Chapter 29 - Questions
Sunset levitated the tray onto the table between her and Star Singer, steam rising from both the omelettes and mugs of coffee. "You'll forgive me if I can't reproduce authentic Equestrian dishes for you, but I assure you it is quite edible. Their version of coffee is noticeably more bitter, but it should be palatable."
Star Singer had become more of a tea drinker in recent years, but she decided not to question Sunset's hospitality. With the coming dawn barely a glimmer in the dark morning sky, she could use something to wake her up.
Sunset sat across from Star. "I could start from the very beginning, but that would be boring. I'd rather answer your burning questions first."
"All right," said Star. "Because I have a doozy of one. You keep talking about how you did this to ensure that ponykind always has enough magic. Just how are you going to get all that magic to Equestria? Send ponies through the portal? Maybe there's a lot of frontier that has yet to be settled, but not enough for billions."
"Such a plan would indeed be impractical," said Sunset. "I plan to build a permanent energy conduit between this world and Equestria."
Star raised an eyebrow. "You mean like a portal, but larger?"
"Not quite. Do you know anything about the theory behind naturally occurring portals?"
"Not a whole lot."
"Starswirl the Bearded postulated the existence of a multitude of universes, and that there is a single source of all magic," Sunset explained. "When these connections overlap, they can temporarily bridge two universes. In my research to create an artificial portal, I proved Starswirl correct. I intend to carry this further, to create a conduit similar to the one that links a universe to the source, except between two universes to allow them to share magical energy freely."
Star paused halfway through chewing. "Uh, that's a lot of energy."
"Energy would flow between the worlds only as needed."
"I don't mean that," Star said. "I've seen the setup Twilight created to manipulate your portal. It takes a lot of power just to keep the entrance stable."
"I'm close to crafting an enchantment that will create a self-maintaining portal. All it requires is a pair of thaumically entangled objects with a sufficiently large plane to serve as an entrance manifold." Sunset smiled. "I'm thinking of using mirrors, if for no other reason than the native culture is rife with stories of 'magic mirrors.'"
"Thaumic entanglement? I've never heard of that."
"Of course not. I discovered it." Sunset paused. "Well, co-discovered it. Thank the natives and their forays into quantum physics for giving me the idea." At Star's puzzled look, she added, "Simply put, at very, very small distances, the universe is governed by a whole other set of laws."
"I didn't want a lesson in thaumatological mechanics," Star muttered. "Let's just assume you have that problem solved. How do you expect to get all the inhabitants to fall in line with your grand vision? This world wasn't exactly a friendly place in the past. Has that changed? Is this whole world operating under one government now?"
"Oh, heavens, no," said Sunset. "My task would have been infinitely easier if that were the case. They're still quite divided. Well, in some cases, 'divided' is an understatement."
"Then I'm at a loss as to how you intend to accomplish this."
"I've already mentioned one technique," said Sunset. "Keeping the natives calm during the transition. Once they're ponies, it will seem natural to them. It's a side effect of changing the morphic resonance; if your resonance says you're supposed to be a pony, you're a pony, period."
"But that's not enough, is it?" said Star.
"No, it's just a start," said Sunset. "The transformation also instills a sort of 'herd instinct,' not unlike what drives modern Equestrian society, but a bit stronger."
"I could see that bringing these new ponies together at a community level, but how do you plan on placating an entire world?"
"The idea is to start small and work up," Sunset explained. "The natives have a strong sense of 'us' and 'them'. Herd instinct expands what is considered 'us' to the point where small and tightly-knit communities can be maintained. That's admittedly a simplistic explanation of a more complicated dynamic. Suffice it to say, they'll come together for mutual support in dealing with the aftermath of the transformation. They'll see more of what they have in common rather than their differences."
"Uh, okay," Star said in an uncertain voice. "What happens when the 'us' of one community becomes the 'them' of the other community?"
"The two main driving forces of conflict among the natives are competition for resources and conflicting ideologies," Sunset explained. "As ponies, they'll have exactly two resources that they will care about at first, and that's food and water. Most of the other resources they squabble over feed their enormous monetary systems and industry, things that will be quite useless to them as ponies, at least at first. I've skewed the initial generation more heavily towards earth ponies and pegasi to help make this possible; unicorns will admittedly play more of a support role at first. In lands that are already arable, they'll overproduce by quite a bit, which can provide for communities in areas not as well endowed."
Star set down her coffee mug. "I seem to recall that the pony tribes were not as keen on sharing as easily back in the day before Equestria was founded."
"Yes, but due to ideology, and I'm coming to that," said Sunset. "But you're correct to question me. The natives can be rather territorial. Herd instinct diminishes it somewhat, but there may still be natives who will want to hoard a resource even if they produce it in abundance just to have power over other communities. Of course, not all natives are like that, not necessarily even most, but potentially enough to cause issues."
"Then it would seem you're at a dead end. I don't see how you can overcome that problem."
Sunset hopped off her chair, her now empty mug in her magical hold. "Do you want another cup? I could use one. Busy day ahead."
Star had finished only about half of hers before the bitterness left too much of a nasty aftertaste. "No, I'm good."
Sunset poured herself some more coffee. "The solution dovetails nicely into the issues caused by ideology. It takes advantage of the natives' propensity for following trends and succumbing to peer pressure, as well as their willingness to believe in the supernatural." Sunset trotted back towards the table. "The last bit is ironic considering how many of them don't believe in magic."
"I already don't like where this is going," Star deadpanned.
"Please, stop being melodramatic until you hear me out," said Sunset. "You talked about them following a 'grand vision'. You were closer to the truth than you realized. I plan to quite literally instill a shared vision among the new ponies."
Star hesitated. "I don't follow."
"Yesterday, you spoke of Ascendancy," said Sunset. "I've unlocked further secrets of high magic without it. One of those secrets involves the dreamscape."
Star gave Sunset a skeptical look. "Are you telling me you've become the next Princess Luna?"
"Oh, no, not by a long shot," said Sunset. "I cannot dreamwalk as easily as she. For what I have planned, I don't need to be that precise. Rather than bore you with the exact details, suffice it to say that I intend to instill a vision in newly transformed ponies hinting at how they should behave and suggesting a greater purpose for what has happened to them."
"And what if they just shrug it off as an odd dream?" Star asked.
"Starry, you need to stop thinking in Equestrian terms and start thinking in native terms. In Equestria, a shared dream would do little more than generate gossip about whether Princess Luna had some message for them. It's mundane, run-of-the-mill. Not here. A shared dream would be of significant importance. It would suggest something supernatural at work."
"It isn't enough you want to be a Princess over them," Star muttered. "You want to be their goddess as well."
Sunset face-hoofed. "Starry, you're not listening! I've already said this isn't about me. I'm not going to give them a vision of me. You think I want to draw that much attention to myself? I want to be just another transformed pony in their midst."
Star hopped off the chair and stepped up to Sunset. "You claim you don't have Princess Luna's power. How do you expect to project a vision to everypony?"
Sunset smiled. "Again, by starting small. Every community will have a contingent of nightponies. They have their own inherent ability to interact with the dreamscape. It's more limited, but enough to act as relay points. I need only reach out to them, and they in turn will use their ability to 'spread the word' as it were."
Star narrowed her gaze. "This sounds disturbingly like brainwashing."
