Chapter 28 - Plans
In contrast to the recent string of cold and snowy days, the sun shone warmly from a clear and bright sky as Sarah shepherded her daughter towards the school. The streets were devoid of traffic, thus little more was heard other than the tweets of birds and the drip of meltwater upon the sidewalks or along downspouts.
The coat around Laura shuddered, and Sarah grabbed it before it could slip off.
"Sorry," Laura murmured. "I'm trying to keep my wings still. It's like they don't want to remain folded. It doesn't help that I feel like I'm melting between the sun, the coat, and the feathers."
"Does it hurt at all?" Sarah asked.
"Other than feeling cramped under the coat, no." Laura hesitated before adding, "But my feet feel stiff."
"It's just the shoes and all the socks you're wearing."
"Mom, stop trying to soft-pedal it, please. I'm probably going to get freaking hooves next." Laura lowered her gaze. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't snap at you."
Sarah gently threaded an arm around Laura's waist. "It's all right."
Laura frowned as her wings quivered again. "I was already trying to figure out what to do with fur, and now I have feathers. Am I expected to preen these things?"
"I'm sure they can help you with that," said Sarah, not knowing what else to say.
"I never thought the shoulder pain meant wings."
Sarah took a slow, deep breath as she recalled the petroglyphs. She rubbed her forehead as her headache tried to reassert itself.
Laura turned her head. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine," Sarah said quickly.
"No, you're not. Your ears are drawn back."
Sarah forced a small smile. "I guess I have as much luck controlling them as you did."
"I know this is going to be hard, but stop worrying," said Laura. "I'm complaining, but I'm not freaking out."
"I have to admit, at first I was proud of you for taking this calmly, but now I'm a little worried."
"I can't explain it, either. I know this is unnatural, but it's like I'm getting used to it. Even the wings don't seem quite as alien as they did when I first woke up. I'm just trying not to think on it too hard."
As they neared the school, National Guard soldiers became more numerous, their stance disciplined but not tense. At the entrance, soldiers searched them before ushering them through. A lab-coated technician met them inside. "Remove your coat, please, so I can see the extent of the symptoms."
Laura blushed faintly when her wings unfolded as soon as Sarah had removed the coat.
He examined the wings and made notes. "Is this as far as you can stand up straight?"
"Yes," said Laura. "It feels like it's getting worse."
The technician nodded, made another note, and turned to Sarah. "Are you incapacitated, ma'am?"
"Well, no, not quite," said Sarah.
"We're giving priority to those with more advanced symptoms."
"I'm her mother. I don't want her to be alone."
"Yes, I realize that, ma'am," said the technician. "We're making exceptions for small children, but we have limited--"
"I'm going to have to come back again in a few days, and I didn't want to have to go to a different shelter."
"We'll try to reunite you with her afterward, ma'am, but right now, we're filling up fast."
A familiar female voice sounded from behind the technician. "Laura, is that you?"
Laura's ears perked up. She smiled and looked past the technician. "Sunny! Hi! Are you--"
Sarah suddenly gasped.
Laura's eyes widened. "Oh, my God, Sunny, is that--??"
Sadie placed a fresh cup of coffee on the technician's desk before smiling and pointing to her horn. "Just call me Sunny the Unicorn, I guess."
The technician sighed. "Miss Sommers, please, shouldn't you be inside?"
"Hey, I begged for the privilege of volunteering to help for as long as I can move around," said Sadie. "Unless you want to go the rest of the day without coffee."
Sarah swallowed hard as she stared at Sadie's forehead before slowly rubbing her own.
The technician glanced at Sarah. "I just don't want to scare people any more than they already are."
"I'm not scared," said Sarah stiffly. She forced a small smile and nodded to Sadie. "It's nice to see you again. Maybe you can help convince him to let me stay with Laura."
"I'm really sorry, but I don't have quite that much influence," said Sadie. "But if it helps any, I'm not just a worker here, I'm an inmate as well."
"Must you refer to yourself as an inmate?" the technician muttered.
"You have absolutely no sense of humor," Sadie scoffed. "Anyway, as I was saying, I can keep an eye on Laura if you like."
Laura spun around to face her mother, her wings flaring out, forcing the technician to back away to avoid a face full of feathers. "Mom, I'll be all right. I really like Sunny, and he said they'll reunite us."
"We'll try," the technician emphasized.
Sarah was momentarily distracted, as this was the first time she had seen the full spread of her daughter's wings. Why did they suddenly seem so normal for a moment? "I guess I don't have any choice."
"We're doing the best we can considering the circumstances," said the technician.
Sarah nodded. "I know." Her eyes glistened as she hugged her daughter tightly.
Laura smiled and ducked her head, the warmth of her mother's body sending a wave of relaxation through her. "I'll be fine, Mom."
Sarah also felt a sense of contentment that managed to blunt some of her worry. She even smiled at Laura as they broke off the embrace.
"Miss Tanner, after you get settled in, please report to one of the physicians," said the technician. "They'll give you a basic physical and ask you questions about your symptoms."
"All right," said Laura as she refolded her wings.
"I'll show her the way," said Sadie, holding out her hand.
Laura smiled as she took Sadie's hand. She turned and gave her mother a hopeful look before being led away.
"We would have had to come here during winter," Starlight grumbled as they plodded through the snow.
"It's more like early spring, I think," said Twilight. "We're just at a higher elevation."
"I'd rather it be summer like it was back in Equestria."
"We can't expect the time of year to line up perfectly."
Starlight glanced up and squinted at the sun. "Or time of day. It was late afternoon when we left." Starlight pointed a hoof off to the side. "If that direction is east, I don't think it's quite midday yet. We're going to be exhausted before nightfall."
Twilight sighed. "I know, it's going to be slow going at first. Perhaps at dusk I can fly up and get the lay of the land better. I'd be less likely to be spotted then."
"Wouldn't they just mistake you for a bird?" Starlight asked.
"It depends on whether any natives have completely transformed yet," said Twilight. "It's hard to tell from this distance." Her ears swiveled. "I'm hearing flowing water. We should go that way and see if it's safe to drink in case we need to replenish our supplies."
"I really don't want to be on this world that long," said Starlight as she followed.
"I know, but if these natives don't have control over their weather, their settlements would be near water, like the ancient pony tribes before they learned to use magic." Twilight smiled faintly. "Besides, I'm trying to treat this as an opportunity to learn about a new world."
"You just want to do some grand Princess-of-Frienshipy-thing."
"No matter what the outcome, there's going to be a lot of fallout," said Twilight. "I'm going to do everything in my power to establish peaceful diplomatic relations with this world." She paused before adding in a more solemn voice. "I need something to look forward to."
Starlight raised an eyebrow. "Is it me, or did your enthusiasm for this lark start taking a nosedive?"
Twilight lowered her gaze. "Starlight, I'm not seeing a lot of hope right now of convincing my aunt that she's wrong. You heard how adamant she was about pursuing this, even in light of the fact that Equestria is alive and well."
"I have to admit, it's kinda scary how much Sunset is like me," said Starlight. "Or the way I used to be. I started having misgivings about what I was doing before we got to that wasteland timeline. I just couldn't look beyond the end of my own muzzle. I had the 'right' solution, and nopony was going to tell me otherwise. I don't even have the luxury of falling back on some 'noble' purpose like Sunset thinks she does."
Twilight remained silent for a long moment before finally shaking her head. "All right, enough moping, we need to focus. We need to use this time to keep working on unraveling Aunt Sunset's transformation research."
