Chapter 27 - Unexpected Arrivals
"Hello, Sunset. Long time, no see."
For a long moment, all Sunset Shimmer could do was stare. She almost refused to believe what she was seeing, or that she was hearing native Equestrian for the first time in twenty years. "Star Singer??"
Star Singer's smile held a slight edge. "I suppose I should be glad you remembered me." She glanced at the gurgling crystal apparatus against one wall. "Teaching yourself biology? I guess I sort of left you no choice."
The shield abruptly vanished as Sunset approached. She sniffed the air before throwing herself at Star Singer and pulling her into a tight embrace. "Great Celestia, it really is you," Sunset said in a quavering voice.
Star hesitated before wrapping her fore-legs around Sunset to return the embrace. "I have to admit, I didn't exactly expect this kind of reception."
"Why wouldn't I greet you like this?" Sunset said with a wide smile. "We made a great team. It really saddened me when you ..." She trailed off as her eyes fell on the pendant. "Who's listening in?"
"Your niece, Twilight Sparkle."
Sunset gasped. "Twily? She's alive??"
Star gave her friend a level look. "Yes, as is the rest of your family, and the Princesses, and all of Equestria."
Sunset's eyes misted. "Oh, heavens, this is wonderful news. Equestria is alive. I can complete my task in time, so now it will stay that way."
"Sunset, wait--"
Sunset looked towards the runic circle. "Why didn't Twily come herself? I've missed her terribly."
"I asked to see you first," said Star in a soft voice. "I thought you might listen to me because we shared the same goal."
Sunset gave her friend a puzzled look. "I don't understand."
"Whatever you're doing, it's not needed. I was wrong. There was no dark age. The Princesses -- which, I might add, includes Twilight --"
Sunset smiled. "I knew Twily had it in her!"
"Listen to me!" Star Singer cried. "She and Princess Celestia -- and a reformed Princess Luna -- have been protecting Equestria just fine and dandy all this time. Not to mention there's Princess Cadance, and the Princess she gave birth to. I'd say that's a lot of alicorn power to keep Equestria safe for the foreseeable future."
"And was it just their inherent power that kept the dark forces at bay?" Sunset asked. "The fact that they had to do anything means you were partially right. Those dark forces did come, didn't they?"
"They were dealt with," said Star in a flat voice.
"And I ask again: was it their inherent power that kept those dark forces at bay?"
"No, they had help," said Star in a lower voice. "The Elements of Harmony are real. They're not just some legendary relic. There's a whole system of magic behind them that goes beyond just--"
"I know they're real," Sunset said. "I knew that when I scanned Discord. I'm glad that they had a use in propping up Equestria until a real solution can--"
"They don't need or want your solution."
Sunset frowned. "My solution? What happened to our solution? Everything I'm doing is based on your foresight. This is your idea, I simply took it to its logical conclusion."
Star Singer narrowed her eyes. "I never talked about transforming an entire species."
"At one time you thought it a viable option," said Sunset. "Or have you forgotten the preliminary research that we did into the matter?"
"And you told me you abandoned that approach! You conveniently hid all that additional research from me."
Sunset waved a fore-hoof. "You're evading the question."
Star took a deep breath. "All right, fine. Maybe I did consider that possibility, but a lot has happened since then."
Sunset looked thoughtful. "Tell me, Starry: how many ponies exist in Equestria?"
Star hesitated. "Uh, what does that have to do with anything?"
"Humor me, please."
"Well, there hasn't been a formal census in some time, but back then we had calculated it was around fifty million. I don't think it's gone up a whole lot since then."
"This planet has seven billion inhabitants."
Star Singer's mouth dropped open, and her pupils shrank to pinpricks. "Did ... d-did you say billion?!"
Sunset smiled. "Seven billion potential ponies."
Star Singer swallowed hard.
"Do you realize how much magical potential that is? That kind of power could have kept Equestria safe against any enemy, all without depending on ancient relics or unreliable magic that only deigns to make its presence known if events all happen to align the right way. It would virtually guarantee the survival of ponykind. That's the very thing you and I both wanted from the start."
Star Singer hesitated before shaking her head. "No, we don't have the right to do this. You're wiping out one species in favor of another."
"I'm doing nothing of the sort," said Sunset. "I'm simply giving them something that will help them be better than they ever were before."
Star frowned. "And you think these natives so primitive that you need too--"
"That is precisely not what I am thinking," Sunset declared. "On the contrary, they've done amazing things without magic, and they'll carry that knowledge into their pony forms."
Star Singer stared. "Without magic? They have no magic at all?"
"Not in the least," said Sunset. "Now do you see how this is for their benefit as well? What happens if one of those dark forces finds this world? This whole planet will be helpless. What would you prefer? A world of magic-less beings left unaltered and ripe to be killed or enslaved, or a world of ponies with enough magic to withstand any foe?"
Star remained silent for a long moment. "But ... but what about these amazing things you talked about? Don't they have some sort of defense?"
"Oh, yes," said Sunset in a low voice. "They have weapons that can vaporize an entire city in an instant. But they're totally blind to magic. They don't even believe it exists. They might not even know they're under attack until it's too late. Even if they did know, just a tiny number of those weapons I mentioned would cause catastrophic environmental damage. Wielding magic directly is a far more elegant and safer solution."
Star again fell silent, her eyes clouded.
"I'm honestly shocked at this reluctance, Starry," said Sunset in a softer voice. "I'm also rather surprised Twily isn't here herself. If anypony would understand what I'm trying to do -- and embrace it wholeheartedly -- it would be her. She had the intelligence to know what I was really trying to teach her."
Star Singer frowned. "She's the one trying to stop you."
Sunset hesitated. "I beg your pardon?"
"She doesn't believe in what you taught her. Her life took a different path after the Princess ..." Star trailed off.
Sunset raised an eyebrow. "After the Princess what?"
Star shook her head. "Never mind."
"What is it?" Sunset demanded.
"I'm not sure I should tell you."
Before Sunset could reply, magic flared inside the runic circle. She snapped her gaze to it just as the silvery plane of the portal opening appeared, its surface rippling as a figure stepped through. Sunset's eyes widened, and she stumbled back a step as her eyes beheld her new visitor.
"You won't have to tell her, Star Singer," said Twilight. "I will."
"T-Twily," Sunset said in a hushed voice.
For a moment whose silence was broken only by the thrumming energies of the portal, the two mares stared at one another. Twilight's eyes glistened, her heart lurching as she gazed upon a beloved family member she had lost twice, once by apparent death and once by spell. Sunset swallowed hard, her eyes beholding a pony she had desperatedly wanted to see grow up and become the powerful mare she now was.
Twilight stepped forward, but a shield sprang up around her as it had Star Singer. "You might as well lower this, Aunt Sunset," said Twilight as her horn glowed. "It will only take me a minute to work around your traps."
Sunset took a step closer. "Why should you need to?" she said in a voice as much pleading as it was questioning. "Surely Starry was wrong. You can't possibly be against me."
"Everything Star Singer said is true," said Twilight. "You don't need to do this. Equestria is safe and strong, and we can keep it that way without transforming an entire species!"
"This is not what I had taught you," Sunset declared. "I was sure I had convinced you of the power behind pony magic, that it is the only thing that can be relied upon. You're smarter than this, Twily, I know you are!"
"I didn't grow up the way you had intended," Twilight said in a softer voice. "Until just recently, I ... I didn't remember you at all."
Sunset gave her a confused look. "What are you talking about?"
"After what you had been planning reached the griffons, Celestia was afraid of the fallout. She didn't want to risk the rest of the world making war on Equestria. She cast a spell that suppressed all memory of you."
Sunset's eyes widened. "She did what?!"