"These visions are not going to take control of them," said Sunset. "I'm not so much manipulating minds as a social dynamic. True, these natives are still aggressive and can be hurtful towards one another. Taken as a whole, however, they want to move beyond that, more so than any time in their history. I'm simply encouraging that, much like the founders of Equestria saw past their differences and embraced peace and unity."
Star remained silent.
Sunset stepped closer to her friend. "So far, it seems most of your questions have been designed to find holes in my plans rather than to resolve any great moral dilemma."
"What's your point?"
"That perhaps you're more on board with my ideas than you claim."
Star sighed. "Sunny, I didn't want to revisit any of this ever again. Until Princess Celestia released me from the spell, I thought I had made my peace with everything. Now I feel like we're back at square one, sharing grandiose ideas with each other that had no chance of working."
"My plans are indeed grandiose," said Sunset. "But I still believe they can work."
Star had no immediate response.
"Starry, last time we talked, you had resolved your visions to somepony named, ah, Glimmer, was it?"
"Starlight Glimmer," Star Singer said in a flat voice.
"Past that, you saw only shadowy figures that had no name, yet you were sure were capable of great destruction. Have you resolved any of them further?"
"I haven't used my ability in over a decade, Sunny."
"Perhaps you should reconsider," said Sunset.
Star tilted her head. "Are you offering to send me back through the portal?"
"I meant use it here, in this universe."
"I'm not sure that would work."
"I think it will," said Sunset. "And I will predict what you will see. You will see a dire future threat to this world, one that a magic-less population can do nothing to stop."
Star hesitated before answering, "I'll consider it."
"That's all I ask." Sunset glanced out the window at the brightening sky. "I need to go. I'll try to visit you as much as I can. In the meantime, please consider telling me anything you've discovered about the native's immunity."
Star looked on with uncertain eyes as Sunset teleported away.
Jenny took advantage of the general pandemonium in the Tanner household that Tuesday morning to dash back to her room when she heard her Skype chime. Her pink tail flicked itself to the side as she plopped down into her chair. She grabbed the headphones and uttered a frustrated snort when by reflex she placed them several inches lower than they needed to be. She had to hold them in place against her blue-furred equine ears.
"Hi, Jenny," came James' soft voice.
Jenny was too flustered for a moment to reply at first. "James, how are you able to talk to me?"
"I told my mother what she could do with her stupid restrictions," James said. "Since this may be the last time we get a chance to talk for a while."
"You got the same call, then," Jenny said.
"Yeah. Anyone with obvious symptoms are 'encouraged' to move to the shelters." James paused. "How bad is it there?"
"I have the ears. Dad got them last night and now he's starting to get red fur. Mom ... has a horn and orange fur."
"Did you say a horn??" James said.
"Yeah. Right in the middle of her forehead." Jenny paused. "Like a unicorn."
"What about Laura?"
Jenny's ears tried to draw back, frustrating her efforts to keep the headphones in place. "She went into the shelter yesterday. Wings."
"Damn," James said in a low voice. "It's scary how much this is sounding like--"
"Don't say it!" Jenny snapped.
"But it's almost like you predicted--"
"I didn't predict a fucking thing," Jenny declared. "I almost wish I hadn't wasted my time with all that."
"Come on, you can't be serious."
Jenny remained silent.
"That was everything to you," James said. "I loved listening to it. I even loved participating in it. I'd really miss that if you stopped."
Jenny frowned. "Tell me the truth. Is that all you ever liked about me?"
"I never said that."
"You're not answering the question."
James paused. "It's what attracted me to you, yeah."
Jenny opened her mouth, but her intended protest died before it reached her lips. She couldn't see herself telling him that there was more to her than that, as she couldn't see it herself. "Sorry to disappoint."
"I do like you, Jenny," said James. "I think you're a very spirited filly."
Jenny blinked. "What??"
"I-I meant girl," James stammered. "Sorry. I've been doing that sometimes ever since the fur started to come in."
"Well, stop it," Jenny snapped. "I don't need to be reminded I'm becoming a stupid horse."
"But maybe it's more than that. Horses don't have horns or wings."
"I don't have either of those. Do you?"
"Well, no."
Jenny halted that line of thought immediately, that having her fantasies become reality might at least be interesting if she were something other than a brightly colored pony. That would have meant being jealous of horns or wings, which played into the whole perception of her being a "self-centered brat."
"Maybe it doesn't matter," James said, "Maybe there's something special about not having either of those."
"You're talking nonsense," said Jenny, though her conviction was weak.
"I'm just worried about you, that's all."
Jenny clenched her teeth. What was he really worried about? That he'd never be entertained by her again? She wanted his affection, but what was the price?
"Jenny!" came her mother's voice from the hall.
Jenny jerked her head around as her mother appeared at the door. Her eyes glistened as she beheld her mother's horn. A thin spiral design circled its tapering length, exactly what she would have expected from a unicorn straight out of a fantasy. Her mind vacillated between seeing it as an alien mutation and accepting it as perfectly natural.
"Jenny, what are you doing?" Sarah said.
Jenny muted the call. "Talking to James."
"Please, don't stay on too much longer, we should get going. I want to maximize the chance we'll all be in the same shelter."
"Yeah, fine," Jenny said in a listless voice. After her mother had gone, she unmuted the call. "I have to go."
"You sure you don't want to talk some more?"
Jenny had nothing she wanted to say that wasn't just another confirmation of Tina's assessment of her. "No. I ... um ... I hope to see you again soon."
"So do I," said James in a low voice.
Jenny wanted to believe he was sincere, but she doubted her own sincerity at that moment. "Goodbye."
She disconnected the call and threw her headphones, intending them to land on the desk, but they sailed well past it and landed on the floor near the window. She touched one of her ears. When she had got up that morning, she wasn't sure what she was. Now she wasn't sure who she was, either.
Laura's slow rise out of deep slumber came with an odd cacophony about her which surely was part of some lingering fragment of a dream, soon overshadowed by stiffness and soreness. She had struggled to find a comfortable position in which to sleep, as used to sleeping on her side or back as she was. Laura groaned and rolled over onto her stomach, wincing as her wings tried to stretch. Her left wing faltered, feeling like a dead weight and all pins and needles.
As she awoke further, she became more aware of the strange noises around her, sounding a bit like blocks of wood banging together. She tried to push herself up and draw her feet under her, but they kept getting tangled in the bedroll. She tried to wriggle them free, but nothing responded to her mental commands past her ankles.
As she became more frantic in her groggy state, she heard another odd clopping noise right next to her, and hands touched her sides. "Laura, take it easy, you're just getting yourself more tangled up," came Emma's voice. "Fold your wings and roll onto your back for a moment."
Laura immediately complied, and Emma tugged the folds of the bedroll free and drew back the blanket. Laura awoke fully in an instant, her eyes widening.
"You, um, want to try them out?" Emma suggested.
Laura moved her legs back and forth slightly, and her hooves moved with them. She blinked rapidly as if still trying to rewire her conscious mind to this new reality. The ankles were higher on her leg than they should be, yet she could flex them, and the hooves complied.
"They're not too bad once you get used to them," said Emma, shifting one of her own hooves slightly forward.
Laura nodded slowly and let Emma help her up. She teetered for a moment, another set of hands reaching out to steady her, arriving on the quick beat of hooves against wood flooring.
"Hey, not bad for your first time," said Sadie with a smile.
Laura glanced from one helper to the other and smiled faintly. She glanced down and saw Sadie standing on her own set of hooves. "Did this happen to everyone?"
