• Published 31st Dec 2016
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Pandemic - ASGeek2012



The small Colorado town of Lazy Pines soldiers on through a bad outbreak of influenza in an otherwise typical flu season ... until the OTHER symptoms manifest.

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Chapter 34 - Suspect

The fact that good, fresh coffee had been supplied at the Wednesday morning conference did little to help the mood as they waited for Anthony Heller to arrive. Kevin disliked stark silence in a room filled with people, and he often could be counted on to strike up some sort of conversation to pass the time and ease the tension. He felt he dared not here, not even with those like Sandra with whom he had built a solid professional relationship.

Thus he could only sip his coffee and try not to feel like he was drowning in the emotional miasma that had settled over the room. He had been in situations before where the tone was grim, such as when the oncologist had gathered he and his wife for the final verdict concerning her cancer. Here the tone was beyond grim and teetering on the precipice of despair. The rumor was that several staff members had submitted their resignations, hoping to get back to their families before the world ended.

Anthony arrived flanked by several agents who fanned out and took up positions in what Kevin guessed were strategic parts of the room, as if they were expecting a conference of consummate professionals to become a brawl. He sat in the chair left for him next to Sandra. Two more seats on Sandra's other side were conspicuously empty, little cards reading "RESERVED" on the table before them.

He laced his fingers together under his chin. "I have an initial announcement to make. At five-thirty AM this morning, the President boarded his airborne command post and will remain there for the duration of the crisis. I suppose he doesn't want to take the chance of having to run the country with hooves."

Kevin lowered his coffee. "Just how bad has this become?"

Anthony glanced over to Sandra, who nodded solemnly. "I said yesterday that the CDC is struggling to get accurate numbers," said Sandra. "Their best estimates are anywhere from five million ... to fifty million infected."

"My God," someone from across the table murmured.

"There's now a large outbreak in Florida," Sandra said. "As well as parts of the deep south. There are reports coming in from Los Angeles, Portland, and New York. The number of people with active ETS symptoms is approaching one million and still going up."

"What about the Front Range?" Kevin asked.

"They're the worst hit," said Sandra. "It's spreading like wildfire in Denver. If this isn't stopped, then in about another week or two, you might as well rename that city 'Ponytown'."

"That's not the least bit funny, Doctor Marlowe," said Anthony.

"It wasn't intended to be," Sandra said in a stiff voice. "We're talking about two-and-a-half million people in a major metropolitan area turned into little colorful horses. You tell me just how I'm supposed to make that even remotely funny."

"The problem is far larger than that."

Sandra slammed her hand on the table. "I don't need you to tell me that! We can't stop this. It's out of control. We've extended the emergency area to Denver and Grand Junction, but you might as well include the rest of the planet."

Kevin's eyebrows rose. "Excuse me?"

Sandra glared at Anthony. "Tell him. It probably won't be long before it hits the news."

Anthony hesitated before replying. "I've been advised that flu outbreaks have been reported in several cities in Europe and Japan. All flights out of the US have been grounded, and the transportation grid is being shut down. As a precaution, and as a sign to those who may want to take advantage of the situation, the President ordered all US forces to DEFCON 3."

"Let's hope the Russians don't misinterpret that," someone muttered.

"I've been assured that the President has been in contact with the Russian government," said Anthony. "They were ruled out as a potential suspect, especially considering that US intelligence reported flu outbreaks in the Ukraine."

"So those CDC numbers--" Kevin began.

"Are for the United States only," said Anthony. "Before I continue further, I want to know if there have been any more developments since last night."

"Only one," said Sandra as she shuffled her folders around. "We had a new, fully transformed patient brought in last night. She has a mark on her haunches like the two alien ponies do. She was found lying in a back yard near the center of town. She's a Jane Doe to us right now as she's unresponsive, possibly catatonic."

"Have you looked over medical records?" Kevin asked. "Maybe she sought treatment and the color of her hair and fur was recorded."

"Preliminary search turned up nothing," said Sandra. "But the address of where she was found is that of Sadie Sommers, a woman who apparently worked as a volunteer at the hospital."

"Yes, I know her," said Kevin. "She's always been very helpful. Perhaps she can identify this patient for us."