"I never espoused your views because I never remembered them, not until the spell was lifted recently," said Twilight.
"Maybe that's proof that your ... our solution was never needed," said Star Singer. "Twilight and her friends have done amazing things to keep Equestria safe, and--"
Sunset narrowed her eyes at Twilight. "Are you telling me that you grew up not even knowing I existed?" Sunset thundered. "I was just forgotten? All my accomplishments erased like they never happened?!"
"I don't like it either, Auntie!" Twilight cried. "I was upset with her as well."
"Realize the the situation you put Princess Celestia in," Star Singer said. "The griffons had somehow found out what you did and--"
"Of course they found out!" Sunset roared. "I was the one who let them find out! I was desperate to force Celestia's hoof. You think I wanted to leave Equestria? You think I wanted to rip myself from my family?" She turned to Twilight. "From you? I loved you like a daughter, Twilight. I didn't want to leave you, but I did because I felt I had no choice!"
"But now you do have a choice," Twilight said. "You can take the time to understand."
Star hesitated before adding, "Sunset, listen to her. The Magic of Harmony ... just may be enough to keep Equestria safe."
Sunset whirled around to face Star. "May be enough? You don't even believe your own words!"
"I'm trying to, Sunset, because what you're doing is wrong."
"There is no right or wrong here, only what's necessary."
"There's more to Equestria than just pony magic and Harmony, Auntie!" Twilight declared. "It's not all about raw power. You're taking too simplistic an approach!"
Sunset turned towards Twilight. "That's where you're wrong, Twily. It is simple. I'm just sorry you can't see that, but you've been turned against me by a pony I once admired." Her horn blazed. "I wanted your blessing, even your help, but what I cannot accept is your interference."
The shield disappeared with a faint pop. "Auntie, stop, don't make me fight you!" Twilight cried.
Star's pupils shrank. "Sunset, no, wait, don't!"
Even as the words left Star Singer's mouth, Sunset let loose a blast of magic towards Twilight. Star turned her head away as the brilliance hurt her eyes, and she braced herself against a scream that never came. When the light died, Star dared to look.
Sunset stood at the edge of the runic circle, a char mark spreading across the concrete in its center. The circle remained eerily quiescent for another few moments, until a blue light flickered about its edge, and the low thrumming of the portal returned.
Star's mouth fell open, and she galloped up to the circle. "What ... wh-what did you just ...??"
"Clever," Sunset said in a low voice. "Very clever, Twily."
"What did you do to her?!"
Sunset turned to Star Singer. "Calm down. Nopony was hurt. I could never bring myself to harm a single hair on Twily's mane, and I doubt I would win a direct confrontation with an alicorn."
"But what happened?"
Sunset smiled. "She tricked me, and rather effectively. That bit about her trying to work around my trap? That was a diversion. She was trying to break the portal anchor. So was that the real reason you talked to me? Another diversion?"
Star swallowed. "I had no idea Twilight was planning this."
"She likely tried it from the other end and realized I had taken precautions against it," said Sunset. "So she had to come here to do it. Only she couldn't do it herself, as I would notice her trying to impart that much energy into the portal and stop her. So she used my energy instead."
"But what were you trying to do?" Star asked.
"I was simply trying to send her back through the portal and lock it down. Instead, she cast a spell that changed the energy to her own purposes and severed the anchor."
"And you stopped her?"
"On the contrary, I gave her a little boost. It will buy me time."
Star Singer frowned. "Time for what?"
Sunset levitated the Farhearing Stone pendant from around Star's neck and set it aside after casting a neutralizing spell upon it. "For me to convince you of the merits of what I am trying to accomplish here. Then maybe you can help me convince Twily."
The quiet of the mountainside was broken only by the wind that swept over the snow-covered ground and whistled faintly through the branches of the pine trees, at least until a glowing pane appeared in mid-air. Energy crackled and thrummed, and a tunnel briefly extruded itself into infinity long enough to dump two flailing ponies towards the ground before closing with a low boom that echoed into the distance.
The ponies had little time to react before striking the ground, tumbling down the steep gradient another dozen pony-lengths before landing in two colored heaps, snow crusting their fur and hair. A pair of saddlebags landed a short distance away, sending up another puff of snow. They remained still for another few moments, breathing heavily, until the lighter colored one rose to her hooves and frowned. Starlight glanced up at where the portal had been and muttered, "It'll follow the contour of the land. Right."
"Oh, stop complaining," said Twilight as she stood. She shook herself and then her wings. "It was only a short distance. At least we made it in one piece."
"No thanks to your wild scheme."
Twilight stepped up to the fallen saddlebags, hooves crunching against the snow. "There was nothing wild about it. I had planned from the start to break the anchor. I simply had to adapt my methods." Twilight looked around and smiled. "I almost can't believe this. We're actually standing in a completely different universe. This is amazing!"
"Look, can you nerd-out later?" Starlight said. "Do you even know where we are? And if you answer 'on an alien world,' I swear I'm going to slap you."
Twilight rolled her eyes as she levitated the saddlebags to her barrel. "Really, we should be right where I plotted the drift of the portal would take us." She lighted her horn. "Which is not far from the source of ... um ..." She paused. "Oh, dear."
Starlight's eyes widened. "Uh, is that a small-unexpected-complication oh dear, or a we're-totally-screwed oh dear?"
Twilight's horn brightened, and she turned towards the northeast. "The greatest concentration of transformation magic is in the direction I expected but, um, further away."
"How much further?"
"I had wanted to land us as close to the town as the White Tail Woods are to Ponyville," said Twilight. "We're a little further than that."
"How much further, Twilight?"
"More like half the distance to Appleloosa."
Starlight face-hoofed.
"It's not that bad," said Twilight as she stepped towards a break in the trees. "Soon as we get off this mountain, I can teleport us short distances over level ... terrain ... er ..." Her gaze swept a landscape filled with more snow-capped and densely-forested mountains. "Oh, dear."
"Great," Starlight muttered. "Sunset just had to start her apocalypse in the most mountainous place on the planet."
"Actually, if this world is as geologically active as the old exploration reports indicated, I would expect it capable of even rougher terrain in tectonically--"
"I didn't ask for a geology lesson!" Starlight exclaimed. "What I want to know is, what the hay happened?"
Twilight checked the contents of the saddlebags for damage. "Aunt Sunset had just enough time to realize what I had done, and she pushed the portal endpoint further way to delay us."
"Well, congratulate her, then, because it worked spectacularly."
"Starlight, calm down," Twilight declared. "We need to get moving to have any hope of getting to Aunt Sunset and stopping this."
"If we can, now that she has Star Singer helping her."
"We don't know that."
"Oh, come on," Starlight said. "You heard yourself how wishy-washy she was getting at the end. I knew this was a bad idea from the start."
"And if we hadn't sent her first, I would never have had the chance to work out how to break the anchor," said Twilight. "That's part of what swayed me in favor of letting her go first. She bought me valuable time to craft the proper spell."
Starlight sighed. "I suppose you're right." Her horn glowed as she cast a spell to dry off her fur and hair. "Though you're lucky you had enough time to fetch me and the supplies."
"Luck had nothing to do with it," said Twilight. "I specifically wanted Aunt Sunset to think I'm alone and unprepared. We need to press whatever advantage we can get. Now, let's go."
Eileen awoke from a deep slumber and stared up from the sofa at an unfamiliar ceiling. It took her a few moments to remember she was not in her apartment in Denver. She rubbed her grainy eyes before touching her forehead. She was cooler than she had been the night before -- what she could remember of it once the police had brought her to the house -- but the rest of her felt stifling hot and sweaty. She kicked the covers back, still in the clothes she had worn the day before.
She groaned and forced herself to sit up as footsteps descended the stairs behind her. "Are you all right?" came Sarah's voice.