"I kinda got to a dead end on that after talking to Derpy," said Starlight.
"I've been thinking about that. Did Derpy give you any more explanation about that object that Aunt Sunset placed in her room when she was transforming?"
"Not past the vague description she gave me. I didn't really think anything of it at the time. Just something to calm her down. Why?"
"I keep thinking that whatever she placed in Derpy's room, it had something to do with the transformation itself," said Twilight.
"Well, what would be 'glowy, sparkly, and crystally' that could possibly have anything to do with this?"
Twilight looked thoughtful for a few moments before she suddenly exclaimed, "A mana battery!"
Starlight blinked. "Huh? You mean like the ones you hooked up to the portal?"
"Yes! What Derpy described is how such a device would appear to somepony not versed in high magic. Remember how we were wondering where all that excess magic was going until the transformation started? What if Aunt Sunset had placed a mana battery in the room for that purpose?"
Starlight slowly nodded. "Okay, I follow you that far, but how would that be practical on a larger scale? I think the natives would notice if these odd devices started popping up everywhere."
"That would be the next part of the puzzle we need to solve," said Twilight.
After navigating a steep embankment via Twilight's wings and Starlight's self-levitation spell, they came upon a stream. On the other side was the edge of thick evergreen woods. Twilight dipped her head towards the water, her horn glowing. "There's some trace minerals and a few chemicals I can't immediately identify, but nothing I couldn't strip away with a purification spell if needed. It should also take care of pathogens, though they're likely incompatible with our biology anyway."
"Water is water," said Starlight. "I'd be more concerned about finding something edible if ..." She trailed off and averted her gaze as she sniffed the air. She took a few steps away from the stream. "Twilight, I smell something funny."
Twilight lifted her head. "Yes, so do I. It smells vaguely like something burning, but there's another odor I can't quite place."
Starlight sniffed again. "It's already starting to fade." She thrust a forehoof towards the southeast. "But I think it came from that way. Should we follow it?"
"That will take us out of our way," said Twilight. "We need to be going northeast, assuming the compass spell I cast earlier worked properly and I determined magnetic north correctly."
"You said the native settlements may be in more level terrain," said Starlight. "Couldn't that burning be from a fireplace in a town?"
"That didn't smell like wood smoke," said Twilight. "More like some other sort of combustion. Still, I see your point."
Starlight shivered. "If it'll take us more downhill so we have a better chance of getting out of the cold and snow, I'm all for that. Let's go."
Laura almost didn't recognize the auditorium of her own school. The room had been bisected by prefabricated walls, the kind that were often used to partition offices into cubicles, in order to separate the residents by gender. The floor was lined with ranks of camping bedrolls, and at once Laura understood it would be dormitory-style for the foreseeable future. Near the stage was a common area where white-coated physicians performed examinations and conducted interviews.
"Looks like it might get a bit crowded," said Sadie.
Laura's eyes widened as she gazed at those who had already settled in. Some sported wings like her, others horns like Sadie. A distinct majority had neither, but most had the ears and fur. One notable exception was a middle-aged woman with no more advanced symptoms than cherry-red hair and the beginnings of a tail, but she clung to a little girl of seven or eight who had orange hair just slightly darker than Laura's, red-pink fur, and small, fluttering wings.
Laura smiled faintly. "When I was a kid, I drove my Mom nuts on camping trips. I just had to have my own tent."
"And now?" Sadie prompted.
"Now I don't mind it as much. I'm not sure why."
Sadie smiled. "Maybe just knowing there's more people like you."
Laura nodded slowly. "I guess that's part of it. I won't feel so much like everypony is staring at me." She hesitated. "Um, did I just say ...?"
"It's happening to me, too," said Sadie. "And I've heard other people doing it sometimes."
"That's really weird, but I guess there's nothing about this that isn't."
"Do you think you'll be okay from here for a bit?" said Sadie. "I want to check on a few things before I settle in myself."
Laura glanced towards the stage. She had hoped to spot Doctor Conner among them, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen.
She returned her gaze to the residents. Many were gathered in groups of two or three. Some were idly playing games on their cell phones or reading books. Others were napping.
"Is it just me, or does everyone seem really calm?" Laura asked.
"If I had enough of an inflated ego, I would say it was due to my fantastic talents," said Sadie with a grin.
Laura giggled. "I wouldn't be surprised."
"I take that as a huge compliment, Laura, thank you. Modesty forces me to shrug my shoulders and puzzle over it as much as you are. I'm just grateful for it, as I'm sure the physicians and soldiers are."
A physician freed up and gestured for Laura to come over.
Laura took a deep breath. "I better get on with this."
"I'll see you later, Laura," said Sadie. "I promise."
The examination didn't take long. If anything, it was a replay of the questions the technician at the entrance had asked. The only thing he did differently was draw some blood and take samples of her hair, fur, and feathers. She didn't care for that last sample, as he had simply yanked a feather out, which hurt more than she thought it would. The feather had come away with a dot of blood on the tip of the stem.
"Sorry about that, miss," the physician said. "We're still understanding how the, uh, wing anatomy works. I thought that one might be ready to come out on its own."
Laura forced a small smile. "It's fine. Are we done?"
"Yes. Take any free spot. We ask that you please keep the volume on your electronics down so you can more easily hear any announcements."
Laura nodded before heading away.
Had this been a week ago, her first instinct would have been to find a bedroll that was as far removed from everyone else as possible so she could at least enjoy some time apart before the place filled up. Her gaze did indeed linger on a spot at the end of one row, until she caught sight of someone who looked oddly familiar.
A girl sat with her purple-furred legs tucked under her, a thick tail of bright red hair curled to the side, an e-book reader in her hands. A closer look revealed a single stripe each of orange and pink maintaining an impossibly straight path through the red. Purple-feathered wings with red tips lay folded against her back and sides.
What caught Laura's attention the most was her clothing. The jeans had been neatly altered to fit her smaller stature and allow her tail to comfortably escape, and her blouse had been fit to accommodate her wings.
Laura remembered. She was the girl Laura had seen that day of the assembly at school, the one she had admired for her sewing prowess.
She had not realized she had taken a few steps closer to the girl until the girl's ears swiveled towards her. The girl lifted her head, revealing two magenta eyes. She tilted her head slightly. "You're Laura Tanner, right?"
Laura hesitated before nodding. "How did you know?"
The girl smiled. "You kidding? Lotsa people know you at school."
Laura thought back to the conversation she had with Tina right before they reached Preacher's Corner. "Oh, um, right."
"My name's Emma," said the girl. "Looking for a spot?"
"Yeah, I just got here." She glanced at the roll next to Emma. "This one taken?"
"Nope, it's all yours."
Laura nodded and set down her travel bag. She winced as her foot bent in a way it really did not want to go as she tried to sit down. "Ugh, I'm just going to have to take these off," she said as she reached for a sneaker.
Emma gestured to her bare feet, which lay slightly bent at the ball of the foot. "That's what I did. I can't get them to lay flat on the floor when I stand, like I'm walking on tip-toes all the time."
"You know what that means, right?" Laura said in a slightly quavering voice.
"Yeah, I know," said Emma softly. "I'm trying not to worry about it."
Laura pulled off her shoes and socks. She wiggled her toes and found they were stiffer than they had been earlier. "Um, so, how do you already know me?"
Emma smiled. "Remember back when they had the election for class president?"
