security as he looks at his tablet, “Earth ponies are strong at farming. Do we force them to farm, even if they don’t want to?”

“Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The CID Director says and sighs, “Are we talking Legal Rights here? Or Natural Rights?”

The president finds himself looking at the CID Director, “A very good point. Legal rights can be repealed or restrained, if the military, or courts, order. We need these rights to be inalienable.”

“Defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy.” Looking around, the CID Director sighs. “Putting them at risk against their will, forcing them to do things, this is all about choice. If we cross the line for big things, then we open the door for every little thing.”

“But don’t forget, inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom. It’s human rights, after all.” The director of Homeland adds.

“If we give or extend to ponies all rights as a human, then we have to assume, demanding them to use their abilities would detract from their pursuit of happiness.” The President says.

“I think form should be included,” The director of CID adds, “We’ve had calls for ponies to be forced through the gate to be returned to human forms.”

“So we include a part about no pony should be forced to change their form to suit the will or needs of another?” The Director of Homeland inquires.

“How will this affect the military?”

“We are looking at these as Natural Rights. So the military would be bound by them.” The Vice President says.

“So we have a basic framework for a bill here. Have you got enough to get a first draft done?” The President asks.

“Sure thing, Department of Justice will have something hammered out in a few days.”

With a nod the President turns to look at the copy of the Constitution on his wall, “Liberty…” he murmurs.

*** Henry ***

“I’m sorry, but his life was at stake.” Blue Lagoon says softly.

“Lives are always at stake, everywhere. People die every day.” Henry says as he touches his horn to Electric Blue. “I can’t heal every person and every pony. Should you be expected to stop every storm that threatens lives?”

“I… no.” Blue Lagoon sighs and looks down at her hooves. “I just felt so useless, I have all this magic and couldn’t do anything help him.”

“You care about him that much?” Henry says as he pulls his horn back.

“Yes, he sacrificed himself for me. He’s so protective of me and so kind.” Blue says, keeping her head low.

“I just hate being this fluffy pink unicorn.” Henry shakes his head.

“So you hate ponies?”

“My best friends are ponies, I just know I’m not one.” Henry says, backing away as the pegasus who he just healed moans softly. “The power I have is something scary. Imagine turning on the TV, walking down the street, visiting friends and hearing stories of people being sick and injured. Knowing you can’t save everyone, knowing that somewhere, some child is dying, you can save her, but it will cost some other child their life?”

Blue Lagoon looks at him and realizes what he means, “So you choose not to choose. Not to play favorites.”

Turning, Henry exits the room and walks down the hall. Heading for the cafeteria, “I’m not a pony, I don’t have the… strength… to choose. I do what I’m told, but I get so worried that I will get lost in a world of people making requests.”

“I’m sorry Henry, I had no right to ask them to force you.” Blue says as she follows him.

“It’s okay.” Henry picks up an extra-large coffee and a stack of donuts with his magic, heading over to an empty table. “I just know this form isn’t the real me. I don’t belong in Equestria and can’t be a pony on Earth.” He sighs and looks at his furry chest, “At least not permanently.”

“Is there any way I can make it up to you?” Blue Lagoon asks as she sees the pain in Henry. The pain he carries bothers her. He saved her Captain, but at what cost to himself?

“I don’t know. I don’t look for rewards or medals. Sometimes I wonder if I’m staying true to the magic in my heart.” He sips some coffee. “I just have to keep reminding myself, I’m not a pony.”

Leaning over, Blue Lagoon hugs him softly and gently. “Pony or not, I’ll always consider you a friend for what you’ve done.”

*** Velvet ***

“Nope, it’s not a raw energy blast. It’s a more confined spectrum, tighter beam.” I say as I walk around the tank.

“There’s different kinds?” Major Atwood asks, looking down at me.

I just can’t help but giggle, “Yes there’s different kinds, and different ways of doing the same thing. It depends on the unicorn and their training.”

“So what are we looking at?” The Major asks, putting his hand against the rend in the front of the tank.

“I’m not sure I’d be touching that, I’m always afraid of residual radiation.” I say, blinking

Quickly the Major pulls his hand away and wipes it off on his pants, “Magic leaves radiation?”

“Well kinda, but I was referring to the Depleted Uranium plate.” I say, shaking my head. “It’s been exposed and superheated. That stuff’s toxic and radioactive.”

“Plasma style blast, or flame blasts, act more like a blow torch. They tend to splash out more. Lightning could be a wide arc style blast, or a confined beam, much like a particle beam. A few pegasi can do it too, but their lightning bolts tend to be more spread out and arc more. They can’t confine the blast. This was a high energy blast, essentially the beam hit the tank and caused the hull to superheat and explode outwards.”