"I'll talk to her as soon as I can. She's among the first of the patients in the shelters to wake up this morning fully transformed. Despite how this condition appears to keep the patients calm, there's likely going to be a lot of initial disorientation."

"Keep me informed as to what you find," said Anthony. "Miss Sommers was implicated as the perpetrator of this crisis by the alien ponies."

Kevin stared. "Are you serious?"

"Perhaps now you see why I was initially hesitant to trust them," said Anthony. "We've been able to find no grounds to support the claim. She's never had so much as a parking violation let alone suspicious activity related to bioterrorism. For all we knew, it could be a means to throw us off the trail."

Kevin frowned. "A trail that led you to Fred Turner and a dead end."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that, Doctor Conner. Need I remind you of the weaponized influenza found in his residence?"

"My impression was that this was all decided last night," said Sandra.

"Yes, and I'm committed to that plan, else I wouldn't be here. However, I'm still running the criminal investigation and was told to be open to all possibilities." He looked towards one of the agents. "Show them in."

The agent nodded and headed out of the room.

Anthony looked at the others gathered at the table. "If I seem obstinate on occasion, I apologize. All levels of government have undergone at least minimal exercises concerning first contact, but it was always under the assumption that such visitors would be from space, and we'd have ample warning of their arrival. If we weren't in such a crisis, someone with far more diplomatic experience than me would be brought in."

Kevin was given pause. In all the excitement, he had not once considered this a bona fide first contact. He never studied the question about life "out there" as he was much more concerned with more earthly matters much of the time.

He had trouble reconciling the concept of "alien" when the door opened and the two colorful ponies walked inside, their hooves clopping distinctly against the tiled floor. They headed around the end of the table and hopped into the two vacant seats next to Sandra.

"Please introduce yourselves," said Anthony in a cordial voice.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle," said the purple one. She gestured to her pale pink cohort. "And this is my companion, Starlight Glimmer."

Kevin leaned back in his chair and stroked his beard. Their English was slightly accented, but in a way he hadn't heard before. It had a slight sing-song cadence to it.

"We want to help you stop the spread of this transformation," Twilight continued. "We're not sure how quite yet, so we need your help as much as you need ours. Before we came here, our ruler informed us that she is committed to doing whatever she can to repair the damage this has caused your world. We just need you to give us the chance."

"I have been instructed by my government to accept whatever help you choose to offer," said Anthony.

"Finally," Starlight muttered.

"Thank you!" Twilight cried. "You can't imagine what this means to me."

"How do you want us to proceed?" Anthony said.

"Have you acted on the information I gave you concerning Sunset Shimmer?"

"The problem, Miss Sparkle--"

"Please call me Twilight!"

Anthony paused and smiled faintly. "My apologies. The problem, Twilight, is that the human who we identified as having the color scheme you described has no record of criminal activity."

"You don't need to arrest her or detain her," said Twilight. "In fact, I'd recommend against it. She's very powerful in the use of magic. I would just keep her under observation."

"But who bankrolled her? Who's supplying her with equipment?"

"You have to get out of the mode that some large organization is behind this," said Twilight. "Yes, she is one pony, but she's a powerful magic user among those who can't work magic. She's been on this world a little over twenty years."

Kevin's eyebrows rose.

"Twenty years?" Anthony said. "And she arrived here by this portal you mentioned?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Where did she appear?"

"I don't know," said Twilight. "At the time, this end of the portal was not anchored, so it could've appeared anywhere."

"Like in a war zone in Afghanistan," said Kevin.

Anthony gave him an odd look. "I beg your pardon?"

Kevin leaned forward. "Twilight, would the opening of this portal be about, let's see, twenty-one years and five months ago?"

Twilight's eyes widened. "How long is one of your months?"

"They vary, but the average is about thirty days."

"And your year?"

"Three hundred sixty-five days, with one day added approximately every four years."

Twilight looked intensely thoughtful for a few moments. "That's to within a few days' accuracy of when Sunset used the portal! How did you know?"

"Because if I did my math right, then that was about the day that Fred Turner said his patrol encountered a little orphaned Afghani girl," said Kevin. "The same one he claimed was his companion for the last twenty years."

Starlight gave him a confused look. "Who's Fred Turner?"

"He's believed to be the first one to come down with the modified influenza," said Kevin. "And until his transformation completed, he suffered from a form of paranoia ever since the incident I just described. He claimed that the girl had trusted him with some sort of satchel that she had refused to be parted from when she was first found."