Laura nodded. "My friend Tina had bugged me about running. I didn't, though."
"That didn't stop a lot of people from writing your name in anyway."
Laura's eyes widened. "They did?"
Emma chuckled. "The Principal wasn't happy about it, but, yeah." She paused. "You were also the first one brave enough to put pics of your tail on the internet."
Laura blushed. "Tina convinced me to do that."
"Still, you did it. It sorta opened the floodgates. There was no way it would be suppressed after that."
"You sound a little like Tina," said Laura. "She started talking about cover-ups and whatnot. Do you really think there was one going on?"
Emma glanced around before leaning closer. "The rumor going around is that the powers-that-be running this show think someone did this to us on purpose."
Laura stared. "But who would do it? And how?"
Emma shrugged. "Maybe the government knows, but they're not telling us. Or maybe they're as clueless as we are. I have to admit, I'd rather there be some sort of purpose behind this than just some stupid random thing." Emma grinned faintly and extended her wings. "Hey, who knows? Maybe these things will actually work."
Laura had not even given the idea any thought, but now it sounded perfectly natural. At the same time, she would expect Bob the science nerd to go on about wing-to-weight ratios being wrong.
She unfolded her wings and gave them an experimental flex, only to have the tip of one wing bump into Emma's wing. "Oops, sorry."
Emma folded her wings. "No worries. I just think it's weird that they'd be useless if I can already move these things pretty smoothly after just getting them this morning."
Laura slowly smiled. "Maybe you're right."
Emma glanced behind Laura. "Not a bad job making that blouse fit."
"Oh, it's nowhere near as good as what you did," said Laura.
Emma smiled. "Thanks. I'd offer to touch it up for you, but they took my sewing kit away from me when I arrived. Sharp objects apparently make them nervous. I have to admit, I was a little upset at that. I rather like sewing and ... um ..." She trailed off. "Well, you don't want to hear my life story."
"No, please, continue," said Laura. "I'd like to hear it."
"Only if you tell me yours, too."
"Sure, I can do that," said Laura.
Eileen sat on the back deck of the Tanner house, smoke curling from the tip of her half-finished cigarette. She had largely kicked the habit about a year ago, but she kept a pack on hand for "emergencies" like this, when it was either have a smoke or scream until her throat was raw.
She heard the patio door slide open slightly behind her and Jenny's tentative voice say, "Aunt Eileen?"
Eileen took a drag from her cigarette and flicked ashes into the tray on the patio table. Without turning around, she muttered, "Surprised that Harry's letting anyone in the family talk to me."
"He's on the phone in the office," said Jenny. "Still trying to get his father some help on the farm."
Eileen just grunted and nodded.
"I'm sorry," said Jenny.
"Sorry for what?"
"Telling my parents you were coming."
Eileen paused for a long moment. "No, you probably did the right thing. I'm sure Sarah told you that, certainly."
"Bob had already told them you had talked to him, so it wasn't really that much of a surprise."
Eileen finally turned around in her chair. "You want to come out on the deck? I don't bite." She held up the cigarette. "I'll put this out if it bothers you."
Jenny shook her head and stepped forward.
Eileen tilted her head. Pink hair flowed behind Jenny to nearly the backs of her knees. "Is it me, or is that tail longer than it was when I saw it earlier?"
"It's longer," said Jenny in a low voice. "It's almost full length. It got there faster than Laura's."
"I saw your Dad's tail," Eileen said in a subdued voice. "Didn't think blue was really his color, but what do I know?"
Jenny hesitated. "Are you mad at me?"
"Yeah, I guess I am, but that's my problem."
"I really did enjoy our Skype calls together."
One corner of Eileen's mouth rose. "You've got a fantastic imagination."
Jenny swallowed. "No, I don't."
"Huh?"
Jenny shook her head. "Never mind. It's not important. I wanted to ask you something."
Eileen took a quick drag of her cigarette and blew the smoke in the opposite direction of Jenny. "Can't be anything worse that what Sarah's grilled me about. What is it?"
"Do you remember my parents telling you about anything that happened to me when I was five?"
Eileen's eyebrows rose. "Making me remember that far back is a tall order, kid. You want to give me a hint?"
"Did they ever say anything to you about really bad weather? About a big storm?"
"Yeah, now I remember," Eileen said. "But mostly because Bob had been sick at the time. Sarah did say something about being worried about you and Laura. A tornado came through your block, right?"
Jenny nodded. "Did they say anything about me?"
"Just that they were glad you and your sister were safe. You certainly seemed so about a couple of months later." Eileen grinned. "I should've remembered that incident better, since it happened right before that time I came over for Bob's birthday. That was the first time I heard one of your fantastic stories."
Jenny's eyes widened. "The first time? Do you remember what that first story was?"
Eileen leaned back in her seat. "Hmm. Something about a powerful wizard who had the power to change the weather with a wave of his hands."
Jenny shuddered.
"He had an apprentice," Eileen continued. "But she was inept or something like that."
"She?"
"I think it was female. I might be misremembering. I figured you'd remember it better than I did."
"I don't ..." Jenny began, trailing off almost at once. "What else do you remember?"
"Just that the apprentice failed at some grand task, and he banished her or something like that." Eileen paused and leaned forward. "You okay?"
Jenny bit her lip and nodded quickly, her eyes glistening. "I better get going, Mom wanted me to finish packing. See you later."
"Sure, see you," said Eileen, though Jenny had already fled in a flicker of pink tail.
"Starlight, we found a road!" Twilight cried excitedly from up ahead.
Starlight galloped to catch up. "Will you not teleport unexpectedly like that?"
"Sorry, but I was too excited!"
Starlight stepped up to where Twilight stood at the edge of the trees. Before them, a flat and winding ribbon of packed dirt and snow stretched to the east and west.
"If we follow this, I'm sure it will take us over less rough terrain," said Twilight. "Even with magic, we still build roads and railroad tracks in Equestria over the path of least resistance when going through mountains."
Starlight stepped onto the flattened earth and looked down at a set of tracks worn into the ground. Each was almost as wide as her fore-hoof, and pot-marked with a repeating zig-zag pattern. "Uh, these don't look like any sort of carriage wheel tracks to me."
Twilight stepped up to her. "Well, of course not. They likely have different needs than us given they have no magic. They need to use technology to do the work for them."
"All right, so we follow it--" Starlight glanced to the east and pointed. "--this way?"
"That's the general direction we want to go, so--"
Starlight's ears rose. "I hear a strange noise coming this way."
Twilight's eyes widened. "So do I. Let's hide in the shadow of the trees."
The two ponies galloped back to the woods. Starlight turned her head towards the west as the sound rose in volume. Her mouth dropped open. "What the hay is that??"
A box-like metal object with four large, thick wheels labored around the bend as it rolled into view. It was taller in the middle and the back than the front, and the two glassy "eyes" pointed forward seemed to mimic a face, though the shiny metal grille and a small plate with lettering on it in between broke the illusion quickly. It kept to the far side of the road as it passed, a low growling noise emanating from the forward part of the vehicle. Its wheels threw up bits of dirt and snow behind it as it sped by, a metal tube affixed to the rear underside of the vehicle puffing faintly.
As it disappeared around another bend, Starlight took a step back out onto the road. "I thought you said the natives didn't have magic!"
Twilight cautiously stepped beside her. "I didn't sense any as it passed."
"But that carriage was moving all by itself. Nopony was pulling it."
"Starlight, we have trains that do the same thing."