Eileen frowned. "Like you care, sis. Why even check on me?"
"I, uh, heard you moving around and thought you might be awake."
"I won't be awake for another few hours," Eileen murmured as she heard Sarah walk around the edge of the sofa.
"Then maybe you'll be kind enough to take a cold shower. Our water heater is temperamental. The kids are sleeping in this morning due to school being closed, so you'll have it to yourself."
Eileen lifted her gaze. "I'm touched by your ..." She trailed off and stared.
Sarah looked flustered for a moment at the scrutiny. She folded her arms, her orange-furred equine ears drawing back slightly. "Something wrong?"
"The fuck am I seeing?" Eileen muttered.
"This is what you wanted, right? To be in the middle of all this? Well, congratulations, now you are."
"They didn't say anything about this!"
"Keep your voice down, please," said Sarah. "I don't want you waking the kids. Also, these things are sensitive to noise, and I already have a headache I can't get rid of."
"You didn't have this last night," said Eileen. "No one did."
"Laura is worse," said Sarah. "She just didn't want to deal with the angst, so she stayed in her room. She had no idea you'd stagger in about to drop. The police wanted to take you to the hospital."
Eileen frowned and forced herself to her feet. "I'm fine."
"Yes, now, after a night's sleep. What would've happened had you succeeded in your stupid scheme? I doubt you could've driven safely."
"I don't need a fucking lecture from you," Eileen said as she turned away.
"I just want to impress upon you how ill-conceived this was," said Sarah. "You didn't do your son any good. He had to see you like this, so sick you almost collapsed."
"Then maybe he knows I actually care for him," Eileen murmured. "You know what? I give in. You win again. I was stupid. That's what you want to hear, right? That you can be ten times the mother I could ever be?"
Sarah hesitated. "That's not what I mean."
Eileen turned towards her. "It's what you're thinking."
Sarah remained silent.
"Sis, you're all turning into fucking horses."
"Ponies."
"Whatever. You think I want that to happen to Bob?"
Sarah frowned. "You think I want this to happen to anyone in our family? Even you?"
"You don't have to pretend to care," Eileen said.
Sarah marched up to her sister. "You haven't seen Laura. She can't even stand up straight. We got another reverse-911 call this morning to tell us they're setting up shelters for those who can't care for themselves. As much as I want to keep the family together, I may have to take her there, simply because I don't know how much longer any of us can care for her!"
Eileen had no response.
"You don't have a damn clue what we're dealing with," Sarah muttered. "Everybody in town has been exposed. You spiriting Bob away would've done nothing. If he does get this, this is the best place for him, where they're already set up to deal with it."
"What are you getting at?" Eileen asked in an annoyed voice.
Sarah clenched her hands into fists. "You were the last one in the family that had a chance of not being exposed. Or you'd be the last one to get it. I thought that maybe -- just maybe -- this one time you'd rise to the challenge if the rest of the family is disabled."
"Well, I did!" Eileen said. "I'm here. I can help. I wasn't expecting this to be a free ride."
Sarah sighed. "And who's going to help Mom?"
"She's fine," Eileen said in a subdued voice. "The assisted care place is top notch."
"But who handles her paperwork? Who does her taxes? Who deals with the home when they have questions, or when they just can't understand her heavy Irish accent? You do that. How the hell are you going to do any of that from here?"
"There is such a thing as the internet, you know," Eileen said.
"Eileen, you know you have to have documents notarized half the time, and there are arrangements for her care that have to be done in person when--"
"I want to see Bob," said Eileen.
Sarah frowned. "I already said, the kids are still in bed. You'll see him when he gets up, and only if he wants to see you."
"What the hell does that mean? And since when can you dictate when I can or can't see my son?!"
"I told you, keep your voice--"
"Mom?"
Sarah spun around. A slightly pale Jenny stood at the top of the stairs. "What is it?"
"It's Laura," Jenny said in a hollow voice. "You better come upstairs."
Sarah's blood ran cold. "Not ... does she have ... are her feet ...?"
"Not that. It's ... you better come up here."
Sarah swallowed hard. "Eileen, get Harry, he's in his office. Second door on the right through that hallway."
Eileen glanced from Jenny to Sarah before nodding and rushing off.
Sarah bolted up the stairs and tore down the hallway, her heart hammering, terrible visions of what had happened to Laura racing through her head. None of them prepared her for what she saw when she stood in the doorway of her daughter's bedroom.
Laura sat on the edge of her bed. She clutched the remnants of her nightgown to herself, a ragged tear reaching halfway down its back. From the glimpses of her body around it, fur had spread up her legs and around her hips. Her feet were still untouched, though that was not at all what riveted Sarah's shimmering gaze.
Wings emerged from Laura's shoulders, the feathers the same sunshine yellow shade as her fur.
"L-Laura??" Sarah breathed. "Are you ...?"
The rest of her question died on her lips when Laura looked up. "I thought they said we're turning into ponies." Her ears drew back, and her wings quivered. "Ponies don't have wings. What exactly am I becoming?"
Sarah hesitated, taken aback by the eerie calm with which her daughter had spoken. She finally rushed forward, hugging her daughter tightly. "I don't know, honey," she said in a quavering voice. "But I promise, we'll get you to someone who can find out."
Kevin had been asked the day before to move into a dormitory on site set up for all personnel directly assigned to the emergency to avoid any potential chaos that might spread to the streets as the symptoms progressed. It had said nothing about the chaos he encountered inside the clinic that morning.
Kevin had barely enough time to read the reports on Fred's condition when Sandra tracked him down. "Sandra, what's going on? It's like all hell has broken loose!"
"It has." Sandra grasped his arm and led him to a conference room, closing the door behind her. "There's been a complete explosion of new symptoms."
"I gathered that," said Kevin. "Does it have anything to do with the imaging that was taken late yesterday?"
"That imaging showed an unknown rearrangement of the shoulder and upper back in some patients, and an unknown restructuring of neural matter in the frontal lobes of the brain in others, as well as odd bone changes to the skull," said Sandra.
"And did it progress further?"
"Yes." Sandra paused. "Wings and horns."
Kevin stared. "Did I just hear you right?"
Sandra opened the folder she carried. She took out several photographs and thrust them at Kevin.
Kevin slipped on his reading glasses as he took the photos in hand. His lips parted as he was presented with a picture of a young male patient, a single tapering horn jutting from his forehead. The next was of an older woman who had sprouted wings, her feathers the same pale red color as the fur that covered her legs. "Good God."
"We knew something was in the works," said Sandra. "And these are only the people we just happened to have under observation at the hospital and the clinic."
Kevin sat down heavily in a chair, still staring at the photos. "What of Laura Tanner?"
"Her imaging had shown skeletal deformities about the shoulders. She likely has her own pair of wings." Sandra sighed. "This is going to hit the news big time."
Kevin took off his glasses. "We couldn't keep this under wraps forever. We have to share information if for no other reason than to solicit help from other scientists."
"We certainly need it."
Kevin leaned back in his chair. "Have we learned anything at all?"
"We've exceeded in expanding our repertoire of what we don't know," said Sandra. "Especially considering the initial test results for Mr. Turner."
"Genetics is not my forte, but I did look at the reports," said Kevin. "DNA is non-human but matches no known equine species. The test on the hoof scrapings said they found something like keratin, but not quite."
"Just like the horns are bone, but not quite, and the feathers are similar to what we would expect from an avian, but not quite. In every single damn test, there's some element we don't understand."
"Did the testing on me reveal anything?" Kevin asked.
"We're still churning through those," said Sandra. "Which reminds me, we'll need to draw some more blood again, as a few vials were misplaced. We did get through a preliminary genetic test. All we found was a mutation on a gene responsible for mitochondia development. We assume it's benign since there's nothing in your medical records about any related issues."