Emma glanced around. "Just about."
Laura looked around. At least a dozen other people were walking about on hooves, all managing to stay balanced despite being hunched over. Their tails lifted behind them, as if in an attempt to compensate.
Laura glanced down at herself. Her nightgown which had fit her reasonably well the night before now already felt loose. Fur had reached up around her torso, and her breasts felt like they had shrunk.
"Here, try taking a few steps," said Sadie.
Laura stumbled a bit with her first steps until she realized that staring at her hooves was confusing her brain into expecting feet. As with the wings, it seemed her body had been rewired to accommodate, and she had to just give in to that instinct. After a few minutes, she was able to stand on her own, her tail lifting to balance her. "I think I got it. I--" Her gaze had drifted to the side, and her eyes now widened in shock. "Oh my God, what--?!"
Emma followed Laura's gaze. "You noticed Josie, too, huh?"
Laura stared at the purple-haired, midnight-blue furred girl still sleeping in a bedroll a few spots down.
"I think she was brought in overnight," said Emma.
The girl was about at the same state as Laura, though her ears were slightly larger and had tufts of fur at the tips. She had wings, but instead of feathered, they were more bat-like in appearance.
"She's the only one like that so far," said Sadie. "I was awake when she arrived. She stayed up all night and only went to sleep right before dawn. I overheard one of the physicians saying something about her acting nocturnal ever since her ears came in."
Laura was about to comment when she caught a weak flicker of light out of the corner of her eye followed by a yelp and a cry of "What are you doing, trying to set fire to the place?!"
"I didn't do anything!" cried a plaintive voice in return. "I don't know where those sparks came from!"
"Kelly, they came from your horn!"
Several shocked physicians suddenly converged on the hapless girl. "Please, everyone, step back!"
"But what did I do??" the girl cried in confusion.
"I better get over there and help calm things down," said Sadie.
Laura watched her go. "Emma, this has to mean something."
"Why are you so sure of that?" Emma asked.
"Because of these," Laura said as she stretched her wings to their full extent. "They seem so natural now. You said yesterday that they might even work. Why shouldn't they work? Why shouldn't we be able to use them?"
Either Laura had not realized how loudly she was speaking, or she had underestimated the hearing ability of pony ears. Several other winged women looked in her direction with a mix of bemusement and interest.
"As much as I agree with you, Laura, what has you so adamant about it?" Emma asked.
"I don't know," Laura admitted. "I just want to understand, and I feel like this is the way to go about it. What's the point in lamenting about what's happening? It's happening, and we have to deal with it." She paused before adding in a lower voice, "It's the responsible thing to do."
As Laura spoke, one of the women from the other group approached, moving slowly on her newly-minted hooves, her white-feathered wings spreading out to help balance her. "You said your name was Laura?" the woman asked.
Laura nodded. "Yes, that's me."
"I'm Joan. Sorry to be so forward but, well, I noticed some of your feathers are a bit crooked on your left wing."
"I made the mistake of sleeping on my side."
"I've done some rehabilitation work with birds," said Joan. "I'd be happy to help you with it." She paused. "And maybe you can talk to my friends and I more about what you just said."
"Oh, um, well," Laura said in a faltering voice. "I don't know if I have much more to say about it."
Joan's tail swished. "Still, it would help to just talk. We're still weirded out by a lot of this."
Laura slowly smiled. "Sure, okay."
After breaking camp, Twilight and Starlight set out towards the northeast until they came to the edge of a ridge. Twilight lifted a fore-hoof and pointed into the distance. "There. That's our destination."
Starlight shielded her eyes from the morning sun as she peered. The ridge dropped off into a valley, another winding road following its contours. Beyond another, more low-lying ridge sprawled a settlement, a narrow band of civilization stretching north and south. It clung to a road that bisected the town, the same road that Twilight had spotted from the air the night before.
"Um, okay," said Starlight. "It's not that impressive."
"It's bigger than Ponyville," said Twilight.
"That's not saying much." Starlight levitated a set of binoculars and held them to her eyes. "Wouldn't it be better if we found a seat of government?"
"How do we know that isn't one?"
Starlight swept her magnified gaze over the town. "I'm not seeing anything like castles or palaces. Or for that matter, anything like the government buildings from their imperial period."
"Then we can locate their town hall," said Twilight. "I don't like going through the most densely populated part of the town but--"
"Wait a minute." Starlight's horn glowed as she cast a spell to augment the magnifying power of the binoculars. "I may have found something. It's still not tremendously impressive, but it does have a spire, and it looks different from all the other buildings."
"Let me see." Twilight swapped positions with Starlight. "Oh, yes, that might be it! It's even got a symbol atop the spire. Are there any other buildings that have that symbol?"
Starlight took back the binoculars and slowly swept the rest of the town. "Not that I can see. Hmm. There is something very vaguely familiar about that symbol, but I don't recall where I saw it in the old accounts I read of contact during that time."
"But that it was there at all means it might be of some importance, like the symbols the nobles in Canterlot use to signify their family associations."
"Only problem is, it's way on the other side of town." Starlight turned to Twilight. "How do you want me to play this? You want me to zap whatever natives see us first once we're there?"
"No, let's try to communicate with them first. Only if that fails, or it looks like they're going to be hostile towards us do we resort to mind magic."
"So what are your plans for getting to the other side of town? Go around it?"
"We go through it," said Twilight.
"Isn't that a little risky?"
"We can't afford not to take risks, Starlight," said Twilight. "That building is more on the south side, so we can cross the town at its thinnest point. Also, I'm sensing a faint resonance of transformation magic. I want to study it as we pass through. It may give us more clues as to how to stop it. I'd rather not go to these natives empty-hooved."
"The big question is, how are we going to convince them we're not delusional?" Starlight asked. "If this place has no magic, they don't exactly have visitors popping up from other universes every day."
"A demonstration of magic, perhaps?" said Twilight.
"And if they take that to mean we're behind all this?"
"I thought we had resolved this last night. We need the natives' assistance if we have any hope of stopping this. I don't want to go straight to the center of this mess, as that's what Aunt Sunset is expecting me to do."
"How do you figure that?" Starlight asked.
"Aunt Sunset doesn't understand how different I am from her," said Twilight. "She thinks I'm going straight for her, because that's what she would do in my place. Also, the natives can likely make a lot more trouble for her than we can until we're able to confront her directly."
Starlight sighed. "Okay, fine," she said in a distracted voice.
Twilight tilted her head. "Are you okay?"
"I think I'm a little more scared about this whole lark than I thought I would be."
"I know it looks a bit bleak right now, but I'm confident we can stop this."
"I'm more worried about getting home!" Starlight cried. "Did it ever occur to you this may be a one way trip? What if Sunset decides to destroy the portal when she finds out her plans were wrecked? Maybe if we go straight there, we can stop that."
"She won't do that," said Twilight. "That would be the act of an insane pony."
"Her plans sound insane to me."
"I don't mean it that way," said Twilight. "She doesn't act rashly or on impulse. She's meticulous and calculating to a fault. If it's the least bit in her interest to keep the portal intact, she will."
"I hope you're right," said Starlight. "All right, let's get this show on the road."
Sarah stared at herself in the mirror, the spiral horn rising from the center of her forehead becoming less of a novelty the more she thought about it. If she concentrated on it too much, it started to feel tingly. It was just a piece of bone ... yet it wasn't.