"Yes, running on steam power. Where did you see a smokestack on that thing?"
Twilight considered. "The little pipe in the back?" She sniffed the air. "Oh, of course! Do you smell that?"
Starlight wrinkled her muzzle. "Kinda hard not to. It's not exactly pleasant."
"But it is some sort of combustion product," said Twilight. "They must have figured out a means other than steam power to run their civilization. This is extraordinary! They've progressed quite far since last contact. I can only imagine what other marvels they've come up with."
Starlight frowned. "Twilight, please focus. We're here to deal with Sunset Shimmer, not act as tourists."
"I am focusing, Starlight," said Twilight. "You can't deny that if we got our hooves on a similar conveyance, we can likely get there much faster."
"And choke on those noxious fumes? No, thanks."
"It stands to reason that the driver would be protected from it."
"Unless these natives can breathe it themselves as good as air."
"A very outside possibility," said Twilight. "Highly unlikely. The fact of the matter is, this road will probably join up with a settlement somewhere. Since we're already getting tired, our best bet would be to follow this road as far as we can and find someplace safe to camp for the night."
Starlight headed back to the trees. "Not to mention I'm getting hungry. It's likely dinnertime back home."
Twilight followed. "Let's get a little further along before we break out the rations."
When the call picked up at the other end, Harold heard nothing but coughing for a few seconds until finally his sister's tired voice came on. "Hey, li'l bro, you doing okay?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing," said Harold.
"All I've got is the flu," said Mary. "You've got bigger problems."
Harold pulled his tail aside and dropped into his chair. "Yeah, I know."
"I heard what you were trying to do for Dad," said Mary.
"Not that I had much luck at it."
"But you tried, that's what matters, and I made sure that old goat knew you had."
"Did it make any difference?"
Mary hesitated. "I don't know, he's been incommunicado for the past day or two."
Harold's heart lurched. "Is he all right?"
"As far as I know, yeah."
Harold frowned. "What are you not telling me?"
"Things are going a little nuts here, bro," said Mary. "Remember that dude I told you about with the weird hair? Well, more people like that are popping up left and right. I think Dad may have retreated into the bunker, so to speak. A lot of the ranchers around here and up near Grand Junction are doing the same. I've seen them patrolling their land armed with shotguns, like they're expecting things to go south real fast."
Harold wiped his face with his hand. "I hadn't heard of any of this on the news."
"Things are going too fast for the news to catch up, I'd say," said Mary, her words breaking up into a spasm of coughing. "Most of them are focused on your neck of the woods, and on the flu."
"I tried calling Dad, but he didn't pick up," said Harold in a morose voice.
"I don't know what his problem is this time, bro, I'm sorry," said Mary. "Other than maybe he's just plain scared of what's going on and won't admit it."
Harold covered his eyes with his hand for a moment. "How scared are you?"
"Terrified," said Mary in a deadpan voice. "They keep saying they contained whatever the hell this is. It's not looking contained to me, or to anyone else with half a brain. And the pictures that are coming out on the internet now are fucking surreal."
Harold turned his head when he heard the front door open. "What the hell?"
"What's wrong?" Mary asked.
Harold stood. "Sorry, I think Sarah came home unexpectedly. Long story, can I call you back?"
"Take as long as you need," said Mary. "Your immediate family is more important."
Harold wanted to protest that he still considered his sister and father immediate family but didn't have the time or energy to belabor the point. He mumbled a goodbye before hanging up and heading out of the office. "Sarah? What's going on?"
Sarah threw her travel bag onto the sofa. "They didn't let me stay with her, dammit! Said my symptoms weren't 'advanced' enough."
"You left Laura there?"
"I had no choice!" Sarah cried. "This is what she wanted, remember? She wanted to do something to contribute to helping figure this out. Besides, Sunny was there and said she'd look after her."
Harold relaxed a bit. "So what now?"
Sarah glanced around. "Where's everyone?"
"Eileen's sulking on the deck," said Harold. "Bob and Jenny are in their rooms."
"Do you have any idea what my sister and Bob talked about?"
Harold shook his head. "Bob won't talk about it, and Eileen told me in so many words that it's none of my goddamned business."
Halfway through his response, he had heard the patio door slide open, but didn't bother mincing his words. "It still isn't any of your business," Eileen muttered. "But you can both stop worrying. Bob pretty much told me to fuck off."
Sarah folded her arms. "I doubt very much that's what he said."
"The details don't matter," Eileen snapped. "It amounted to that in the end. You really did raise him to be your son and not mine."
"I would never have told him to say anything like that to you."
"Yeah, maybe not in so many words."
Sarah's ears drew back. "Not in any words! I never said anything openly disparaging about you if I knew he was in earshot. I let him decide for himself what he felt about you."
Eileen hesitated before looking at Harold. "What about you? Were you the same paragon of restraint?"
"I tended not to say anything at all about you," Harold said in a level voice.
Eileen smirked. "If you can't say something nice, right?"
"I'm not going to force you to tell us what you and Bob talked about," said Sarah in a lower voice. "If Bob feels he needs to share it, he will. He knows this family supports him."
Eileen stepped up to Sarah. "Tell me something, sis. What if none of this pony shit was happening, and Bob did want to go back with me? What would you have done?"
"Does it matter?"
"It matters to me."
Sarah sighed and turned away. "His wishes are important, but they're not the only thing that matters." She reached down to pick up her travel bag, and her wedding ring slipped off her finger and bounced about on the carpet. "Dammit," she grunted as she leaned over to pick it up.
Harold's eyebrows rose. The legs of Sarah's jeans pulled up slightly when she bent over, revealing a sliver of orange. "Sarah?"
Sarah retrieved the ring and whirled around. "What?"
"You have the fur already?"
Sarah stared. "I ... what??" She sat down and tugged a pant leg up. A ring of orange fur about two inches wide circled her calf just above the ankle. "That wasn't there when I woke up," she said in a hollow voice.
Eileen raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?"
Sarah looked up. "Harry, turn around."
Harold frowned. "You're not going to see anything more than you already have."
"Do as I say!"
Harold reluctantly turned, his tail swishing once.
"It's as long as it was last night," said Sarah. "That means it reached its full length the day you got it! It took longer for Laura. What about your ears?"
"Buzzing like crazy," said Harold as he turned back around.
Sarah's eyes widened. "Is this accelerating??"
"Um, it might be," said Bob's soft voice from the stairs.
Eileen spun around. "Bob? What did you mean by that?"
Bob frowned. "I'll explain only if you won't freak out."
"Bob, what is it?" Harold said before Eileen could respond.
Bob hesitated before descending the rest of the stairs. "It's started with me now."
Eileen's eyes widened. "What are you ..."
Bob turned around. A band of sea-green streaked down the back of his head.
Eileen gave Bob a stricken look.
"I had calculated Wednesday as the earliest it would start with me," said Bob. "It's two days early."
Sarah bolted from the sofa and pulled Bob into a hug. "Bob, I'm so sorry, I was really hoping you'd be spared this."
Bob closed his eyes. "Maybe this is for the best."
Eileen frowned. "For the best? How can you even say that?!"
"Eileen, that's enough," Harold said.
"No, shut the fuck up, Harry!" Eileen looked at Bob. "This is exactly what I was trying to prevent! This is what I didn't want to have happen! Maybe if everyone would stop treating me like a goddamn pariah, I could've stopped this!"