Rearing up on my hind hooves, I put my forelegs on the hull of the tank so that I can look at the damage more closely. “Yeah it’s laser style. Combat school, likely Canterlot, mid to high three. Pretty by the books, higher power or closer range would have penetrated.”

“So what’s all that mean?” The major asks.

“Major,” I pause a moment putting on my sun glasses, “You’ve got a trained hostile unicorn.”

*** Panama ***

“I don’t think we're on the right road.” Sunny Daze says, looking out the window.

Glancing back Full Steam nods, “I know, I couldn’t get back onto the main road back there, so I’m following this one. I think it reconnects about…”

“About?” Sunny blinks and climbs up to look out the window again.

Full Steam has lowered his head a bit and stopped talking as he walked, and instead is simply flicking his tail a bit. Ahead on the road are a pair of National Police cruisers blocking the road. Two officers are funnelling the limited traffic though a check point.

“Oh Celestia. Ambrosia, police are checking vehicles.” Sunny Daze says.

Quickly Ambrosia looks out the rear window of the wagon. She sees there are a few cars behind them, slowing down too. Moving up to the front window, she sits with the curtains closed and waits for the officers.

“Keep quiet Sunny.” She whispers as the wagon stops.

Walking up, the officer pounds on the side of the wagon. “National Police, we are doing road inspections.”

Taking a deep breath, Ambrosia calls back out, “Pardon, sir?”

“We are doing vehicle inspections. Drunk driving and drugs.” The officer says, firmly.

The car behind them honks, causing Ambrosia to smile.

“Yes sir, it will take me a few minutes.” She says, calmly.

“Pardon? A few minutes?” The officer walks around to the back of the wagon and knocks on the door.

“Yes, religious modesty laws dictate that I be covered in the presence of nonfamily males.” She smiles and looks down at Sunny Daze.

Sunny has both hooves over her face, shaking her head no.

“It will only take me a few minutes to get properly dressed.” Ambrosia says, again.

Behind the wagon, cars were starting to pile up.

Looking around, the officer sighs. He’s never heard of a horse drawn wagon being used for drug smuggling. Turning he glares at the drivers behind the wagon. “Fine, move on, just keep to the side of the road so the cars can pass you when they are through the check point.”

“Thank you sir.” Ambrosia says and Full Steam starts walking again, keeping the wagon as close to the shoulder of the road as he can.

*** Henry ***

Henry sits with his chin on the table. He’s already helped several critical and terminal cases, and he is just plain pooped. Even coffee isn’t helping any more. Well, the coffee they have here, he isn’t about to risk 'Cipher levels' of caffeine.

Nurse Harwell sits beside him with her coffee and tilts her head. “You look worse than Cheerilee after a field trip to the Canterlot Confectionery Factory.”

“Why would a school teacher ever take kids to a candy factory?” Henry mumbles, not even lifting his head.

“Some kids, like Twist, have candy cutie marks. Stuff like that’s done to show the foals that even a small or simple talent can have large scale uses.” The nurse says.

“I don’t remember that episode.” Henry huffs, “Must have missed it.”

“May I touch you?” The nurse asks.

“Pardon?”

“I’m asking permission to touch, I don’t want to invade your personal space without asking.” The nurse says.

“I guess… this is why I hate being a unicorn. So many in need, I could burn myself out trying to help them all.” Henry says.

Gently, the nurse puts her hand on his mane, starting to stroke it gently. She knows just where to scratch to help relax him. “Being a pony isn’t easy. Even in Equestria it’s probably hard.”

“Being forced to be a pony though…” Henry says.

“Every pony you know was forced to be a pony. They were forced to be a human without memory for twenty-five years, then they were forced to be a pony again, no matter how they felt about it.” The nurse says.

“I know, but that’s because of the curse.” Henry says, looking up at the nurse.

“Does it matter the cause? Probably every pony around understands what you’re going though in some way or another.” Gently, she scratches behind his ear, causing him to close his eyes and tilt his head.

“And that’s supposed to make me feel better? Ok the scratching, maybe…” Henry says with a little smile.

Shaking her head the nurse sighs, “Nope just helping you realize that you’re not alone. Unlike others though, you get to go back to being human soon. Some have to either wait for the next gate opening, or find other ways to cope.”

“If I didn’t know better I’d say you were a pony yourself.” Henry says with a sigh, “You… feel… like one.”

“Pardon?” The Nurse says, blinking.

“You… oh I can’t explain it, you just… feel… different.” Henry says and glances up at a pegasus who walks in and gets a coffee.