She forced her mind off that track by shifting her gaze to her hair, which now looked more like a mane than ever. The fur that had started the day before was already almost all the way up her thighs, and her feet felt achy and slightly stiff. Standing up straight was an impossibility. She lifted a hand and flexed her fingers, feeling some small measure of relief when they responded to her commands easily.
As an archaeologist, her hands were her life. Whether they held the tools of her trade or touched the ground directly, they needed to work delicately, extracting artifacts that could crumble or crack if not handled with the utmost care. How was she expected to do that with hooves?
She took a deep breath and stepped out of the bathroom. "Harry, where are you?"
"In the office," said Harold.
Sarah stepped inside as Harold set down his cell phone. "Trying your father again?"
"Yeah," Harold said in a somber voice. "No luck."
"Harry, we have to go. The kids are ready."
Harold wiped his face with his hand. "I can stay here for a little while longer."
"We've already hashed this out! I want the family to be together as much as possible."
"Sarah, you said yourself, they're keeping people separated by gender."
"Yes, and Bob needs you."
Harold frowned but said nothing.
Sarah lowered her gaze. "Harry, we saw a movie once some years back. I don't remember the name. It was about a family trying to keep it together in the aftermath of a nuclear war."
Harold stood and placed his hands on Sarah's shoulders. "You're thinking of Testament. Depressing as hell. You vowed never to watch it again."
Sarah looked up. "Except now I feel like we're living it. I want a better ending than that movie."
Harold drew her into an embrace. "So do I."
"And part of that means we stick together. We don't let anything separate us if we can help it."
"All right," Harold said in a soft voice. "I'll go. I just hope we can trust Eileen not to burn the damn place down."
"We don't have any choice in the matter," said Sarah. "We have to trust her that far. And to be honest, the house is the least of my worries."
"Have you talked to Laura yet?" Harold asked as they headed out of his office.
Sarah shook her head. "I wanted to make sure she was awake. I'm going to call her while we're on our way to the shelter. I just wish the high school had not filled up already." She saw Eileen standing at the end of the hallway. "Eileen, make sure you pay attention to the first item on that list I gave you and--"
Eileen met them halfway. "Sis, can I talk to you?" She glanced at Harold. "Alone?"
Sarah frowned. "I specifically asked you if you had any questions about that list, and you said you were fine!"
"It's not about the list. Please, this is important."
Sarah's ears drooped. "Fine. Harry, go see to the kids, please. Eileen, this way," She marched crisply into her office -- at least as much as her stooped posture and stiff feet would allow -- and turned around to face her sister. "Make this quick."
Eileen closed the door behind them. Her gaze lingered on Sarah's horn for a moment. "This is going to sound strange, but I'm worried about Jenny."
Sarah was too nonplussed to respond at first. "Did you say Jenny?"
"Yeah. She's not acting like herself."
"None of us are quite ourselves in case you haven't noticed."
Eileen frowned. "Will you get off your fucking high hor ... uh ... I mean, just listen to me for once without the lecture, okay?"
Sarah let out a sigh through her nose. "All right. What is it?"
"Jenny had a weird conversation with me yesterday." Eileen summarized what had happened on the deck.
Sarah's gaze softened. "Yes, Harry and I know that she may have suppressed her memory of that storm."
Eileen looked a bit relieved. "So it wasn't me that caused her problems?"
"No, she's been acting oddly the past few days. We just haven't had a chance to deal with it." Sarah paused. "Is that the only reason you asked about it, to exonerate yourself?"
Eileen quelled the urge to snipe back at her sister and instead said in a low voice, "I just don't want to be the cause of someone else's grief anymore."
Sarah hesitated before responding, "Thank you for taking the time to care about Jenny's welfare."
Eileen raised an eyebrow. "Maybe I don't have ears like you do, but I could almost swear there was no sarcasm in that comment."
"I won't mince words, Eileen. I haven't cared for how much you Skyped with Jenny. I feel like you've been a bad influence on her."
"And how the hell do you figure that?"
"Haven't you been encouraging her to do all those wild things that have been getting her into trouble?" said Sarah.
"I didn't encourage her to do anything," said Eileen. "Yeah, okay, I never specifically told her not to do stuff she's thought up, but that's not my job."
"Then what did you talk about?" Sarah asked, perplexed.
Eileen grinned. "Jenny did most of the talking. She loves to talk about her fantasies. Well, she used to, anyway. What, you thought all this time I was telling her to do crazy stuff?"
"Well, maybe not told her specifically, but surely you encouraged her."
"Not once," Eileen declared. "Most of the time, she told me about it after the fact. Even if it was my place to talk her down, she never gave me the chance. She just wanted someone to listen to her. Look, sis, I'll take my lumps for anything I've done, God knows I've earned plenty of those, but I won't take them for something I didn't do."
"So why did she turn to you?" Sarah asked.
Eileen shrugged. "She never told me. I wondered why she didn't just tell you and Harry about this stuff, but I never asked her."
Sarah nodded slowly, her eyes distant.
"Look, um, I know it sounds like I keep asking for stuff, but can I see Bob one more time before you all go?" Eileen asked softly. "Maybe he wants me to fuck off, but I want him to at least know I care about what happens to him."
"Yes, go ahead," Sarah said in a strained voice.
Eileen gave her sister an odd look before heading out of the office.
"Hey, Bob."
Bob let out a sigh of relief when he heard Tina's voice. "I wasn't sure I'd reach you."
"You caught me just in time, we going to be leaving inside an hour," said Tina.
"How are your parents doing?"
"They're freaking out a bit," said Tina in a low voice. "They only started getting the hair this past Friday and now they have tails and ears."
"I have sea-green hair," Bob said in a level voice. "Started yesterday, and it's already complete."
"Mine's cornflower yellow. Just started this morning. I can freaking see the hairs turning color if I stare at it long enough in the mirror."
Bob leaned back in his chair. "Dammit, this is accelerating. I don't think we'll get to the end of the week without fully transforming."
Tina snorted. "Well, you're a ray of sunshine this morning, aren't you?"
"I'm sorry," said Bob. "I wouldn't be so upset if I didn't have to deal with my mother, too."
"Your mother?" Tina said in a confused voice. "I thought you got along with her. You said you were interested in her archaeological work and--"
"She's not my mother, she's my aunt," said Bob in a flat voice.
Tina paused. "O-kay. Boy, there must be a story behind that."
"I wish I had time to tell you, but we're all heading to the shelter at the middle school."
"Shit, we're going to one of the grammar school about a few blocks from there." Tina paused. "I would've preferred to be in the same one as you. Um, just to have a friend nearby, you know?"
Despite the circumstances, he blushed mildly at her obvious interest in him. "They probably would separate us by gender anyway."
"So much for our plans to help everyone else," Tina said. "At least my ankle's been healing faster than they told me it would. It's almost as good as new." She paused. "I suppose that's good if I have to deal with hooves."
Bob had managed to keep himself calm through this crisis, but that had hinged on a silent insistence that something logical had to be behind it. As things made less sense first by the day and now by the hour, he had little reserves to draw on. All the scientific knowledge he was quietly proud to have accumulated over the years was failing him.
"Hey, uh, I wanted to ask you something," Tina said. "Laura's wings. You, uh, think they might work?"
Bob hesitated. "Work? She can move them, if that's what you mean."
"I mean, do you think she could fly?"