"Stop yelling at your son!" Sarah hissed, her ears flattened against her head.
"I'm not! I'm just--"
"Yes, you are. Just, please, stop it."
Eileen stared at her son's glistening eyes. "I ... I'm not mad at you."
"Yes, you are," Bob said in a quavering voice. "You think I rejected you."
Eileen swallowed hard.
"I didn't. You just have to get over the fact that you can't do anything for me."
Eileen let out a ragged breath. "I'm sorry," she muttered as she turned away and dropped heavily onto the sofa. She lowered her face into her hands. "I just don't know what to do."
"Welcome to the club," Harold said.
Star Singer turned her head when a flash of light behind her announced Sunset's return. Star turned around just as Sunset approached and said, "I finally had some free time and decided to see if you were doing okay."
Star raised an eyebrow. "You almost sound like you're truly concerned about me."
"Of course I am," said Sunset. "I still want us to be friends."
"And no demands on my progress?"
"When I said you have a choice as to whether you help me or not, I meant it. I'm not forcing you to do anything. That's not how friends operate."
Star's expression softened slightly. She turned her gaze towards the apparatus. "I've been struggling with what to do since you left."
Sunset smiled faintly. "I'll take that to mean you don't necessarily think of me as some evil monster."
Star stepped up to the apparatus. "It's taken me years to come to terms with how my life turned out. That was shattered the instant Princess Celestia released me from the memory suppression spell."
Sunset approached her. "You were deceived, Starry, by a pony who once claimed to wield a magical artifact that embodied everything she wanted from her subjects. It's little wonder she lost her connection to them."
Star jerked her head towards Sunset. "You know about that?"
"I gleaned a lot more about the Elements of Harmony when I scanned Discord than perhaps I let on."
Star frowned. "You seem to be good at hiding what you know."
"I may not be the only one in this room who's doing that," said Sunset. "I'm sure you've been speaking with Twily at length before you came here."
"You want to know how much she's figured out about how your transformation spell works."
"It would be nice to be informed of such, yes," said Sunset. "But again, I'm not going to force you to divulge it." She paused before adding in a more contrite voice, "I want to apologize for getting upset earlier when I heard about Celestia's memory spell."
Star nodded. "From what I heard, you're not the only one upset at this situation."
Sunset glanced at the apparatus. "I am wondering if--"
"Yes, I did look at it," said Star. "I was too curious not to, and you didn't exactly leave me with a lot of things to do here."
"And?"
Star's horn glowed as she examined the energies flowing through the crystal lattice. "This is a new biology to me, Sunny, and it's been a while since I've done this sort of thing. You likely have more advanced knowledge of these natives than I do. Even if I were ready to help you, it's going to take me time."
"Yet any observations you have so far would be of interest."
Star had discovered something, but had no idea whether she should voice it. That she could even contemplate doing anything to help Sunset made her question her own convictions. Perhaps she had placed too much hope that a short conversation would fix everything. She had wanted to help not so much for any sense of what was right as for expediency; Sunset was a part of her life she wanted to be over with, as it and her "talent" had caused her nothing but grief for two decades.
Sunset uttered a soft sigh as she turned away. "Keep it to yourself for now if you must."
Star whirled around. "I don't want to! I wish ... I wish this were twenty years ago, when you would've had me on board if you had only told me what you were planning to do. Maybe you still would've had to convince me, but I looked up to you. I idolized you. Instead, all you told me were vague ideas about exploring another world for potential colonization. All I saw was you abandoning Equestria!"
"I've made mistakes," Sunset said softly. "I won't deny that. I should've taken you into my confidence."
"Instead, you made it look like I was your minion. I was even accused of helping you fake your death."
"I'm truly sorry."
Star's eyes shimmered. "I want to believe that."
"Starry, you spoke of what I'm doing as wrong," said Sunset. "I will be the first to admit that I have done ... unsavory things to accomplish this goal. I've tried hard to minimize the number of beings I hurt. I modified the virus to eliminate casualties. I crafted the transformation spell such that it helps keep those affected calm as it progresses further."
"And that makes you think you can Ascend?"
Sunset raised an eyebrow.
Star turned more fully towards her friend. "Twilight told me you thought transforming the griffons into ponies would earn you Ascension."
Sunset was quiet for a long moment. "Maybe it would have. Maybe my work here will trigger it. It's not important. Why are you even bringing it up?"
Star narrowed her eyes. "I want to understand every facet of your motivations, Sunny."
"If I yearn to be an alicorn at all, it's only to facilitate my plans," said Sunset. "I expect there to be a period of turmoil before a stable worldwide pony society is in place. It's a daunting task, and if I could become a Princess to better lead them into that future, so much the better."
"You would rule over them?" Star asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
Sunset gave her friend and small, humorless smile. "Do you want to know how much it hurts that Celestia made everypony forget about me? Before that, I was willing to set our differences aside. If I had become a Princess, and Celestia had found me and asked me to give up this world into her realm, I would have done it. In a heartbeat."
Star remained silent.
"This isn't about me, Starry."
"What about now?"
"Pardon?"
"You just spoke about what would have happened had you not felt that Princess Celestia betrayed you," declared Star. "What about now?"
Sunset took a slow, deep breath. "I'm very angry with her, but I wouldn't hurt her, if that's what you're worried about. Nor would I depose her. I would simply provide Equestria with whatever magic it needed in times of crisis." After a pause, she added, "Celestia wouldn't even have to thank me for it."
Star was silent again as she stared at the apparatus.
"What about your motivations, Starry?" Sunset asked.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Why did you really come here? You didn't have to."
Star frowned. "I wanted to finally have a use. My so-called talent brought me nothing but grief. If I thought I could help stop you, I--"
"Or perhaps you thought you might rekindle that old purpose."
"That ship sailed twenty years ago."
"Yes, it did," said Sunset. "And now it's coming into port. You can be there to greet it."
Star narrowed her gaze but said nothing.
"Starry, this is the payoff. This is your talent vindicated. When I'm finished here, whatever dark forces you see will be little more than bits of paper in a hurricane. Your talent will have helped protect ponykind forever."
Twenty years of resentment over a talent that warned nopony and was eventually rendered useless by a bunch of strangers wielding artifacts that she still only barely understood boiled up in Star's mind despite her attempts to suppress it. They forced her to ask the question she had been desperately trying to avoid: what if Sunset were right?
"Why did you come here, Starry?" Sunset asked softly.
"I-I don't know," Star said in a low voice.
Sunset turned away from the apparatus. "I have to head back to the shelter for the night. Sleep on it, and let's talk more before dawn."
Star looked up. "About what?"
Sunset smiled. "My plans. I'll tell you everything. Nothing held back. We'll get everything out in the open, and you can decide for yourself. All I ask is that you don't make a decision before then."
Star took a deep breath. "You're asking a lot of me, Sunny."
"I know," said Sunset in a soft voice. "But I'm hoping you will believe it's all worth it in the end."
The western skies glowed a deep red behind Twilight as she hovered high in the air above the campsite that she and Starlight had set up some distance from the confluence of the dirt road they had been following and a paved road which ran roughly north-south. She tucked her legs against her body as much as she could, and a spell kept her tail fanned out in hopes of looking more avian than equine. She further hoped her dark coloration would be just a black silhouette against the brighter sky.
Her efforts to remain incognito were a double-edged sword; while it better masked her identity, it made it harder for her to see details in the landscape. Fortunately, she had correctly guessed that she would be able to spot the lights of the natives' domiciles. Even better, the natives' vehicles had lights as well, and they helped outline where the major roads were located.