“Unicorn senses, you feel magic. Yeah, I was a pony, I went through the gate to help there, but had to come back because my family is here. I’m trying to convince them to come to Equestria with me.” She says, looking off down the length of the mess room.

“What’s your name?”

“Tenderheart,” She says, looking back down at Henry, “We worked together in Equestria.”

“Yeah I remember you. You did great there. The LT even pointed you out, but I think he was…” Henry stops, blinking, and he blushes, putting his head down. “Yeah, he was being a jerk.” There is no way he’s going to tell her it was to trick him into looking under her tail.

The banana yellow pegasus has a pink mane and tail, she isn’t even drinking her coffee. She just lay her head on the table. Her wing is bandaged tightly to her side.

Standing up, Nurse Harwell walks over to her, “Rosewing, you were told to stay in bed and rest.”

“Why?” Rose says, looking up.

“So we don’t lose where you are on the ship, so we can keep track of you. It’s more for us than for you.” The nurse says honestly, “If all the patients walked around at will, it would be a royal mess here.”

Rosewing opens her mouth to respond, but then closes it. She looks confused for a moment then shrugs. “Sorry. I just couldn’t lay there anymore.”

“Well there’s always the physio room, you could get some exercise, work out some frustration.” The nurse says softly.

“I know, you’re trying to cheer me up and treat me like I’m normal. But I have to face it, I’m a cripple. Just when I got to like flying.” She says, her eyes filling with tears.

“I wouldn’t say that. There’s always hope.” The nurse says.

“Hope? First, I get turned into a female pastel pony. I start getting used to that and flying, and then I get my wing shot up. The doctors said the damage was too much for them.” Rosewing moans.

Walking over, Henry sits and lays his chin on the table, looking at Rosewing, “How did it happen?”

“Oh, I have no one to blame but myself.” Rosewing says, looking at Henry.

Shaking his head Henry sighs, “Not what I asked, how did it happen?”

Grumbling softly, she looks at her wing, “They needed a volunteer to carry supplies to a trapped pony. While a faster flyer should have done it, I volunteered so they could keep providing air cover. I tried coming in as low and fast as I could but… a pair of RPKs opened up on me. I almost made it, but I wasn’t fast enough and got my wing hit.”

“Did you get the package delivered?” Henry asks.

“Yes, it helped too. I’m just so frustrated with myself.” Rosewing sighs.

Getting up, Henry walks around the table and gives the pegasus a hug. His horn glowing as the magic fills her wing, repairing the damage. Letting go, Henry takes a step back and starts to wobble badly.

“Henry, are you ok?” The nurse says, rushing over to Henry.

“I… I don’t…” Closing his eyes, all goes dark as Henry hits the ground hard.

*** Velvet ***

“That kind of attack is one of the more common ones. It’s taught in year two in the gifted school, most every royal guard knows it. It’s right up there with the Stun Bolt for common teaching.” I say.

“Any way to find out who or which unicorn was doing it?” The Admiral asks, leaning back in his chair.

“It’s possible, but it’s a ballistics situation. We have the bullet, but we’d need a gun to match it to. If we found the unicorn and got them to do another blast, we could match the magical resonance to that on the tank.” I say, “Sort of like magical fingerprinting. Even then though…”

“Even then we’d have to force every unicorn found since the attacks to do the testing. And that’s provided of course they don’t lie about not having or knowing the spell.” The Admiral shakes his head.

“At least it’s trapped on the island.” The Admiral sighs, “We can monitor and track any ships trying to leave the island.”

“Speaking as a unicorn sir, the ship doesn’t have to leave the island, just needs to be in sight of it. If they have energy blasts, they likely have the ability to teleport. So they could jump to any ship in sight of the island.” I say, shaking my head. “There’s international shipping channels that pass close to the island, fishing boats, and such. If they didn’t have a pre-planned escape route, simply jumping to one of those ships and hiding would work.”

“Sir.” The XO pokes his head into the office, “The Captain’s awake, the doctors say he’ll make a full recovery.”

“That’s great news. I’ll have to put a commendation into the Specialist’s file.” The Admiral says with a smile, “Best news of the day.”

“About that, the Specialist lost consciousness in the mess hall. He passed out after healing someone.” The XO says.

“Oh heck, Sir, permission to…”

“I’ll have a helicopter ready to take you there.” The Admiral says, standing up.

“No need sir. Permission to be dismissed?” I ask, looking quickly at the door.

“Yep, go see what’s wrong.”

Turning, I run out of the office and up the stair case calling out, “Make a hole!”