"Twilight, that's got to be her!" Starlight said.

"Yes, it would be foal's play for her to cast an illusion to make herself look like one of their children," said Twilight. "That satchel was likely the device she used to modify the influenza virus and impart her transformation spell on it."

"Was she at all skilled at mind magic?"

"I'm not sure, but certainly somepony of her ability could pick up a spell or two if it suited her purposes."

"One moment," said Anthony. "Did you say mind magic? As in actual mind control?"

"Well, yeah," said Starlight as if she had been asked about the weather. "What else would I mean?"

"There are other applications for such spells beyond just mind control," said Twilight. "But it's enough of a danger that I'm glad Starlight is with me. She's an expert on such magicks and can detect if somepony -- sorry, someone -- is under its influence."

"And what of this portal?" Anthony said. "Is it still active?"

"Yes, but Sunset has it locked down," said Twilight. "It's located in the basement of a house near the center of this town. I'm guessing it's the house Sunset used as her residence for her human persona. You can see for yourself, but she likely has some way to shield or hide it unless I come along to break the spell."

"Unfortunately, we have something called due process here. I can't just invade her home unless I have probable cause."

"We won't have to break in," said Twilight. "Sunset's friend Star Singer is there. She's against what Sunset is trying to do--"

"So we hope," Starlight murmured.

"--and she would be glad to let you in."

Sandra turned towards them. "Is Star Singer one of your kind?"

"Yes, that's right," said Twilight.

"Can you describe her?"

"She's a unicorn mare with white fur and a light blue mane and tail," Twilight explained. "Her cutie mark is a musical note surrounded by stars."

Sandra looked down at her folder. "That's the exact description of the patient who was brought in late last night, the one found in Sadie Sommers' back yard."

Twilight gasped. "Star Singer is in the hospital? Is she all right?!"

"We don't know," said Sandra. "She's catatonic."

Starlight's eyes widened. "Twilight, you don't think Sunset--"

"No," Twilight said firmly. "She would never harm somepony like that."

Starlight frowned. "Why not? She made a human crazy in the head for twenty years. Maybe Sunset got so frustrated at Star Singer refusing to help that she lashed out and--"

"I refuse to believe that," said Twilight in a low voice. "Her plans for this world are hideous, but she would never stoop to that. We have to find out what happened to Star Singer. I have a feeling it's very important."

"I can tell if she's been affected by mind-magic," said Starlight. "I can likely counterspell anything Sunset came up with."

"I'm going to play devil's advocate here one last time," said Anthony. "If you had this portal technology twenty years ago, why did no one think to come here sooner and stop this Sunset person before she even got started?"

"It's a long story," said Twilight. "Suffice it to say, we didn't know she had survived the trip. Portals were thought to be too unstable to maintain. Our last two contacts with your world were from naturally occurring portals we had no real control over."

"Last two contacts?" someone in the room said. "You've been here before?"

"Not me personally," said Twilight. "The first time was about one thousand nine hundred years ago. It opened inside some sort of an imperial realm surrounding a large sea."

"The Roman Empire," said Kevin. "That explains how you knew Latin."

"The second time was about seven hundred years ago," said Twilight. "We're not sure where those explorers wound up. Things were so radically different. Instead of an organized empire, they saw nomadic bands of warring natives living in primitive cliff dwellings."

Kevin stroked his beard. "The Anasazi."

Sandra stared. "They had contact with ancient Native Americans?"

"Briefly," said Twilight. "And unauthorized. They made direct contact with a tribe against Princess Celestia's wishes. Contact was abruptly cut off when another tribe attacked."

Perhaps Kevin was giving into the same desperate need for hope that he could sense from the others, but the fact that these aliens had visited before made them seem a little less foreign. He saw a bit of a kindred spirit in Twilight: someone who wanted to do the right thing even if she wasn't sure how to go about it at first. He could sympathize better with how frustrating her initial contact with humanity had been. Not that he blamed Anthony for that, as he was just doing his job and seemed to have adapted his role.

"The expedition had to leave in such a hurry, they left some equipment behind," Twilight added.

Anthony raised an eyebrow. "Equipment? What equipment?"