Satisfied, she winged her way downward. The campsite was invisible to her eyes but not her magical senses, at least until she passed through the edge of the illusion spell that would hide their presence. Instead of a campsite, any natives nearby would see a bunch of fallen logs blocking the way.
Upon landing, she was welcomed by the radiant warmth of the smokeless campfire. "That's perfect, Starlight. I was concerned the natives would see or smell any smoke."
"Thank Trixie for that," Starlight said as she set out the bedrolls. "When it was starting to look like we were going universe-hopping, I had her send me a few things we could use."
Twilight yawned as she sat on her haunches by the fire. She stretched her wings to warm them better. "I've been able to plot a potential path for tomorrow."
"So what's the plan?" Starlight asked.
Twilight took a deep breath. "We're going to find the closest settlement and try to contact the authorities there."
Starlight cast some further wards at the edges of the campsite before joining Twilight. "I thought you were the one who didn't want to shock the natives."
"Being too cautious is going to delay us," Twilight said.
Starlight frowned. "What if they lock us up when we can't communicate with them?"
"I have a translation spell."
"Yeah, but it relied on first gaining somepony's confidence with your knowledge of Latin and Greek so they'd willingly submit to it," said Starlight. "In all the signs we saw along the roads, I didn't see either of those languages."
Twilight turned towards Starlight. "Then we may need a more direct approach."
"You have anything in mind?"
"Yes. If I can't get a native to understand me, you'll need to cast a mind magic spell on them."
Starlight stared. "Did ... did I just hear you right?"
"It's not the first impression I care to make," said Twilight in a heavy voice. "And it's only as an absolute last resort. But hearing Aunt Sunset earlier made me realize that you were right to worry that perhaps my judgment had been a bit clouded concerning her."
"I'm sure it must've been something of a shock," Starlight said gently.
"I never thought -- or more likely didn't want to believe -- that she'd be so ... so ruthless."
"Like I was," Starlight deadpanned.
"Yes. Was." Twilight stood and turned towards Starlight. "The point is, just our journey today has convinced me that we can't stop Aunt Sunset ourselves without taking such a long time that it won't matter in the end."
"And you think you can convince the natives we want to help?" Starlight asked.
"I take my title as Princess of Friendship seriously," said Twilight in a soft voice. "Being among aliens doesn't change that. That's our advantage, Starlight. We understand that friendship works, that it can be used to solve seemingly insurmountable problems."
Starlight smiled faintly. "Let's just hope the natives believe that, too."
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Wow is Sunset a manipulative old hag. I hope Twilight's plan goes well and they can work well with the humans to stop Sunset's insane plan. I see by the next chapters middle the centers being completely full and the doctors going into a full panic mode as it spreads like wildfire.
For example.. China .. XD
mind magic spell for.. communicate ..
nice
I think Starlight just tempted Murphy....
I really doubt it...
And I can't but imagine their reaction to R34. Because you can bet there will be lots of it.
Not to mention when things settle down and the porn industry catches up.
But then again, even with hooves, horns and wings we are still human. Let's hope that Sunset didn't mess too much with that, because else oh boy things will get messy fast
Speaking of things going south - and this is probably the result of being under the influence of DWK and his Totally Legit Recaps - but who's gonna be the first woman to notice that her boobs are headed in a southerly direction?
Although, I will admit that it's something I've been pondering for the last few updates.
True, but you probably saw a character set that resembled Latin, Glimmy. That should give you a basis to work off of.
...someone needs to put a bullet between sunsets eyes damnit
Good luck, Twilight, you're gonna need it. I don't think Twilight realizes that humans are alone on their planet, and that the sudden appearance of an intelligent talking horse is very far outside the comfort zone or experience of the species. How they react will really depend on what this community knows of the virus. If they think that Twilight is a transformed human, it might help her get close without causing a panic.
Thankfully Greek and Latin aren't too obscure, should be possible to find somebody who at least recognizes the language and can get a translator. I kinda want to see a scene where somebody just holds a smartphone with Google Translate in front of Twilight and establishes communication that way. Who needs mind magic when you have ~~Google~~?
So she does have some magical element for influencing behaviour, after all. Now, the question is how much control she's capable of and willing to assert in overriding any resentment and objections from the former humans.
8113146
Say, what are the odds of Twilight accidentally giving Google sapience?
8113203
Exactly. Those story tidbits really freak me out. It's one thing when one's body is forcefully transformed without their consent, it's an entirely different matter when there's mind alteration added to the mix.
If the former were to happen to me, I'd be really upset. With this plague, I'd go like everyone else has, 'oh, bummer.' Even though it's subtle it'd scare the living daylights out of me were I a character in the story.
And it looks like containment has failed so far... this won't end well.
8113203
This could explain why Sunset isn't worried about the transformation crisis sparking WWIII and destroying her new pony civilization. She must believe that with enough mental coercion, she can subjugate the human-turned-ponies without bloodshed.
I wonder if the end goal is to instill the exact kind of alicorn-worship into Earthkind as Sunset exhibited back in Equestria. Except they won't be worshipping Celestia, but Sunset, who will rule over them as a Goddess.
If the CDC can keep a stronger lid on things than people wont needlessly panic, because that's one of the next steps in a crisis of this magnitude.
8113312 there never was any containment. The government would have to close the borders down in order to contain it.
Right here with ya.
Jenny will probably be the one to accept Twilight and Starlight.
I'm wondering if the spell also has some sort of calming effect, making the subject accept the changes and suppressing the panic one would normally associate with humans having such major changes happening to their bodies.
We haven't heard of any suicide attempts, for example.
What Sunset is doing is evil, even if she doesn't think it is. She is doing something she feels is necessary without confirming her data. She's going on theory. So dangerous to do that and the backlash is going to forever put her name with the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Attila, and Mao (at least among humanity). She might not be killing people, but she is still committing genocide by shifting a species of ape into a species of pony.
It might be a stretch to call it such a terrible word, but this is the death of the human race unfolding before our eyes in this story.
8113780
Pretty sure that the quarantine put into effect on the town as well as the closing of the major routes count as a form of containment. Clearly ineffective, but it is a containment.
8113791
I'd say that the comparison to a genocide is warranted, depending on the extent of mind alteration going on here. I have been getting some major TCB vibes for the last few chapters and I am getting chills just thinking about the implications. I'm hoping to see Twilight’s reaction and that of the others when they find out about the mind altering that Sunset built into the plague, because unlike what another reader commented earlier, I think that it will encourage a violent response from the uninfected humans once they figure out that the minds of those infected are being tampered with.
Well, Sunset's still natty bonkers. I realize I don't have all the facts at this point in the story, but the rosy, utopian future Sunset keeps trying to sell Star with makes me think that Sunset isn't being very realistic about this. She has a brilliant mind, but it sounds like she's heavy in denial about the possible consequences. Sure she could ascend into a benevolent princess, beloved by all, whom Celestia has to prostrate herself before in humble apology before Sunset deigns to share some of the limitless bounty her subjects suffuse her with.
or...