As Laura had predicted, his mind immediately leaped upon the idea that flight for even a creature as small as a pony would be impossible, as the wings could not be made large enough without weighing down the creature with all the muscle mass required to power them. Logic dictated it was impossible, an insurmountable problem in normal Earth gravity and atmospheric pressure. He should be as sure of that as he was of his own name.
"I don't know," Bob said in a hollow voice. "Why?"
"My upper back aches a bit," said Tina. "Thought maybe I had something to look forward to."
"Someone will stop this," Bob declared. "Someone will figure it out. Someone always figures out stuff like this."
"Yeah, just maybe not in time for us." Tina sighed. "Listen to me, I'm supposed to be the upbeat one."
"It's okay, this is hard on every--"
Bob was interrupted by a soft knock as his door. "Hey, uh, can I talk to you before you go?" came Eileen's tentative voice.
Bob frowned, though his expression softened almost at once. He lowered the phone. "Just a minute!" He raised the phone again. "I have to go."
"Keep in touch, Bob," said Tina, her voice almost a plea. "At least as long as you can."
"I'll try," said Bob. "I, um, hope to see you again soon."
"So do I."
Bob couldn't bring himself say goodbye. He simply hung up and set the phone aside. "Come in."
Eileen opened the door and paused at the threshold before fully stepping inside. "So, uh, you're going with the rest of them?"
"They want everyone with symptoms to head to the shelters."
"They can't force you, can they?"
"No, but the more people they can examine, the better chance they'll have of understanding this."
Eileen smiled faintly as she closed the door behind her. "How did my son get so much more responsible than his own mother?"
Bob hesitated before responding in a soft voice, "I'm not sure you want an honest answer to that."
Eileen remained standing with her back against the door. "It was mostly a rhetorical question."
"It's not so much wanting to be responsible as keeping the family together," said Bob, but when he saw Eileen's eyes shimmer slightly, he realized that was the wrong thing to say. "Uh, what I mean is--"
"No, save it," Eileen said. "I don't blame you for feeling like I'm barely family. I was never there for you."
"Mom, you don't need to do this."
"Yeah, I do. Not for your sake, but mine." Her gaze flicked to Bob's hair. "You want to hear something funny? I almost wish I was in your situation."
Bob looked askance at her.
"I keep talking about starting over," said Eileen. "I know I can't do that with you, but I can still do it for myself. You gotta admit, becoming a little colorful pony would be a hell of a makeover. It really would feel like leaving everything behind."
"I don't think you should wish for something like that," said Bob in a low voice.
"I'm not, really, I just can't ignore the irony of the situation." Eileen sighed. "But it could just be me trying to escape reality again. I got a call a few minutes ago. Local cop is gonna come over and interrogate me about my little stunt at the barricade."
"I really hope you don't get into too much trouble," said Bob. "You really were just thinking of me."
"Somewhere in that need to prove myself, I was really thinking of you." Eileen swallowed. "Shit, I just got here, and I can't even reconnect with you before you're gone again."
Bob's eyes glistened, and after only a second's hesitation, he approached his mother and drew her into a hug. Eileen was so stunned at first that it took her a few moments to return the gesture. She embraced him fiercely, sniffling once before letting her breath go as a ragged sigh.
"I just want you to know that I'm serious when I say I still love you, Mom," said Bob.
Eileen squeezed her eyes shut when tears threatened to leak from them. She quelled the urge to recriminate herself again so she could share this last moment with her son.
While the lower elevations near the town were noticeably warmer than the slopes of the mountains, large snowdrifts still abounded, and meltwater ran in countless rivulets that soaked the already over-saturated ground.
"Ugh, this is awful," Starlight muttered as she glanced down at her muddy hooves. "Can't we use some magic to dry out the ground a bit?"
"I'm already maintaining illusion spells to hide my wings and our cutie marks in case we run into transformed natives," said Twilight. "I don't want us to overtax ourselves in case we need to use magic in an emergency."
"I still have trouble believing the natives can't use magic."
"It's been very puzzling to me as well," said Twilight. "This universe has a very strong thaumic field, perhaps more so than Equestria. I also get the sense it stretches on for a vast distance beyond this world."
"Then maybe there's some other world that has magic, just not this one," said Starlight.
"I suppose that's possible. I really wish we weren't here under duress. This is such an opportunity to learn--"
Starlight's ears perked up, and she stopped. "Wait, I hear something."
Twilight lifted her head. Her eyes widened. "Hooves!"
Starlight turned her head and pointed with a fore-hoof. "I see a path, and it looks a bit more solid. And dry."
"This could be a break for us!" Twilight said excitedly. "If there are natives who have been completely transformed, we may be able to blend in with them."
Starlight looked doubtful as the hoofbeats grew louder. "Those sound a lot heavier than normal. Not even Big Mac sounds quite like that, and he's the biggest stallion I know."
"All right, we play it safe," said Twilight. "Let's get behind this tree until we can get a look at them."
They took refuge behind a thick tree trunk. Starlight waited until the hoof-falls were coming from the direction of the path before carefully taking a peek. Her mouth dropped open, and her pupils shrank to near pinpricks.
The hooved creatures passing by on the path were, to her, equine only in the vaguest sense of the word. Their legs were far too long and spindly, their muzzles huge and eyes disconcertingly small. What really threw her off was the fact that each one was being ridden by a native.
Starlight ducked back behind the tree. "Did you see what I just saw??"
Twilight withdrew her head from around the side of the tree. "Yes," she said in a low voice.
"Y-you don't think those are transformed--?"
"No," Twilight declared. "Best guess is that they're native equinoids. If they're being used as beasts of burden, they may not be sapient."
Starlight frowned. "They better not be! I don't fancy being pressed into that kind of service myself."
"I read once that Princess Platinum of the old unicorn tribe used to press underlings into that sort of service from time to time." Twilight added in a low mutter, "Which Rarity had insisted on acting out during the Hearths Warming Day play."
Starlight raised an eyebrow.
"Right, not relevant," said Twilight. "What is relevant is that they had no magic radiating from them at all. The natives riding them, however, is another story entirely."
"I didn't think to look if they were transforming."
"They weren't, yet they had faint amounts of transformation magic in them."
"So their transformation hadn't started yet?"
"I'm not sure," said Twilight. "It didn't seem like nearly enough to give it the initial spark. It was more like the energy was just sitting there."
"Maybe Sunset's spell is failing and her plans are already unraveling."
"Or there's a connection we're still not making." Twilight looked thoughtful for a moment before glancing around the tree. "The natives are safely away. Let's keep pressing forward."
Sarah had wondered exactly how Laura had managed to use her cell phone with her ears having migrated several inches out of supposed reach of the speaker. She discovered that she needed only to boost the volume slightly and let her sensitive pony hearing do the rest. "Are you doing okay?" Sarah asked in an urgent voice as she walked with her family towards the shelter. "Are they treating you well?"
"I'm fine, Mom," said Laura. "I mean ... well ... I have hooves."
Sarah swallowed hard. "Honey, are they helping you get around at least?"
"That's the nice thing about it, I can get around fine. I'm standing on them now. And, yeah, other than poking us with needles sometimes, we're being treated okay. The food could be better, though, but it's edible. How's the rest of the family?"
"We're all worse," Sarah said.
"Even Bob?"
Sarah glanced at Bob's hair. "Yes, he has it now, too. We're all on our way to a shelter. The middle school on fifth."
"That's not too far away."