"No, I never had anything like that," said Kevin. "I take it there's no link between that and my immunity?"
"Not that we can immediately see, but we're still investigating." Sandra frowned. "You see what I mean, Kevin? We're not getting any answers, just more questions! We don't have a clue what triggers the start of the transformation, and we're running out of time."
"I thought you said we prevented this from spreading," said Kevin.
"I'm hoping we did, but new cases are still popping up outside the emergency zone. What I'm more concerned with is a report I just got not ten minutes ago from the contingent in Breckenridge." Sandra shuffled through the pages in her folder. "Kevin, you said in your initial examination of Laura Tanner that she took three days for the hair color to come in completely, two more before the eyes changed color, then two for the tail."
Kevin nodded. "Yes, that was fairly consistent across all my patients."
"The report from Breckenridge concerns some patients who have progressed to a tail. They said it took two days for the hair color and only an additional day for the eye color change. If this isn't just a local aberration, it could mean that later generations of the disease progress the transformation faster." Sandra snapped the folder closed. "If that's the case, anyone who has symptoms now will likely be completely transformed in less than a week."
Kevin's throat tightened as he recalled that day that he was told his wife's condition was terminal. His wife had chosen to donate her body to science when she died so they could learn more about the aggressive cancer that was killing her. "I don't want to abandon them to their fate. I've had enough of that in my life."
"I don't want to either, but right now the focus has to be on containment," said Sandra. "We have to keep these people in isolation indefinitely until we know if they're still contagious. It's likely only a matter of days before we're going to ask everyone in town to enter the shelters. It's the only way we can be sure to keep this contained."
Kevin stood up. "And what about the new influenza cases?"
"We tested them," said Sandra in a level voice. "Vanilla H1N1. They've agreed to be transfered to the hospital, including Mr. Turner's daughter, and they're undergoing aggressive treatment with antivirals. Assuming it's successful, we'll observe them to see if it eliminated susceptibility to ETS."
"What of the patients outside of Lazy Pines?"
Sandra shifted her weight. "Every last one said they had the flu prior to these symptoms."
"Sandra--"
"I know!" Sandra snapped. "But the fact of the matter is, influenza doesn't do this."
"You were the one who praised me for sticking to my guns," Kevin said in irritation. "Has that changed?"
"No. The CDC is still going all-out to stop this, but realize that even if they're successful, or this surge burns itself out, that would mean potentially another three hundred thousand people transformed if it is directly related to the flu."
"I'm more concerned about what happens it they're not successful."
"The only way a pandemic can be stopped is by a total shutdown of the transportation grid," said Sandra. "Aircraft, trains, highways, everything. Washington is not prepared to take that drastic a step without hard proof. That's not going to happen when test after goddamn test comes back with absolutely no variation between this and the H1N1 that ran its course during the first part of the flu season."
"That alone should be a warning sign that we're missing something," Kevin declared. "Janet Turner already had this season's variant of the flu."
Sandra paused. "I beg your pardon?"
"Didn't she tell you that?"
"She's been distraught," said Sandra in a subdued voice. "She's been demanding to see her father. We have her medical records, but she must not have sought treatment for her former bout with the flu as there's no record of it."
"I think this warrants further investigation," said Kevin. "Because if we find more cases like that, then that might mean that this season's flu vaccine is absolutely useless, and the CDC will only be spinning its wheels."
"Shit," Sandra murmured. "All right, let me see what I can do. It may be more imperative than ever that we find out what the hell is making you immune to it."
Star Singer narrowed her eyes at Sunset. "Why do you think I'll be so easy to convince, especially after the way you trashed our friendship?"
Sunset gave her a confused look. "Trashed? What are you talking about?"
"Nopony outside my family knew you were my friend, and even then I had to drag you to see them!"
"I did that to protect you," said Sunset.
Star gave her an odd look. "From what?"
Sunset stepped over to the apparatus. "I had no idea if my plans would be discovered. I didn't want you to suffer the fallout with me."
"You mean you didn't want to risk it getting back to you through me."
Sunset glanced at her. "Well, yes, that too. You know I was always a very practical mare."
Star looked at the apparatus with some interest and gestured at it with a hoof. "And just what are you trying to do here?"
"I've found a native who appears immune to the virus I harnessed to deliver the transformation spell," said Sunset. "I've obtained some samples of his blood to find out why. You can help me with that."
Star raised an eyebrow. "What happened to practicality?"
"There's nothing more practical than making use of the talents of a friend who unexpectedly showed up. Unless you have another point?"
"You should be treating me like the enemy," Star said. "I was working with Twilight to stop you. What if I do discover what's making this native immune and decide to use that knowledge to create some sort of vaccine against it?"
"Don't be ridiculous," said Sunset. "You have only the resources that I make available to you. By the time Twilight gets here, and you can get that information to her, it will be too late to do anything with it."
"You're that confident that you have everything all sewn up?"
"Yes. I've had twenty years to prepare."
Star Singer turned more fully towards Sunset. "I think you're underestimating Twilight's abilities, Sunset. She was the bearer of the Element of Magic. She was already considered one of the smartest unicorns in Equestria before she Ascended. When Tirek returned, she was able to hold the equivalent magic of four alicorns inside her and fought him to a standstill."
"I'm delighted to hear you prove my point," said Sunset. "Four alicorns, and still not enough to bring down one enemy."
"That isn't what I meant!" Star Singer cried. "You're changing the subject."
"Starry, I believe you when you say Twilight is powerful, and she's already demonstrated her intelligence. But she is still only one mare."
Star frowned. "What do you mean, only one mare?"
"I sensed only one pony traversing the portal."
"But--"
Sunset tilted her head. "But what? Is there something I should know?"
Star Singer hesitated. She knew Twilight and Starlight had every intention of traversing the portal together. She doubted that Twilight would decide at the last minute to leave her behind.
She remembered back when she had first heard that not only had Starlight Glimmer supposedly been reformed, but that she was actually Twilight's apprentice. That situation had horrified her, and she had struggled to reconcile her feelings towards it. It had taken actually meeting Starlight in person to realize that she never had completely made peace with it. Star still distrusted that unicorn, and now there was every possibility Starlight was on this world alongside Twilight.
"Is she working with somepony else?" Sunset asked.
"Not that I know of," Star Singer replied in a flat voice.
Sunset's gaze lingered on Star's face for a few moments before she turned away. "I'm not going to force you to do anything, Starry. If you want to help, that would be great. If you don't, well, everything I've accomplished was without you in mind. Your help would be a boon, but there's little you can do to hinder my plans."
Star raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going?"
"I have a more personal role to play in all this," said Sunset. "It's part of my plans to ease the pain of transition for these natives. There's plenty of food and water upstairs for you. I would not try to go outside yet. It won't be safe to do that for another few days. Then you'll be able to better blend in with the transformed natives, though I'll have to hide your cutie mark at first."
"You're just going to leave me here?" Star Singer said.
Sunset turned around. "I considered casting a spell that would temporarily change you into a partially transformed native, but I don't have time to teach you how to use their appendages. Trust me, fingers and walking on only two legs takes a while to get used to."
"And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?" Star Singer said.
"Mull over what I've told you, Starry," said Sunset in a soft voice. "I really want you to understand that this is the way forward. Ask yourself this: do I want to trust the future to ancient magic and relics that I don't understand and can't control, or do I want the assurance that comes with a pool of power from a massive pony population?"
Sunset vanished in a pop of teleportation magic.
Sarah hurried over to Laura's travel bag which had been packed several days ago. She sighed when she realized how much of it was filled with clothing that would no longer fit her daughter. She glanced behind her, where Laura struggled to adjust one of Jenny's old jeans to fit her better. Even something from when Jenny had been ten was almost too big.