A former human could ascend to princesshood, while the entire world hunts Sunset down for the monster that she is, until her bitterness at being rejected by the people she thought were going to love her leads her to do something rash and horrible to correct the problem of things being different from her expectations. Meanwhile, the unguided and divided humans descend into a hellish war that threatens the entire planet, and Sunset's only hope to survive and not see a whole planet of her hopes and dreams go up in flames is when the armies of Equestria come put the smack down on the humans who are abusing their new poniness. If not too crippled from the torture she's endured, Sunset will be the one to fall prostrate before Celestia's hooves, begging forgiveness, but all she'll see in her eyes is the unforgiving, burning light of the sun. Then Twi jumps in and makes everyone friends again and they sing a song and go home to have some cocoa and s'mores.
I am guessing the humans first reactions to seeing Twilight and Starlight is that they are just more transformed humans that represent unknown early infection and that they are simply crazy and that is a symptom too.
At least until they start casting magic though not sure even that will convince anyone. Wondering how long it is until the transformed start getting access to magic and using it by accident all over the place. That is going to be some chaos. The soon to be unicorns have their horns now how long till those horns start doing what they do with no one at all having any guidance or clue what they are doing or how to control it.
Ok, It's probably not what I think it is but....Are you hiding the identity of Sunset Shimmer from us?
I know the obvious answer is that she is Sadie, having access to human biology being a volunteer at the hospital. But is it too obvious...? A red herring so to speak.
The true identity being someone who is magically made to believe that they are human? Like a split personality?
Like I said that's probably impossible, but what if?
Congratulations, you have written Sunset as such a good villain I squirm whenever she channels Senator Palpatine. That mind magic makes what she's doing even more insidious.
I see no way that she can be redeemed at this point. She may die or just be imprisoned, but she has become too crazy and set in her ways to change.
I'm glad this Sunset is just a character in a story, it provides the detachment needed not to get furious at her.
There's like that part of me that kinda wish she end up in the deepest pit of Tartarus to rot.
I'm doing evil thing for good, so I'm totally not an evil pony, see?
Dammit
8113830
I hope that the end of your spoilered section doesn't come true. I would like to see Sunset get captured and before she gets caught she destroys the portal in spite. Then Twilight has to let the humans/former humans execute Sunset to seal a peace treaty. Sunset has crossed several lines and she certainly doesn't need to get forgiveness easily.
Unfortunately, they believe in using something else to solve seemingly-insurmountable problems. Namely, a combination of force, cunning, and ruthlessness the likes of which no Equestrian-born creature could even comprehend.
8114098
I think she deserves forgiveness. As foolish and destructive as Sunset is, she's only trying to help, and she made our transformation as gentle and painless as possible. I don't really think she's going to get forgiveness, because people are going to be all "muh humanity" but Twilight has pulled some miraclulous turnarounds before, so I think she might surprise us in her ability to find a solution that everyone can live with. If Sunset doesn't destroy herself first, that is.
8113830
I won’t lie, I'd probably stop reading the story if that were to happen. I don’t think that Sunset isn't irredeemable and I do see Equestria eventually forgiving her actions, but the American government would do everything to try keep her on their side to be tried in a court of law.
With all of the emotional and financial damage that the plague is bound to cause, I don't see her walking away with a slap on the proverbial wrist.
this chapter defiantly moves the story along to a show down, the question is who will the show down be with?
this is shaping up to be a case ware every thing can go sidewise really super fast.
8114406
To add to your comment, Sunset has already abused someone for 20 years, and only left them while using magic to alter their mind to accept what has been done to them, in addition to changing how they view the world (the anypony tick). Any forgiveness from this person would be completely worthless because of the mental manipulation and conditioning. I mean, they despise how they acted before, what if they associate Sunset with their cure instead of the cause of their prior state?
Really, the mental manipulation is what makes this extremely shady. I understand the good intentions behind it (otherwise, mass casualties would ensue), but it means that Sunset is incapable of being judged fairly by those she has changed against their will.
8114341
I agree humanity will not be forgiving of her and based off how the mane 6 reacted to Sunset's actions before she left I feel that many ponies will be exceptionally unforgiving of her. Now Sunset destroying herself is possible, I she her unfortunately ranting and raving as humans slowly close in on her and kill her. I can see the transformed humans being upset when they are freed from the mental manipulation.
Come to think of it this could be the reason that she is inserting herself with our protagonist family. She is going to use them to shield herself from the human authorities and Twilight.
Aaah, and there it is - Sunset's underlying desire for power and recognition. I was wondering if this would come up, and I'm glad that it has - not only does it muddle Sunset's situation up even further (the eventual untangling of which should be even more delicious for it), but I feel like it also sheds some light on Sunset's "what the hell was she thinking" actions.
No, I don't believe her to be completely insincere in the notion that she wants to see Equestria safe and prosperous, but one has to wonder where a pure desire for Equestria's prosperity ends and her own private ambition begins. She wants to be a Princess. She wants to be an alciorn. She wants to wield authority (of the sort that can be shown off, otherwise she would have been content being a magician in a world devoid of such things, allowing her to do whatever she wants from the shadows).
So how much of her current plan is based on genuine desire to help Equestria, and how much was the direction of her plan based on her subconscious desire to be rewarded handsomely for her efforts? Transforming a Gryphon didn't ascend her, like she had hoped ... so let's go with transforming a few billion individuals - up the scale and all that, surely that ought to work, right? One has to wonder indeed - when did this stop being about helping Equestria and instead morphed into Sunset's personal quest for princesshood, with the "help Equestria" bit becoming the excuse she keeps telling herself (and perhaps may indeed have convinced herself of it - self delusion is a powerful thing) in order to justify it, and not having to admit to herself that she basically transformed in to a villain along the way? One has to ponder indeed.
Recent revelations aside, I'm very much looking towards Twilight's attempts to making contact with the locals - as I'm sure everyone is. Luckily for them, there should be enough people gathered in Lazy Pines now that there should be someone capable of recognizing Latin. Or Greek, which might get them labeled as tourists, probably - ones with very advanced symptoms and all, but genuine display of controlled magic (especially to the degree and scale that Twilight and magical mary sue Starlight can demonstrate) should get them talking to important people quickly enough. How things go from there ... well, who knows, but I know I can hardly wait!
One thing I am a little bit confused about is - why are Twilight and Starlight taking so long getting to the town? I mean, flight allows them incredible travel speeds and Twilight does say that she wants to establish contact as soon as she is able - so being spotted isn't really a major concern post that point. So why not simply fly from the start and be in the town that much sooner, rather than taking the long and hard road and hoofing it?
And speaking of Twilight, good on her for realizing that she may have a (giant) case of rose tinted glasses going on with Sunset and that she isn't going to simply sway her just like that. Considering the bouts of naivete Twilight has been displaying up to now, this is the sort of observation her character sorely needed if she's to be taken seriously. So good on her!
She's really preening herself over this, isn't she?
Well Starlight could just use mind magic to copy knowledge of the English language into her and Twilight's minds that should be easy and not very invasive.
I'm holding out hope that the anypony tic and the calmness are the result of one or more secondary spells that piggyback on the transformation, and will wear off on their own. It would make sense for them to wear off, because a completely calm population of ponies might not work for Sunset's purposes. It seems like their magical strength in numbers effect would have to rely at least partially on them feeling threatened.
Then again, calmness doesn't mean lack of emotion. It just means they are thinking clearly despite the emotion. No panic, no despair, no fits of rage. Cold blood, so to speak.
I have absolutely no doubt that they would be angry at Sunset when they find out that she was the cause. But they wouldn't immediately act on the anger. They'd plot.
If this continues to go according to her plan, then I can see no way it ends well for Sunset, or Equestria.