Sarah gripped the phone tighter. Why was her daughter so calm? For that matter, why was she not freaking out herself? Why did the horn seem like just another part of her? "I have no idea if they'll reunite us," Sarah said in a quavering voice.
"It's filled up completely here, Mom, I'm sorry."
"Maybe they can move you to this shelter."
Laura hesitated. "I've kinda made some friends here. I'd feel bad leaving them."
"But we're family, Laura."
"Mom, please, don't make me choose."
Sarah took a deep breath and let it go as a ragged sigh. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said it that way. I should be glad you're finding support."
"Yes, and I even found a woman who knows how to preen wings!" Laura said. "We think maybe we can actually use them, but ... well, we're kinda afraid about how the people observing us are going to react. They got a bit spooked when some of us had sparks coming from their horns."
Sarah's eyes widened. "Wait, some of us? Did you get a horn in addition to--?"
"No, I didn't mean that. I just ... I don't know, I guess we've kind of started to become a tight group. It's close quarters in here. It's hard not to get to know everypony."
Sarah didn't notice the pronoun change as she glanced forward. A line had formed at the entrance to the school. Almost everyone present had at least the equine ears. A few had wings or horns. One woman held a baby who couldn't have been more than a few months old. The child's magenta tail had escaped the blankets swaddling him and swished idly as the baby cooed. White-coated physicians wearing breath masks and holding tablet PCs were walking along the line conducting interviews and taking notes.
"I'm going to have to go now, honey," said Sarah. "I'm sorry I can't talk longer."
"I understand," Laura said in a forlorn voice. "It's just that this may be the last time we can talk on the phone."
Sarah's heart thumped. "Why?"
"My hands are starting to get stiff. I don't know if I can operate a phone with hooves."
"J-just don't worry about it," Sarah said in a quavering voice. "I'm sure someone will help. I love you, Laura."
"I love you, too, Mom."
Sarah took another deep breath as she hung up.
Harold stepped closer to her. "You okay?"
Sarah nodded quickly. "As much as can be expected. Pretty much the same can be said for Laura."
"Hey, wait a minute," said Jenny, her ears drawing back slightly. She pointed to the side. "Who are they?"
Two men in dark suits stood beside the entrance of the school. One had something in one of his ears, from which a slim wire snaked down into his suit.
"They're wearing some sort of communications gear," said Bob.
Sarah stared as one of the men looked squarely in her direction, seemed to study her for a moment, then turned to his cohort and spoke to him. The second man glanced towards Sarah, nodded, and headed inside.
"Something's up," said Bob.
"Thank you, Mr. Obvious," Jenny muttered.
The remaining man stepped towards them, and Sarah's heart skipped a beat when he stopped right before her. "Are you Doctor Sarah Tanner?"
"Yes," said Sarah.
The man took out his wallet and snapped it open, revealing a badge. "My name is Anthony Heller. I'm with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I need to speak with you."
Harold frowned. "What's this about?"
"I'm sorry, sir, I'm authorized only to speak to Doctor Tanner on this matter."
"Can I at least get my family into the shelter before they fill up?" Sarah asked. "I've already been separated from one family member, I don't want that to happen again."
"It's important I speak with you as soon as possible," said Anthony. "My colleague will make sure they hold a space for you. You're not under arrest, Doctor Tanner, we just want to follow up on your previous contact with the Bureau."
Sarah let out a relieved sigh. In all her anxiety, she had all but forgotten she had contacted them. "Yes, of course, I'll come along."
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I don't think I've seen "nightpony" before. The usual second choice name is thestral.
.. Ponies After People .. @@
I think the weakness of switching from two chapters per weekend to one is really starting to show here. You are still trying to have just as many perspective shifts / separate scenes as you did previously per release, but have to cram them all in 1/2 of the wordcount. It kinda feels like the perspective has become jerky and twitches all over the place - and we spend so little time in each location that there is no time for proper mood to settle in. I'm afraid this chapter felt quite rushed (while ironically the plot didn't really move forward much) in terms of how quickly scenes transition from one to another and had a rather distinct case of "talking heads" syndrome going on in terms of how it was written as result.
Perhaps it might be worthwhile to consider increasing the chapter length some, or having fewer scenes per chapter if that's not an option? Because one of this story's strengths was the overall immersive atmosphere and mood it managed to instill, and now it's sort of getting lost in the rapid scene transition and in how little screentime each scene gets to play out
Yea. It will have a black sclera, tattered leathery wings, and fiery hair.
Show staff unofficially uses term "thestrals".
Suprised the pronoun change hasn't extended to them using terms like mares and stallions. Half expected her to refer do Joan as a mare. Guessing most at Laura's shelter will be 100% done with transformation by the next morning at this rate.
Has Sunset been spending any actual time studying Earth since she got here or his her insane plan been driving her? I can think of several nations that would start causing trouble either becuase their neighbors where starting to transform or they are blaming their neighbors for them transforming and nukes could get involved in many of them. Sunset has unleashed a massive problem that will only make things far worse and hopefully she can watch as she sees what was once humanity make the time before Hearths Warming look like paradise.
Yep, Sunset will not survive this story. She has done a flying cannonball over the Moral Event Horizon. I really hope the humans never learn the exent of what she's done, because we will kill Sunset. Calming mind magic means nothing when someone started conning toward you with the only purpose of killing you. Heck, use a ranged weapon where she can't get in range to transform you. Doubt her shield can stand up to missiles.
Star's questions are about exactly what I feared. You go Star!
8128426 I doubt magic can do much against that
Wow. I just have to say... Wow.
I've been following this story since it came out and... I just have to say this is in my top three stories in this site. You have created a masterpiece. I commented on this story in Chapter 6 I believe... And I have to say, this story just keeps getting better and better. I don't want to go into too much detail but I love how plausible this entire story is. All the characters feel real and vibrant.
The only problem is the pacing. The story started off really slow, but it worked as it established a LOT that has made (what I am assuming to be the middlestage of the story??) this strectch of the reading understandable and clear. The fact that I am always looking forward to waking up on Saturday for your story to have a new chapter after along week of school is something you should be proud of. Anyway, back to the pacing. It had actually picked up and became really smooth yet energetic! I was feeling that the story was accelerating like I had hoped! (And, well... Technically it is with the transformation accelerating!) But that stopped abruptly at when you started making one chapter per week. Each week, you used to post up to 16,000 words! Now it's dropped by an average of about 7,000! That's the problem. I feel like you are suddenly stretching yourself too thin with this story. I was expecting 15,000 word chapters to keep the story pace consistant, but now I feel the story is progressing even slower due to the lack of length. The main thing I'm worried about is the lack of space you are giving yorself each week. I don't know how to put this in words... Maybe it's because the scenes feel too short and rushed. But hey, it may be just because we had gotten used to your flow of the story, your mindset on how the story was gradually picking up momentum. I still think it is an amazing story, I would just make the chapters as long as the two seperate one's combined you used to post. I understand why you are doing this now, and it makes sense. I just think it would give your already almost flawless story that true perfection.
But hey, I'm not the author. If this is how you are going to keep doing it, I'm totally fine. Just remember, the first thing I think of when I wake up on Saturday is your story
If the reason is personal things or because you are building up momentum in your story again or something, than you obviously have something planned for this story, so props to you!