Sarah's gaze flicked over her impromptu solution to Laura's new appendages. She had cut a blouse down the back and pinned it together behind Laura just under the wings.
Jenny entered the room, carrying a pair of worn sneakers in her hands. A wavy pink tail swished behind her. "Um, here you go," she said in a subdued voice.
Laura smiled faintly and took them. "Thanks." She dropped them to the floor and slid a foot into one. Her ears drooped. "They're still too big."
"They're the smallest I could find."
"Laura, try wearing an extra pair of socks," said Sarah.
"Can't we just take the car?" Laura asked.
"The first shelter they opened is in your school," said Sarah. "It's close enough to walk. They want as few cars on the streets as possible to let the state authorities through." She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Harold standing in the hall. "Assuming we're still going to the school."
"You are," said Harold. A thick blue tail emerged from the slot in the sweatpants that Sarah had altered the other day. "I just got off the phone with them. They still have space."
"Where's Eileen?"
"Talking to Bob."
Sarah's ears drew back. "I didn't want them--! All right, never mind, we need to get going."
Laura secured her sneakers -- still a bit loose even after another layer of socks -- and slowly stood. She winced as force of habit caused her to try to straighten up, and she nearly toppled. Sarah and Jenny rushed to her, but Jenny got there first and grabbed her arm, only to be batted about the head by a flurry of feathers from one of Laura's fluttering wings.
"Ack! Laura!" Jenny cried.
"Sorry," Laura said in a sheepish voice as her wings stilled. "I'm only just getting control over them."
"It's okay," Jenny said softly. "I just ... um ..."
Laura tilted her head. "Are you all right?"
"I just don't know what to say."
Laura cracked a tiny smile. "Well, that's a first for you. I'd almost welcome a comment about the Fae Queen." She added in a lower voice, "I kinda miss it, as strange as that sounds."
"Sorry to disappoint," said Jenny in a neutral voice. She looked up at Sarah. "Are you still going to stay with her?"
Sarah grabbed a coat from Laura's closet. "Yes, if they'll let me."
"Mom, I'd be fine by myself," said Laura, though her conviction was weak.
"I don't want you to be without family." Sarah glanced at the others. "Besides ... I'm ... I'm going to get the fur next, which means I'll be stooped over and will need help, too."
Harold heard the growing quaver in his wife's voice. He stepped up to her, and she immediately turned and hugged him tightly. "It'll be all right in the end, Sarah," he said gently.
Sarah wanted to say that there was no way he could know that. She feared that once she and Laura were in the shelter, they would never come out, at least not as anything human. The fact that the rest of her family would likely soon follow did not fill her with any sense of joy.
Sarah reluctantly broke off the hug. "We better get going." She turned to Laura. "Turn around, please. Um ... can you draw your wings in more?"
"I'm trying." Laura clenched her jaw as she exercised her will over the quivering masses of feathers. She managed to shrink them down against her back and sides, though they quivered with the effort. "That's the best I can do."
Sarah draped the coat over them and around Laura's shoulders. "All right, let's go."
"Um, wait," Jenny said. She stepped up to Laura. "I'm sorry about all this."
"It's not like it's your fault," said Laura softly.
"I mean all the fantasy stuff. I'm sorry if it ever made you feel bad. I didn't mean it that way."
Laura smiled. "I know."
Jenny hesitated, then gave her sister a brief hug before stepping back. "I hope to see you again soon." She glanced at her father's tail and her mother's ears. "I mean ... I hope you get better. That's what I meant."
Laura nodded once, but from the solemn looks on everyone's faces, it was obvious they were all thinking what the more likely way they would be together again.
"Let's go," Sarah said in a slightly choked voice.
"I wanted to see Laura off," said Bob.
Eileen closed the bedroom door behind her, her troubled gaze falling on her son from where he sat in front of his computer. "This is more important. Besides, you told me you never really got close to Laura or Jenny."
"That's not the point." Bob shook his head. "Never mind. What is it?"
Eileen stood with her hands behind her, still on the knob of the door. "I want to take you out of here."
Bob stared. "Mom, you can't be serious. The whole town is locked down."
"I just want to get you out of this house."
"What's the point?"
Eileen frowned and stepped forward. "You can say that after you saw Laura? She has fucking wings! Who knows what the hell else is going to happen to her!"
"I've already been exposed, regardless of whether this is caused by the flu or not. Can't you see that taking me out of the house won't change that?"
Eileen sat down on the edge of the bed. "I'm your mother. It's my responsibility to take care of you."
"The Tanners have been taking excellent care of me."
"And when they get to where they can't because of this thing?"
Bob averted his eyes and remained silent.
"Maybe I haven't been the best mother to you, but this is my chance to make up for it," said Eileen.
Bob gave her a cross look. "Huh?"
"I want to wipe the slate clean. We'll use this as a means to start fixing everything that's wrong."
Bob's eyes widened. "What?"
"We can start over," said Eileen in a softer voice. "This made me realize how wrong I've been. I knew I should've settled down, pick a course for my life, and stick to it."
Bob could only stare, dumbfounded.
Eileen's smile faded. "What is it?"
Bob turned away from his mother. He leaned his head against his hand on the desk. "It took something like this to make you realize that? If none of this happened, you'd still be in Denver?"
"Does that matter?"
"It matters to me!" Bob exploded. "This wasn't the only crisis that ever happened. What about all those other times? What's so special about this one?"
"Hey, this is more serious than you having a normal illness or a broken bone!"
"You're missing the point. What makes me so important in your life right now?"
"You were always important to me. Maybe this sounds weird, but the reason I didn't take you back was because your welfare is important. I knew I couldn't handle the responsibility."
"Then what's changed now?" Bob demanded. "What makes this event so damn special that you feel you can handle it all of a sudden? Or has something else happened that I don't know about that's made your situation so much better?"
Eileen hesitated. "Well ... it'll still be touch and go for a bit, but--"
"Has anything changed?"
"Not really."
"Then why?"
"I've already answered that," said Eileen.
"No, you haven't," said Bob. "All you've done is tell me things that are obvious facts, like you being my mother."
"Isn't that enough?"
"No, because if it was, you wouldn't have sent me here in the first place."
Eileen sighed. "Is that what this is about, that you resent me sending you here? That's what I'm trying to make up for!"
Bob ran his hand through his hair and turned to face his mother fully. "I think I finally get it now. You're not here because you think you can handle raising me. You're here to make yourself feel better."
Eileen's eyes widened. "That's not ... fine, maybe that is part of my reason for being here. Can you blame me for feeling guilty about this?"
"I guess I can't," said Bob in a neutral voice. "So I absolve you of the guilt."
"I ... what??"
"Just what I said. You don't need to feel guilty. I don't resent you. I don't hate you."
Eileen remained silent for a long moment before she said in a low voice, "It doesn't work that way."
"Mom, I can't be responsible for how you feel. That's too much of a burden to put on me."
"I'm not."
"Yes, you are!" Bob declared. "Or you wouldn't have tried to kill yourself coming here when you were still sick."
"That's what a mother is supposed--" Eileen started.
"Stop trying to prove yourself to me, it's not working!"
Eileen fell silent again, her eyes glistening.
"I'm not going with you just because now you're supermom who will brave anything to reach her son," said Bob in a lower but still tense voice. "I appreciate the gesture, but it's not going to make anything better. Really, you should've stayed in Denver."
"Is that how it is then?!" Eileen cried in a quavering voice. "You're okay with me so long as I stay away?!"
"I didn't mean that," said Bob softly.
"That's what it sounds like!"
"Mom, I would love it if you visited more often. The only reason I resisted Skyping with you was because it was a pale substitute for the real thing."