One thing I'd like to see is for Star Singer to sing to our stars. What looming darkness will they sing of? Sunset Shimmer? Sadie Sommers? That could be an awesome moment.
Star: I thought they would sing of you, Sunset. But they didn't. They sang of Sadie.
Sunset: ...
Also, someone needs to point out to Sunset how her plague is not all rainbows and roses.
"Strength is great, but I miss having hands."
"Flight is awesome, but I miss having hands."
"Magic is awesome, and I don't miss having hands, but I did notice that NOBODY ASKED!"
8115009
That relies on her thinking ahead to needing a shield in the first place, which seems beyond her. It also won't protect her from other humans at all. I think her reason must be different. Either she is using them somehow to further her own goals, such as practicing her methods and approaches, or she is unconsciously using them to give herself something she found lacking back in Equestria, a family. I don't see the latter as feasible (they will turn on her in the same way Starlight's town turned on her, once the right method appears), but the former has merit, and just makes it more tragic if it were true.
I'm more curious on the Jenny front, her fascination with magic and other stuff. I originally thought it was a psychological issue, but hey, magic exists here even if humans don't have obvious access to it. There might be other explanations that could be supernatural.
8115932
I think Jenny saw something she wasn't supposed to. My theory is that Laura and Jenny saw Sunset and Mr. Turner testing out a method and it failed. Laura got noticed and had her memory tampered with while Jenny stayed hidden but only saw a little bit of what happened. So Jenny has the memories of what happened and Laura has the altered memories. Now the question is what was happening that Sunset was screwing around with weather control?
8116010 Problem with that is, it happened when Jenny was 5, and that was well before they moved to the area.
8116084
If my memory is correct it was stated they where living in Nebraska at the time. That is right next to Colorado and something that would be feasible traveled to in half a day. We do not know where they where living in Nebraska at the time so it could work.
8113904
We saw the transformation between Sunset and Sadie on-screen a couple chapters ago.
8113006
Well, the capital letters at least look close, but the lowercase letters, which are derived from Roman Cursive might be hard to match up.
The most likely signage to help start them towards a translation might be the mile markers that are up and down the highways of Colorado, on account of the only word on them being MILE, in the more recognizable capital letters, followed by a number, which, if they travel more than ten miles, they'll be able to figure out the numbering system, which is the part that would be most foreign to them, as unlike the lowercase letters, which are derived from the writing of the time of their last contact, the numbers are from a different written tradition.
Here's a map of the mile markers
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Twilight can fly, Starlight can't. While Starlight can self-levitate, Twilight would have to carry her around. There was a scene like this earlier in the story when they had to get from Canterlot to Ponyville as quickly as they could. Even then, they didn't get back in time before Celestia got there, and that's even considering that they were in familiar skies and once they got close enough, Twilight could teleport them the remaining distance.
Now, if this were Rainbow Dash and she were operating alone, you'd have a point, but Twilight is no great flier, and especially not if she has to lug a full-grown unicorn mare along with her.
They're not near the town of Lazy Pines right now. Sunset bumped the endpoint of the portal to delay them. From the terrain you can gather that they're rather deep into the Rocky Mountains. While much of Colorado is indeed covered by that mountain range, it's more rugged in certain areas than others. I actually plotted out exactly where they are. The stream they found has a specific name on the map, as well as the road they found and the town they intend to approach. I just can't come out and state exactly what it is because when I write the scenes for them, I'm doing it from their perspective.
Also, being spotted still is a concern, at least up to a point. They know from past contact that the natives can be aggressive and warlike. They need to balance expediency with caution. It's not going to take them that long in terms of story time for them to make contact.
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Hmm, I wonder if that bears taking a special note of in your continuity and if that might come in to play somehow - the in-show Twilight is actually a pretty good-to-great flier after all, with excellent endurance especially (she's no Rainbow Dash of course, but still seems well above average - might be something to do with being an alciorn, I imagine) - she can fly from Ponyville to the edge of Equestria while pulling Discord's enormous gilded chariot - and Cadence (a natural born pegasus) was getting tired faster than Twilight while doing the same, flying from Ponyville straight to Canterlot while carrying Spike on her back doesn't even leave her winded, etc. Makes me wonder what you have in mind by changing that aspect about her
And it technically should be possible for Starlight to levitate herself along (or have Twilight levitate her), though I can see why they wouldn't opt for this route - conserving one's magic and all that when you don't know when you will get proper rest and what other traps of Sunset's they might have to deal with, or for something involving the locals.
Though I didn't realize they were apparently nowhere near the town - somehow I didn't imagine that Sunset managed to fudge the teleport by that much during the few seconds she had (Sorry, not an american - geography of specific states is a complete blank for me, I'd have to go dig up actual maps to find that mountain range!).
But if they don't know even know where they are, shouldn't that actually encourage Twilight to go even faster? I mean, conserving energy is a concern I can understand, but they can't afford to trek for days-to-weeks either while Sunset's plans are entering the final stages, can they? - especially since they can't know how long it would take to reach civilization simply by walking.
Or can they, actually? I'm sort of operating under the impression that starting to Do Something Soon about Sunset's plans is pretty critical, but I now realize that might not necessarily be the case and Twilight might have deducted that a day or two doesn't make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. How pressed for time are they in Twilight's mind?
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Crap, musta forgot about that.
Well did say it was unlikely. Thanks.
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What about the cloudwalking spell? Then starlight wouldn't need to self levitate, and they could (perhaps) have a mobile base. Also, potentially this would allow longer teleport range, on account of improved sight lines.
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That's actually a very good point - They should either nab a cloud or have Twilight whip one up or create one with magic (whatever's the most convenient), then simply fly it around like a magical carpet. Park Starlight at the front, Twilight on the back and have her flap her wings and you have an improvised flying motor boat.
Or. like you said, just teleport together with the cloud (or without the cloud) - if the mountainous terrain is what prevented Twilight from teleporting both of them initially on the ground, then simply going up and making use of the sky seems like the obvious solution.
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Naturally, there are a few options available to them, and their potential success vary according to what their goals are (going directly to Lazy Pines vs. going to the nearest town, just to name one). At the same time, any possibilities of success they calculate are going to be educated guesses at best due to being complete strangers in our world. It's hard for them to know what the "best" option is in world that operates on completely different rules, physically and socially. They'll pick a goal they feel is best and a method to meet that goal that seems the best, but again, "best" is subjective in this case.
8117132 No worries! I'm just doing the fimfic equivalent of yelling at the TV during an action movie. You know, "Behind you!"
"How did you not see that coming!"
etc.
Incidentally, is Lazy Pines a real town? Obviously it doesn't need to be, i'm just wondering, since I can find both Silverthorne and Breckenridge, as well as something called Green Mountain (which doesn't look like a town) all along Highway 9, which I am guessing is the state highway mentioned in chapter one. But I can't find Lazy Pines?
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Lazy Pines is a fictional town. You've almost got the location pinned down. It's located roughly between Green Mountain and Silverthorne. Look for a road called Ute Pass Road. Where that intersects with the highway is where I placed it. According to the Google maps satellite view, it looks like there are some ranches or farms there now.
8116156 But regardless of where they were living at the time, Sunset and Turner would have had no reason to go out there to do whatever they might have been trying to do. So it still doesn't work.
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So you would test out dangerous magic near where you live. Keep in mind the younger of the two was disappointed when the spell failed. Who is to say that Sunset wasn't trying to test out human magic.