Thank you for making this. It's so hard to find a transformation story that wows me. You've gotten me to feel stuff from this story as much, if not even more than my favorite story of all time: Five Score; a story that story changed my life by making me want to be a brony and that there was no turning back. I always would be one, and reading Five Score me proud of that; proud to be part of such a unique and mold-breaking community at a time where the world needs it most. This story is resurfacing these feelings and pumping them with steriods! So yeah... Your story is pretty dank.
I will always remember this story, no matter how long it takes to finish or how long my life is. MLP writers are some of the most amazing storytellers on the planet. And I consider you to be one of the best of the best!
Always looking forward to new chapters! Best of luck ASGeek!
~ Valence
8128411
I have to agree. I was really bummed that Twilight's side of the story this chapter basically went nowhere, because I really want to see first contact and what comes of it. Honestly, I would prefer waiting two weeks between updates if they would go back to their previous size.
I really want to say Thank You to the author, so far this story's update schedule has been rock steady and I appreciate that. I look forward to upcoming chapters throughout the week.
8128431
Haha, wonder how Sunset would react to finding out that she is Equestria's next great threat.
8128453 only if it happens before equestria can get their hooves on her. Then it becomes a toss up depending on humans knowing about what she did or not. Considering Twilight is tending to inform the government, they will.
Then it becomes a diplomatic crisis, because there would be some heavy extradition requests, for things better classified as war crimes. And I doubt Celestia would be willing to throw Sunset to the wolves like that, in this story.
If humans get to her first, though... She's screwed. IF her niece or her childhood friend betrays her and teach humans how to negate her magic. Probably through horn removal, considering her power. Else, well, we can't contain her. But she would be public enemy number one, and a diplomatic headache of equestria ever wants to keep contact.
There is the option of secrecy, though her death is inevitable. Someone has to pay for the attack on humanity itself. We might want peace and prosperity, but no one violates or bodies and minds and gets away with it. She's a fanatic with a vision and resources, one that wants the best for equestria, but one that made herself a cozy little place among the greatest monsters in Earth's history.
And all our monsters were (are?) human.
I thought shed see a moose honestly when you were doing the first description
Is Jenny showing the early stages of tribalism? She clearly seems to be looking down on those who are not getting wings-earth ponies in particular. Maybe Sunset too quickly discounted that tribalism could quickly take a foothold if humans/ponies are starting to think that way before even fully transforming.
Sunset's plan somehow works, she manages to transform the entire world, creating an unparalleled source of magic. It seems all is good and the world is safe. Then the cutie marks appear. Cutie marks for war, politics, and crime.
Suddenly the new ponies are even better at tearing each other apart than before, because they have magic assisting their natural talents.
After a few decades, the world has managed to unite under one government. The violence has mostly stopped, because the government has started tracking cutie marks. Anypony with cutie marks in violence or crime are rounded up before they have the chance to break the law, and put into camps or put down.
Or maybe everyone just joins forces and stomps Equestria into the dirt.
Why is Sunset talking casually about Princess Luna and her powers, when she only knows of Princess Luna as a future threat?
8128582 Starlight's going to feel the mind magic from a mile away. Her or Twilight's first instinct is goung to be to remove that.
Also, I don't think James Horner is finished with this story. He probably still will make a reckoning with Sunset.
Capable but not necessarily going to cause great destruction. Do you know what a lot of people capable of great destruction are also capable of? Great creation, repair, or protection. It often depends on motivation, temperament, and intent.
You mean like the one that you you pose right now?
8128635
Star mentioned to Sunset in an earlier chapter that Luna was reformed. It was during her initial meeting with Sunset after coming through the portal when she was trying to convince Sunset that Equestria was already well-protected. Also, she would have known from the older records of Luna's abilities before she became Nightmare Moon, thus she made the logical conclusion that if Luna were indeed reformed, she would have returned to her dreamwalking duties.
She is really underestimating human innovation and capacity to adapt to changing circumstances. What's to keep the transformed ponies from simply re-purposing even half of our tech so that it's hoof-friendly? I personally would love to see Sunset's reaction at a MBT being crewed by ponies.
That is, unless her mind fuckery also stunts human ingenuity. If that's the case, then yeah, it'll be a big obstacle for us, but not as insurmountable as Sunset's making it out to be. It'd be a question of years rather than months in terms of adapting tech to suit the new inputs.
...But yeah, I still totally want to see transformed ponies using human tech to catch Sunset. The irony would be utterly delicious.
8128663 One of my favorite quotes says the same thing. "There is death and deliverance in every hand. Harm and healing in every heart."
8128408
Well, he HAS said that PaP was the major inspiration for this story.
8128686
Still, the way she uses it seems too casual for such recently processed information. Specifically this one:
Where she calls a Luna-related event ‘run-of-the-mill’.
8128695
I had know that, author had told me.
But I think it is still a big reference.
I'm guessing that Jenny is going to be one of these "nightponies."
You don't say, Starlight?
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/453/921/401.jpg
Also, I'm kind of hoping for one of the characters to make a "Why the long face?" joke at some point right after the transformation is complete.
8128716
It's not reference. It's a similar story point. That's not even remotely a reference. A reference would be something like, "I could give them a shared vision of some other pony. I don't know, like a teal filly or something. But that would be a lonely day for me."
8128448 Jenny's boyfriend called her a filly in this chapter...
It would probably be best if you write chapters that are twice as long as they normally are just to keep up the pacing that you established with the two chapters a week format you used to have.
Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah BATPONIES!
8128696
The main point of the discussion was to contrast how differently such a thing would be viewed on Earth as opposed to Equestria. She was trying to emphasize the contrast as to how such a thing is viewed across both worlds.
Adjusting the wording of that part of the conversation would not be terribly difficult to do to make it more clear what Sunset's reasoning is.
Happy to see updates! Keep them coming! :D
8128452 8128623 8128691 8128453
One inevitable problem that will plague most stories featuring (violent) human-pony conflict is that eventually, it boils down to the author stacking the deck in favour of one team or the other right from the beginning, failing to adequately address unforeseen contingencies, or simply hand-waving off any potential obstacles to the plot they had in mind. One side always seems to be 'cheating'.
If this thing escalates to a full-blown Sunset vs Humanity kind of war, whether ideological or physical, I'm really hoping that our author can pull it off without making the resolution feel like a cop-out.
Will Sunset see the faults in her plan or will pride consume her?
I fear that a lot of ponies have to die before she does.
8128822 True, though to be fair most violent conflicts are horribly one-sided anyway haha.
8128822
I am more thinking something like North Korea causing issues. Either they decide to attack because everyone is sick in South Korea and they think they can get away with it or they are mad because their people at the UN became ponies. Sunset doesn't half to be the scapegoat, yet.
I like it. I have been following it for the better part of the last three months. Only now I comment.
Exposing humans to thaumic energy always seems to have one of four effects in any given story when it does have that name:
One: Nothing. It's something many creatures just convert from natural energy sources, and they just have it, others don't, simple as that. Though others can be effected by its use, others are resistant, humans usually falling into the latter category.
Two: They become adapted to it, and can no longer flourish nor thrive without it ever again once substantially exposed. Go to a place without and become barren.
Three: Their shape is substantially and often permanently altered, as their original is not compatible with it, and they immediately adapt to it or start to do so by bending, twisting, and compacting their shape, instantly in some, gradually in others. In some tales it states hominid and equine beings have always been interconnected, or were separate once upon a time, but are now inextricably bound to each other, for thousands of years in some cases.