Eileen wiped her eyes. "Then why the hell are you rejecting me like this?"
"I'm not. I just meant you don't have to take care of me," said Bob. "You care about me, but you don't have to care for me."
Eileen took a deep breath and let it go as a shuddering sigh. "That's what a mother is supposed to do. That's what my damn sister has pounded into my skull every chance she gets."
"You don't have to listen to her."
"Like hell I don't," Eileen muttered. "She's the better mother, we both know that."
"Stop competing with her," Bob said. "Why do you feel you have to? You love me, you want what's best for me, and you realized what was best for me is coming here. That's what a mother does. That's what you did."
"Maybe it doesn't feel like enough," Eileen said.
"That can't be my problem, Mom."
"I thought you wanted to go back with me," said Eileen.
"I never said that."
"You implied it."
Bob paused. "If that's what made you think you had to do this, I'm sorry. It's kind of complicated why I was thinking that last week. I just don't want to see you hurt. I want you to be part of my life, but I can't be your responsibility."
"Because I can't handle it?" Eileen snapped.
Bob gave her a forlorn look. "I didn't mean--"
Eileen covered her face with her hands for a moment. "I know you didn't, I'm sorry." She stood. "I need some time alone. I need to think."
"I understand," said Bob as his mother turned away. He felt like he should say something else, but the words would not come to him. He could only watch as his mother left the room.
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Another fantastic chapter!
Always looking for more, that's just how good it is
This just got good.
FINALLY, LAURA GOT HER WINGS ALREADY!! THE GIRL SHOULDA DRANK MORE RED BULL!
Ponies After People.
.
.
.
I'm just kidding
I'm really wondering if Sunset either hasn't taken it into consideration, or severely underestimated the human reaction to being transformed en masse... She believes she's creating safety for Equestria. She may be creating, instead, the most deadly threat to ponies that ever existed. Ponies that resent ponies for being turned into ponies. With both magic and technology to take it out on them, too.
So...
the wipe memory spell didn't leak to earth ?
Because Sunset would notice it if all of people she contact had forgot about her.
..And it means that is Sunset cast another memory spell on people?
Hah, nicely done Bob! Eileen wouldn't listen to any body else. She doesn't hate her sister, but she resents her so much for doing what she perceives as the "right things" and what she can't. Like a wonderful foreshadowing of Laura and Jenny's future.
On a different note.
On the one hand as someone who enjoys MLP the thought of Sunset winning and converting the human race is really interesting to me. On the other hand, the thought of genocide for the human race does kinda tick me off.
I love your story and way it causes that conflict of emotion. Really looking forward to next week!
Would there be anyone changing into an alicorn?
(Probably the mayor)
Others have mentioned it before, but it really bears repeating: Sunset is making the mind-bogglingly massive assumption that the victims are going to band together into Super-Equestria once they're all ponies. Unless she has some backup plan of imposing unity on seven billion former humans, she's probably going to introduce disharmony into ponykind at a level that would make even Discord blush.
It's so utterly naive that I almost find myself hoping that her scheme succeeds so that we could see her worldview shattering in the ensuing chaos.
That is, unless this story takes the route that ponies are innately predisposed to harmony and that all the former humans are suddenly going to happily get along as ponies. That doesn't seem very likely, though. Starlight and Sunset are already prime examples of powerful ponies with questionable ethics, methods and goals (three if you count King Sombra, who was very much a pony), and that's just from a paltry population of fifty million. Imagine how many more there'll be once seven billion are added to the mix.
...
Nice work. I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for what comes next.
This is the part of the plan that makes no sense to me. That's seven billion potential blood enemies. That kind of power could conquer Equestria in a snap (assuming Celestia doesn't surrender right up front, which I can't imagine why she wouldn't, especially given her views on this whole matter), and force their best minds to toil away for the rest of their lives (or for generations to come, if necessary) searching for a way to reverse the transformation. And that's if we're feeling generous in victory. Which, honestly, doesn't seem that likely under the circumstances.
8097549
I was looking forward to this too. =)
It's like i've said in the past: Sometimes it isn't worth reaching into the fire for something lost. You only end up getting burned in the end and whatever it was probably wouldn't work any longer anyway.
Sunset, you're a goddamn idiot. Leaving aside the problems of seven billion potential blood enemies, how are they going to get fed? Especially when transforming the world is going to leave a big gap between the collapse of human civilization and the new earth ponies mastering their abilities that's likely to kill most of them via starvation?
I'm waiting for someone to point out to Sunlight that magic might be the source of the problems Equestria faces, and more magic, in a far less utopian world might lead to far worse outcomes.
Lets see:
Nightmare moon: Magic
Discord: Magic, and was reformed by non-magical means.
Chrysalis: Magic, magic and more magic.
Sombra: magic, and he was just a pony
Tirek. Anti-magic!
Starlight: magic and more magic. Was again, talked down, without magic. Also showed what a massive pony magic battle might do.
And...Trixie! Magic, and was talked down.
So in fact,, magic seems to be your problem Sunlight. We may not have magic, but no magic equals no evil magic.
Seven billion Sombras.
If sunset if going to die in this story or get put in a super prison. It needs to be by somedrom earth with a gun or some other none magical means. For irony and karmas sake.
Okay, lets asume for a second that Sunset is, and forgive me for saying this, retarded. I do not mean physically or mentally retarded, I mean willfully and trained retarded. Fine? Fine.
Now, let's consider the basics:
Humanity is suffering changes, slowly morphing into another species, in at least one area (Though, as said in the story, there are others). These changes are, FOR NOW, supposedly only physical in nature. In the case that this is kept that way permanently, the best this Earthly equestrians can hope for is acceptance, if not a good bit of revulsion and/or fear from the normal human you'd find on the street.
This, of course, has its reasoning. One fine and simple point is that humans are evolved scavengers turned predators (in a sense) turned top of the food chain: There is little room for gambling despite being open to have talks and negotiation. Humans are quick to resort to violence and brutal means to ensure they, or their faction at least, is kept on top. In the modern world this is usually done by politics, keyword being USUALLY.
Now, this also brings another problem: Humanity is skittish and has an unsanitary love for big, red, buttons. In the case of this sickness staying as it is, being located only in a few areas, with no more humans turning into ponies? The previous best case scenario, at least for a LONG time, may apply.
If more and more areas turn? Either extermination and cleansing, or nuclear fire may very well be a willing solution by at least some, if not ALL, countries. Humanity comes first after all.
In the case of ALSO mental transformation being the case as well as expansion of the virus? Everybody dies alongside the virus. Basically Warhammer 40K exterminatus for Ork spores would be the answer.
But now let's just asume for a second, for a split freaking second, that humanity also doesn't suffer of willing mental retardation, shall we? Let's think about Sunset's plan going through and changing every single human, male or female, young or old, healthy or sick, into ponies.
Why the FUCK would they hear her out at all?
Derpy didn't change mentally, at ALL. Our little mailmare only got the mannerism she does because she GREW UP WITH PONIES, and the only reason she wasn't asking for Sunset's still beating heart is simple as it is heartwarming: She is beyond freaking nice. That is something that seems to be abundant on Equestria. On Earth? On Earth the closest think to Derpy would still be asking for Sunset's blood the moment it is revealed who had a hand in this. The only reason she would ever escape execution, or at least life long imprisonment, would be promising to give a cure for this 'condition' to the humans.
Oh wait... She said she can't stop it anymore. Whoopsie!
But now lets go back and look at Sunset.
She is delusional, not retarded, nor is she stupid.