Carriers are huge, though the corridors are not actually all that wide. This requires people to press themselves against the wall during emergencies when people are running. Hitting the flight deck, I open the door with my TK well before I’m near it. This actually leads to the funniest look on a pair of Marine security patrol guards, as the wheel spins and opens but no one’s there.

“Excuse me!” I say, coming through the door and skid across the flight deck a bit, looking around. There are active air operations going on, and a little pony like me could EASILY get sucked into the air intakes of an F-35.

Zig-zagging across the deck, keeping clear of the planes, I leap off the side of the ship. Much to the shock of several of the crew. It isn’t my best jump. I didn’t have my legs curled enough, so I probably looked a little silly. I’m out of practice, though.

With a flash of my horn, I land on the helicopter pad of the cruiser that is steaming beside the carrier. My hooves skid slightly as I land and turn, running for the stern of the ship. “Excuse me, coming through!” I call out. Damage control teams are likely shocked to see me, but what can you do? Leaping off the rear of the ship, I light my horn again and teleport to the bow of a destroyer. The speed difference of the ships is making this a little tricky, so I have to keep running.

This time I run along the rail on the port side of the destroyer, getting up as much speed as I can before I jump. In a moment, I appear over the landing deck of the USNS Comfort and skid a good five meters before stopping and panting. “This is not something a pregnant mare should be doing.” I growl.

Even my daughter had problems with speed changes in teleports. The worst one was her flying full speed and then teleporting inside her library. When she appeared, she kept all that inertia and wiped out half her library, sending books everywhere. For her, the crash wasn’t the issue, it was the fact that she messed up her books that had her upset.

The flight deck has a Seahawk sitting on it, its pilot looking rather shocked as the ground crew pauses their refuelling to look at me. Honestly, by now, with this many pegasi and unicorns working in this attack and being treated on this ship, you’d think they’d expect stuff like this.

“Pardon me.” I say and trot down the stairs.

Running down the hall I stop the first nurse I can find, panting hard, “Henry, unicorn, where?”

Blinking, looking down at me, the nurse tilts her head, “I don’t know any Henry and there’s a unicorn in front of me.”

“Oh har har.” I say, catching my breath a bit. “Henry, the unicorn that was brought on board to heal the Captain of the Ronald Reagan.”

“Oh, him, no idea.” The nurse says, “Check with intake, one floor down.”

Rolling my eyes, I make my way to intake, yes it’s a hospital. The ship has nearly 1,500 staff, so of course they all don’t know everything. It takes me a few minutes to find out what room he’s in and I head there quickly.

“What happened?” I ask, trotting in, looking at the nurse.

“It’s nothing serious.” Nurse Harwell says, putting a cold compress over his head and eyes. “He’s suffering from Magical Exhaustion. He’s been healing too much.”

“I told him to watch that. He just changed, he hasn’t had any chance to build up reserves.” I sigh, shaking my head. “And he’s following his cutie mark.” I say giving his mark a gentle nuzzle.

Blue Lagoon sighs, laying her chin on his bed as does Rosewing. Both mares looking at Henry as the nurse puts a fluids bag up.

“This is my fault.” Blue Lagoon says.

“Nope, it’s not.” Nurse Harwell says, “Lots of unicorns go through this, tiring themselves out at a young age trying to do more and more. It’s part of growing up with magic.”

“Yeah, but Henry never grew up as a pony. He wasn’t cursed.” I say, shaking my head.

Rosewing lifts her head looking at me shocked, “I don’t buy that.”

“I’m serious, he’s a human.”

Nurse Harwell nods, “It’s true, he got his cutie mark in Equestria. For a human, he really does live up to being a pony.”

“He hates it, hates his color, hates the responsibility, I think he’s more scared of losing himself.” I say and lay my head over his foreleg. “Were here for you Henry, just rest.”

*** Henry ***

“I’m not a pony.” Henry repeats as he bangs the side of his head against the table over and over. Not really noticing that he’s not feeling pain from the impact.

The room he is in is dark, with only a single dim light bulb hanging over his head. The door is hazy, but he doesn’t care, he isn’t really paying attention. He’s just concerned with the chair and table which provides a convenient surface for impacts.

“I shouldn’t have to deal with this. I’m not strong enough.” Henry moans.

“Says who?” A voice says from the doorway.

“I say so.” Henry says and he lets his head rest on the table. “It’s just too hard.”

“You know, there are ponies that committed suicide, or tried to, when they found out they were changing?” The voice says.

“I’m not a pony though.” Henry says, “I’m just like this for a couple of days, to help out.”

Blinking, Henry lifts his head and squints at the door. “Who are you?”