Four: Death. Thaumens are attracted to any and all biological life forms they can get to. Much like UV, too little or too much is harmful or helpful. As a driving force of all life, any place void of it tends to be barren and sterile. Humans require only minute quantities of it, or none at all, and are a unique being because of it. Like most, they are thaumic magnets, but unlike most, all the power goes straight to their heads, their bodies so efficiently funnel it to their brains. Unlike others who can remove the excess, humans hoard it and it rapidly accumulates till their skulls get hot and it cooks their brains to a perfect crisp, almost like an electric chair, only no external burns are apparent.
This seems to be of the second variety unless otherwise tampered with, deliberately so. Which bleeds into the third type. Could Doctor Connors be the unprecedented solution to this entire thing? Or could this be like the Consequences fiction where going to Eques then coming back home to earth solves everything, but leaves you with wild technicolor hair, eyes, and a mark on your hip? Plus wings if you got them (I'd hope not).
I vote Doctor Connors. The latter is not likely from what we have seen already. No one has ever been a brick wall before, and Sunny has noted this herself. Is this due to a rare but not exclusive blood type? Is he the only one? Or has the contagion not claimed enough hosts to show what happens when his uncommon type gets it? It could swing either way this way. If it is a recessive or relatively scarce, but not vanishingly rare trait, she would have run into this hurdle at home had she claimed hundreds. If not and he is the only one, I'd say he's a minor setback, unless his blood could threaten to be a cure, like in The Last Man on Earth/I Am Legend, where this was the case.
The optimistic part of me wants the latter to be the case. The non cop out bit wants the natural non brainwashed or memory wiped population to deal with it on their own terms the natural way, and not become hollow husks of their old selves. This tragedy has already been done in Consequences, and does not need a repeat.
Another thing. In times of stability and prosperity, of abundance, male births are highly favored. For more purposes than the inheritance scam, which is bullocks. When all has been accounted for, and all needs are met, there is no need for more, no need for surplus, save desire. A stable population is good resource management. This tends to happen when males births are favored, as the average couple tends to have one child only or none at all. Plus many will remain single under those circumstances, or opt to adopt. Also, personal productivity is favored over reproduction when the circumstance is comfortable enough, and both are equally productive, until one of them conceives, then they become less effective after six months, while the other is just as good.
Female births are much more necessary under pressure and duress, scarcity. The population has endured a sharp drop, or will inevitably have one due to hunger, thirst, illness, or adversary conflict like warfare. When the population needs a quick boost, females are favorable, providing males are plenty enough you can do so on intercourse alone, without need for artificial insemination. For breeding purposes, females are far more imperative. More simultaneous pregnancies means more births at once, as opposed to having them occur year by year, essential during aftermath of mass death.
However, it is possible to overcompensate. When there's too many of them, incest is more liable to expose harmful traits, or ones that are a hindrance that would remain recessed and hidden. And artificial insemination is imperative if it goes too far, as intercourse alone won't cut it with the right extreme. Just because seed production is easier and ever more abundant than eggs doesn't mean it has no cost whatever, as that would break the law of energy and mass. Overestimating male capability is like thinking making, shipping, buying and overusing LED and Hybrid cars will solve all of our problems. A short term solution that will have painful backlash much later.
I will presume it is either even or near even here, as disrupting the existing balance will cause severe chaos when the calm spell wears itself off. It's too soon to say right now, but give it a month or two. If this fiction is anything like our worlds current state, we have had far more peace, fulfillment and overall wellness than we have ever had, in spite of what television and mobiles tell us, focusing on sensational things. Breeding as if there is scarcity will ironically become a self fulfilling prophesy. More mares will make more foals, and leave less for us all. Much like Sunny's doomsday prepping will trigger an interdimensional war or otherwise unrest. Someone so tactful and resourceful can be so unwise and so uninformed. She's causing exactly what she doesn't want.
Ironically, her biggest character flaw in canon is impatience, impulsiveness, and hastiness. Great tactical plans short term, but poor oversight long term. She was always far more an antagonist than an active villain. Always well intentioned, but often uninformed. At no point during her antagonistic state was I ever convinced she was evil. She never seemed to actually enjoy bullying others or have real malice behind her mischief, she always seemed to be putting on a show, exceeding hamminess. She always seemed to be hiding something, like personal insecurities, inadequacies. Being a hothead and wanting everything now was the issue. Even during EQG, she outright states that she hates violence, and will not do anyone harm if she can help it. Only when the element corrupted her and caused loads of pain did she show any intent to do murder, which she immediately regretted when restored to her normal self again.
This isn't the SS I know and love. She doesn't have this much patience, even when she is portrayed the way most of us know and think of her. She may be smart, but she likes things quick as they can get. Biding her time like this would push her buttons. Also, this one seems to have no remorse at forcefully rewriting every member of an entire species, possibly erasing their individuality. It seems some, even many of them will lose their identity on this plague. Losing both your digestive and reproductive system then having them swapped with something foreign to you may be even worse than receiving hooves and being down on all fours, much worse. How will most react to a completely new digestive tract? How will they look at an entirely new reproductive tract? I imagine these being more distracting than having new limbs.
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Yeah, this is my only problem with the story right now.
Sunset may be psychologically pushing people toward accepting their transformation, but there are 300 million Americans who still have it in their minds the desire to remain human,
I don't think people are going to react well if the transformed humans actually demand that people submit to surrendering their humanity. There could be a lot of violence over that. Potentially a riot by a bunch of scared people.
This is especially true if Sunset, whether by accident or not, becomes a god to the transformed people. If people find out about Sunset and her plans, there could be people who demand her death, while the transformed people consider her to be their savior and fight to protect her.
8128426 or something like that
So Sunset is fixing to literally turn the EG mirror bit to her advantage? That is BRILLIANT!
8128822 My personal feelings on human vs pony war is that the humans won't lose. Ponies have some tricks, but ours are bigger.
On the other hand, if ponies start to lose, they simply close the portal, and we can't open it on our own.
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Yeah, I'll see what I can do about the pacing. I actually thought people might balk at mega-chapters, so I had tried to divide up the action along what seemed logical break points that ended on not so much cliffhangers as keeping up interest in what will happen next. It will also hinge on my available time, as I try to maintain a lead of a few chapters written in at least draft form, as that takes some of the pressure off.
Thanks for the positive comments as well as the criticism. It makes the criticism go down easier. While criticism ultimately does make for better writing, it's nice to hear detailed praise as well so I know what I did right
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I thought it might be a nice nod to EqG, since I've essentially created an alternate path for Sunset.
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Yep, it was definitely an inspiration and not meant to be a direct reference.
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Some details of the ultimate ending are still in flux in my head, though I have a general idea where things are going. I hope in the end it will satisfy most.
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I actually had the term "thestrals" in the original draft of the chapter for a while and decided that I didn't like that, either. It's hard to pin down why, it just didn't work for me.
I have to give you credit AS. This story has been a very entertaining read. The building mystery through the early chapters, the emotions of the characters as they've struggled with the changes or found out the details of Sunset's rituals, all of it has been very compelling! Your characterization work stands out in particular.
I do agree with some of the others about the pacing though. I'm really chomping at the bit to see how Twilight and Starlight will interact with the natives considering the circumstances. That's actually one of my favorite bits about first contact stories in general, so the extra stress of Sunset's plan should add a very interesting wrinkle into that.
Looking forward to the next chapter!
Typo:
Should be "
recluse" "refuge", probably?A thought struck me. Shouldn't this story be called "Ponedemic"?