She has lived amongst humans for years, she has seen all they can do, and she has seen that humans can be monsters to one another for something as simple as a SLIGHTLY different opinion on how to fucking serve a sandwich. Does she expect humanity to NOT mutilate here if they ever find out who did this? Or does she expect the whole world to just up and acepta a new species (As the humans turned ponies will NOT be humans, thus will NOT be protected by human laws to the full extent, which many people will willingly abuse) that is seemingly absorbing them into their own? Is she seriously expecting for every superpower out there to not at least ATTEMPT to extinguish this, even if they have to kill innocents to do it?
There is genius, there is evil genius, and then there is madman. Either Sunset is not as smart as she claims to be, or she is so delusional that she may find herself dead, or behind bars forever, before this is said and done.
Oh, and let us not forget Equestria vs Earth, because if this goes on we'll have to see just how well does one world hold against another with a lot more people, a lot more technology, and not enough magic to use super weapons in there.
Just saying :3
8097607
Yeah, that really is the million bit question right about now. I really want to hear Sunset's thoughts on this - she might be crazy, but she's also cunning and (over)plans ahead. By all accounts she should have thought about it. It can't be "I never thought about that ...", right? I mean, billions of Ponies are all well and good, but how in the world are you going to ensure they are friendly ponies? How do you even plan to feed them? House them? Hell, even transport them to Equestria? Surely not with a gateway that handles 1-2 individuals at a time, unless you want to be at it for a dozen centuries? Or most of them simply dying outright after society breaks down and the world goes to hell amidst the panic and hysteria? The scale is way, way too big to be handled here.
Well, at least Twilight and Starlight made over. Frankly, once they see in the town how far Sunset already has gotten with her plans, their first move should be to try and establish contact with the local authorities. "Stopping" Sunset isn't really a priority at this point, as she has pretty much already done the worst she can do - the virus is up and about, and hogtying her and throwing her in the slammer won't do much to change that. Unless there is some phase two of her plan that we are unaware of. Better contact the local government and let them know what they are dealing with so they can start working on containment properly. Though obviously that has issues of its own ...
But yeah - mostly I am still feeling dumbstruck as to what Sunset actual endgame is supposed to entail. Nor is the fact that no number of "mook" ponies is going to help against the likes of Discord or similar. Honestly at this point her plan looks worse than doing nothing at all, because there are a dozen ways this can go tits-up, and just about no real payoff that I can see even in the best case scenarios. Sunset be crazy
---
On another, much more important note - does this mean we will be only getting a single chapter per week from now on ?
8097661 I am Sombra!
8097658 that's mostly self justification. Sunset is quite blind to the world around her if she believes making ponies out of humans will help things.
She got to our world in Afghanistan, for God' sake. We will kill each other over fur color and who has horns/wings or not. Religion will go crazy over that shit.
And we have an oh so perfect scapegoat in equestria. She should pray we don't manage to breach dimensions soon, else there's only war to be had.
Oh, and they can forget help. At least without delivering sunny for public execution. The USA is only 1/20 of the world's population, and if she thinks there won't be billions screaming for her blood she's going to have a bad time...
8097653 considering around 70% (I think) of what we produce goes to feed livestock, that's not a big worry. Earth ponies seem quite capable with their hooves, and a proper control of the spread rare should make it quite viable to adapt the distribution system. That is, IF everyone gets infected. That'd a bit if with Twilight on the case.
Hahaha, imagine it, 7,000,000,000 people-turned-pony marching on Equestria, conquering it and/or crashing their economy.
Also, imagine how big Tirek would have gotten with that much magical energy...
I hope Starlight gets to smack some sense into her. But that being said I hope Sunny comes around, rather than being killed or imprisoned for the next 1000 years.
And this statement is even funnier in light of the second half of the season premiere today.
The irony here? Had Sunset succeeded 20 years ago, that would have been that many more ponies with magic that Tirek would have absorbed. As stated, Twilight eas at a standstill. She was even with him. She would have lost. Sunset would be directly responsible for the collapse of Equestria and subsequent victory for Tirek.
Sunset has more tunnel vision than an ant colony. She's convinced that the only way to protect Equestria is to unwillingly transform 140 times its population in proud, mistrustful, and incredibly dangerous apes into what amounts to equine canon fodder for an unknown succession of world-ending horrors. Nevermind that even numbers like that would have been completely pointless against Starlight "Timey-Wimey" Glimmer, and might actually have given Tirek enough fuel to overcome the Rainbow of Harmony, she'll be lucky if her solution doesn't turn out to be the greatest threat Equestria's ever seen.
At this point, it might be best for Celestia to just walk up to the White House, tell them what's been going on and who's been doing it, let them deal with Sunset as they see fit (which is not going to be pretty for what amounts to the most successful biological terrorist in history), and slam the portal shut behind her.
8097699
This actually reminds me a little of The Avengers, when Tony Stark was trying to explain to Loki that "There is no throne." There is no possible scenario for this to play out where you end up getting what you want. But he couldn't understand, he didn't know how humans think, how our world works. That was his blind spot.
Something else occurs to me, though. By this point Sunset expected Equestria to be already conquered by Nightmare Moon. . . or Discord. . . or Chrysalis. . . or Tirek. . . etc., etc. . . The original plan would have been to motivate the now-transformed humanity to invade Equestria and liberate it from whichever Big Bad has it under an iron hoof. Sort of like liberating France from the Nazis. And if Sunset herself was ever personally held accountable for her role, that was probably an acceptable sacrifice, from her fanatical viewpoint.
If Equestria is doing just fine now, that changes everything. But the transformation is already in motion. All Sunset can do now is desperately try to rationalize it.
I hope Sunset's stopped soon and, hopefully, she will see reason. Considering that Kevin is immune, there will be some sort of attempt to develop a vaccine for the virus. At least, I hope so.
8097566
From the timeline I have seen in this story, it seems the memory wipe spell came only a couple weeks after Sunset's apparent death at the latest. While it could have reached Earth, Sunset would not have met anyone to remember her in the long term by the time the wipe would have happened, and since it suppressed memory of her and they thought she was dead, it might not have checked for new memory. But it is unlikely the spell would have even went to the other world in the first place. They thought she died trying to get to the world, so why bother checking there when you know she hasn't been there in the first place?
Thanks Sunset for probably causing world war 3.
I still hope it can be contained somehow but once the world thinks the USA have become a disease herd......
Why does everyone assume society is going to collapse if the infection runs its course?
Some farmers get infected, the majority don't. By the time some more farmers get infected, the first farmers will have been retrained.
Rinse and repeat.
Ad nauseam.
I'm not entirely sure that there is a clean fix to this. We can assume that stopping Sunset now won't achieve much as the infection is well underway (unless there's another phase to it that we’re not privy to). So the only other real option is containment, but as Sandra pointed out, even if the CDC can lock down on the remaining cases without a hitch (unlikely, as they can’t figure out how the disease functions) thousands of people will turn.
And if the ponies (ie. Celestia) try to explain everything to the government, I don't see this ending well. "Oh, a citizen of your country decided to force bodily changes through what is essentially a biological weapon? Yeah, she has committed biological terrorism."
Overall, it doesn't look good.
8097909
The problem is that no one asked to be a pony. The human body constitutes so much of our human self that it's near sacrosanct. If somebody drugged you and replaced one of your limbs with a bionic one, without your consent, you'd likely be pretty mad even if the new limb is better than the old one.
8097743 No, I'm Spartacus! ...I mean, Sombra.
Gotta agree with a lot of people here in some ways: while Sunset is a misguided fool, she's not exactly an idiot. Book-smart, certainly, but her problem is one of narrow scope, something which a lot of people have some massive issues with iRL. It's extremely easy to deduce when a problem happens, in many cases, but it's hard to narrow down the problems which will result from a solution. The 'law of unintended consequences' applies, and it applies hard... and no matter how great of a biologist and magical scholar Sunset Shimmer is, she is in no way a psychologist, sociologist, or anything of the sort. The way she handled Fred demonstrated that aptly. She doesn't have a good grasp of how ponies think, let alone humans, and this is going to turn around to bite her in the face.