The dark Alicorn walks into view and tilts her head. “I could get philosophical and ask what makes a pony.”

“And I could get medical and say a genome structure, who’s DNA belongs to the Equis family.”

“I’m Princess Luna.” The mare says, sitting down on the other side of the table.

“I know, I’ve watched the show. Which means I’m either going nuts, or something is seriously messed up.” Henry says, with a sigh.

Tilting her head, Luna blinks, “Why do you say that?”

“Because you’re here talking to me. You’re only supposed to deal with ponies dreams.” Sitting up, Henry looks around, “This is a dream right? Or am I in some CID Holding room?”

“It’s a dream, and I can enter human dreams too. Pony dreams, though, call to me the loudest. And while you may not be a pony, per se. Your dreams screamed.” Luna says softly.

“Let me guess, trust in my cutie mark, believe in my friends, don’t lie…” Henry huffs.

“Really now? You’re not a pony remember. Besides you already know all that stuff. Nope, stand up.” Luna says, standing up herself.

Henry blinks and looks at her, confused. “What?”

“Stand up, all fours.” Luna says, again, the table vanishing.

With a huff, Henry gets up, looking at her. He can’t understand what she wants, he isn’t a pony, speeches and visions of his past won’t help him feel better.

“Now, spread your legs a bit, widen your stance a bit more. Like this.” Luna says, spreading her front and hind legs apart into a stable position.

Henry blinks, then mimics her stance, looking at her. “What is this about?”

“Trust me, now then, once you get into the stance you need to relax, your legs have a rest while standing, you relax your muscles and the legs lock into place. Think of it as the pony form of at ease.”

Nodding slowly Henry follows her instructions, “Shouldn’t you be helping ponies?”

“I would but, you were so depressed and upset it was calling for me.” Luna smiles and laughs, “Okay, now then, Earth has magic too. Not as much as Equestria, but it does. If you close your eyes and relax you can feel it. Since this is a dream, I can help you understand what it feels like easier."

Closing one eye first, then the other, Henry relaxes and after a moment, he feels what she is talking about, the warm glow of ambient magic. It tingles around his horn, but he can also feel it in his hooves and legs.

“Most unicorns don’t need to learn this, as they don’t use a lot of high power spells. Unicorns though, that are constantly casting spells or need to cast really powerful spells, often use this. It helps offset their own energy reserves so they don’t drain themselves totally.”

Blinking, Henry lifts his head to look at her, “Why are you teaching me this?”

“It’s Unicorn magic 301.” Luna says, looking at him with a smile. “Celestia’s staff teaches her students how to do it usually in year three or four, depending on the course. It’s called channeling. Since you’re not a real unicorn, but have to work as one. I figured it might help to learn. So you don’t hurt yourself.”

Blinking, Henry opens his mouth, then he closes it slowly, tilting his head. “Umm, thank you princess.”

“You don’t need to be a unicorn to learn about this stuff. I don’t think you need to be a pony even to learn about it. Even if you never use it, you might be able to help others with it.” Luna says, “Every bit of information helps right?”

Henry smiles and nods, finding himself relaxing a bit. For the first time, there isn’t pressure or expectations. She isn’t coming to him with needs or demands. She isn’t even saying he has to stay a unicorn. Simply showing him tricks he could use himself or teach others.

*** Drizzle ***

“Streams, open the door,” Drizzle giggles.

“Nope.”

“You’re going to have to come out some time, what about food?”

“I’ll have it delivered.”

Looking up and down the hall, Drizzle smiles, “Come on it won’t be that bad.”

“That bad? That bad! Have you even seen what they do to people at those things?” Streams says and bangs her head against the door.

“I’ll take you out for pizza afterwards.” Drizzle knows the other pony’s greatest weakness.

Slowly, Streams opens the door and looks at Drizzle with a sigh.

“It won’t be that bad. You only have to give a ten minute speech, then there’s the thirty minute question and answer session with the press.” Drizzle says, putting her hoof against the door.

“WHAT!” Streams blinks, backing up, looking like she’s going to pass out and sits down quickly.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding, you won’t be expected to say a word. Lightning’s going to handle any questions.” Drizzle says, trying to look innocent.

Narrowing her eyes, Streams huffs, “Brat.”

"Okay, let’s get going, the medal ceremony is in half an hour." Turning, she flicked the tip of her tail towards Streams.

Looking at the tail, Streams bends down and bites it, grabbing hold. She doesn’t need to, but for some reason, it makes her feel better. Standing up, she lets Drizzle lead her out. A Valor Medal is a big deal. She is the first ever to perform an in air rescue.

Author's Note:

Art attack by Alkarasu

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