There are two running themes within the show - well, more, but these are the big ones - which have been more or less pandemic: impulse control, and forward thinking. Sunset's run smack dab into both of those once again.
8097942 I think we get a good look into how close in thinking Sunset and Twilight were at one point (consider the Want-It-Need-It spell). Sunset put blinders over herself in her obsession, ignoring outside factors (personal freedoms, personal choice, free will, etc.) and blatantly ignoring humanity's penchant for violence. Humans are territorial by nature and we, despite our ability to adapt, hate change. Drastic changes like, oh, say being turned into ponies, would elicit a lot of outrage from the unturned population.
Let's not even think of the opportunistic governments who would probably use the outbreak of ponification as an excuse to step in and 'provide order and guidance' for nations most affected. There would be 'purification' programs because, let's face it: there are some governments out there, factions without souls and mercy, who would simply start up concentration camps and go Nazi on the affected populace.
Sunset Shimmer does not understand how humans think. It looks like she didn't even bother to brush up on human thought processes. We are bastards to our own kind. What does Sunset think humans in general would do if they figured out an alien species was slowly turning humans into ponies?
She's making a mess and it's going to take more than the Friendship of Magic to fix it.
War of some sort is inevitable because humanity, despite all of its great achievements, cannot avoid it because it seems to be the easy way out.
This is an unfolding tragedy.
Oh man. Sunny's going to that shelter to try and convince the sad, desperate people to accept their transformation. I fear Laura, scared for herself and her family, may fall under her thrall first.
Let's say Sunset's epidemic can be stopped. How do you reverse the transformation of potentially hundreds of thousands? That already puts a huge economic, demographic, and psychological strain on the US, let alone Colorado.
And this is before people find out they've been infected with an alien virus. When they do, it is going to be a bedlam.
8097942 Ah, gotta love the cobra effect. While trying to make better and safer Equestria, she inadvertently makes everything so much worse.
8097969
I think it's safe to say that Sunset doesn't understand how anyone thinks - I mean, it's not like normal ponies think all that differently compared to humans or anyone else. Hell, this exact same situation was bound to happen on Equis and why Celestia embarked on her memory erasure spree.
But Sunset either doesn't care or there is something genuinely wrong with her head and thought processes that fail to recognize social and emotional factors as a thing and thus fails to consider consequences and issues tied to them. I wonder if the term "idiot savant" applies here. In some areas, she can clearly be considered a genius. In others though ... it's like the lights are on but no one's home. In her own way, she's more unhinged than Starlight was. And has had a loong time to get entrenched in her own narrow little world.
8097969 The similarities between Twilight's and Sunset's ways of thinking, especially viz. magic being a solution to everything, are absolutely laid bare, though it extends well beyond those two: you can see that 'fix it with a hammer' and 'damn the consequences' in virtually everypony, including Spike. Rainbow's lackadaisical 'the faster the better'; Fluttershy's 'be kind, or hide'; Applejack's 'full speed ahead with raw strength', and of course, Pinkie Pie's 'fun solves EVERYTHING!' In Sunset's case, I think it's also been ramped up to eleven with the gambler's fallacy - where she thinks she's come too far to turn back. (Whether or not she's right...)
And no, she definitely doesn't understand either pony or human thinking, and she's discounting at least one massive, massive concern: Equestria has Celestia, humanity does not. That means those seven billion people would never be under a single, glorious, eternal ruler, and she's expecting that humanity, upon learning of Celestia's existence, will automatically kowtow and fall under her rule.
I do find it difficult to believe that she's discounted the fact that the gryphons, the minotaurs, the diamond dogs, dragons, and everyone else on Equus aren't exactly the 'behold the grace of Celestia' sort. Narrow focus, blinkers, et al...
8097984 - Hee. I'd heard of the cobra effect before, but certainly not named that. The tale of the rat catchers, via Wikipedia, now provides a more significant insight into why the Rat Catchers' Guild in Ankh-Morpork is so strictly regulated, albeit with the noticeable exception of one gnome.
8098029 What we have here is an obsession. Sunset is absolutely obsessed to the point where she has a complete disregard for any other opinion other than hers. She is so convinced she is right and everyone else doesn't understand the dangers out there.
She means well, but at the same time, what she is doing is insane. She might very well be insane because of her obsession with protecting Equestria. No other beings and their rights to be what they originally are matter to her. They're just pieces to her puzzle that need to be reshaped to fit her vision.
I feel as though twilight could have handled things a lot better, don't get me wrong not supporting sunsets plan or anything but honestly twilight's approach was pretty amateur, in theory her plan was genius no argument there but she really followed the same sin as sunset in the end, underestimating your opponent. in a moment like this every second should count and twilight just set herself back what? a few hours? she kinda dropped the ball here.
8098029
I wish I could remember which video it is (stuck on a phone for the day) on YouTube but the person made a case that Twilight has some form of autism. I wonder if that would be the case of all super powerful unicorns. I agree Sunset has made far to many assumptions here and is missing some very obvious red flags.
Okay... hopes quashed. Sunset is an awful, self-righteous bitch so full of herself that it's close to unbearable.
Yes, there are seven billion people. Yet. There won't be seven billion ponies for very long when all infrastructure breaks down, firefighters are gone, farming ceases, industry rots, nuclear installations and oil rigs and whatnot are left unattended...
Transform the population of e.g. London into ponies within a week and watch what happens when all supply chains break down due to quadruped disability. That's a lot of people left without food and water if they can't figure out how to do everything with hooves and magic really, really fast.
...
Okay. Maybe Sunset is just evil.
8097969
I hope it doesn't come to that. I've been enjoying the heck out of this story, and I'd hate to see it devolve into a cynical darkfic...
8098180
I would have put a "dark" tag on the story if I had intended that.
As others have correctly noted, Sunset is making a BIG mess. While there are still more details about her plans that the readers are not privy to yet (which will unfold in future chapters), she is definitely reaching for a goal she believes is in her grasp. Whether her belief matches reality is the real question.
8098052
I've been struggling a bit with balancing the conflict between Twilight and Sunset. The idea was to portray Twilight as managing the best she could with limited information. Sunset basically has a 20 year head start on her.
> a 1 chapter update
8097699
Yes, I had mentioned this in the author's note at the end of chapter 26.
Alright... now I'm really starting to get worried. Are there going to be... consequences to there being 7 billion ponies? Sunset just assumes that's going to be a good thing, or that it will even benefit ponykind, but what if the power starts hurting them? Is there some sort of critical mass, beyond which all hell breaks loose? What happens when the pool of power gets stronger than Tirek? Than Harmony? Than the sun? Her good intentions might end up ripping reality to shreds from being unable to deal with that many ponies on the planet at once!
8098229
Thanks. Just fixed it.
8098056
Sort of like top level chess players?
I remember reading a fan theory, long ago, that unicorns are neurotic, and they all tend to have some sort of mental hangup that they irrationally obsess and fret over. We've seen quite a few examples.
8097936
What choice does she have? She tried to suppress what happened with the griffons, and look how that worked out. She could conceal the facts for a while, she could delay it, but if anything that would make matters worse when the truth finally comes out -- which it eventually would. It would also be an abdication of responsibility, which doesn't seem like the Celestia we know.
8098252
Don't get me wrong, it's best for her to come out clean to the humans ASAP, but that doesn't mean that it'll be taken well. Sunset really screwed up Equestria's chance of a peaceful first contac, and I blame her quasi maniacal pursuit of her vision of a better Equestria. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, after all.