"The usual things that Equestrian explorers would bring with them," said Twilight. "Enchanted gems and crystals to provide protection from extremes of heat and cold, or to act as wards against predators, among other things."

Anthony turned to Sandra. "I want to speak with Doctor Sarah Tanner at once."

"Mr. Heller, she may not be in a position to move properly on her own," said Sandra.

"I understand, but we don't have a lot of time. Can some arrangement be made to assist her?"

Kevin folded his hands. "Not to put too delicate a point on it, Mr. Heller, but you've frightened her once already. As her physician, I insist we limit the audience so that she doesn't feel overwhelmed. We should go to her, as there would be adequate space in one of the classrooms."

"I agree," said Sandra firmly. "She's my patient as well. I won't stand for her being subjected to undue stress in her advanced state."

Twilight exchanged a worried look with Starlight. "We don't want to cause anyone duress. May I ask why you want to see this person?"

Anthony turned towards her. "Because she may very well have discovered proof of your world's previous contact with ours, and someone actively tried to cover it up."


While Sarah had been insistent on walking to the meeting on her own hooves since she had learned to balance on them properly after waking that morning, the staff would not allow it. Thus she was pushed in a wheelchair down the corridor of the school, where they were joined by two FBI agents.

She wouldn't have agreed to come at all had not several other members of the shelter offered to help in her absence. Jenny had a bit more trouble with her hooves than Sarah had, perhaps because she was still trailing a bit behind her mother. Sarah had seen no issue with trusting people who until late the day before had been strangers.

Sarah had not let herself dwell on the end result of the transformation, not until the FBI agent opened the door to the classroom, and her widening eyes fell on the purple pony sitting on her haunches at a small table.

"Mrs. Tanner?"

Sarah continued to stare at the pony for another few seconds before the familiar voice registered. She tore her gaze away and looked at the gentle face of Kevin. "Oh, um, Doctor Conner. What's going on?"

"Have you not been told anything?"

"I thought it best not to spark rumors," said Anthony. "She was told only that I wanted to speak with her."

Sarah was staring at the purple pony again. She swallowed hard as she thought about her daughter Laura. Did she now look something like this?

"Mrs. Tanner, if at any time you feel you're not up to continuing--" Kevin began.

"Doctor Conner, we can't afford an overabundance of sentiment right now," said Anthony. "Time is critical."

"I'll answer all your questions," Sarah declared. "But under only one condition."

Anthony frowned. "We don't have time for demands."

The purple pony spoke. "I want to hear what her condition is."

"Go ahead," Kevin said before Anthony could object.

Sarah took a deep breath. "I want to see my daughter Laura. I want to know what's become of her."

Anthony steepled his fingers. "That's in Doctor Marlowe's purview, and she chose to stay behind with Starlight to investigate her Jane Doe patient."

"I can assure you she would agree," said Kevin. "Mrs. Tanner, you have my word that Sandra will find a way to fulfill your request."

Sarah nodded. "All right."

"I can take it from here," said the purple pony. "My name is Twilight Sparkle. You can call me Twilight. May I call you Sarah?"

Sarah was taken by the melodic undertone of the pony's speech. After a moment, she nodded.

"I've been told that you're an archaeologist, and that you're working on a theory concerning unusual contact with ancient people on this continent."

"Well, yes, I was, before all this happened."

"Were you able to place the exact time of this contact?"

"Only to within fifty years," said Sarah. "I only had two sites to work with, and they were both taken from me in various ways."

"Please, what's your estimate?"

"About 1275, plus or minus twenty-five."

Twilight smiled. "Your accuracy is better than you thought. You're within fifteen years, according to our records."

Sarah looked on in confusion. "Your records? Are you an archaeologist?"

"Sarah, your theory stated that these ancient people contacted another culture who may have brought knowledge of equinoids. You're right. My people were those equinoids."

"I-I don't understand," said Sarah in a shaky voice. "Are you saying ... you're not ...?"

"I guess I'm what you would call an alien," said Twilight. "My world is populated in part by more of my kind, and it was them who contacted your ancient people. One of my kind is behind this forced transformation, and I'm here to stop it, but I need help ..." Twilight trailed off, her eyes widening. "Sarah, are you okay?"

Kevin turned towards Sarah. "Mrs. Tanner?"

Tears trickled from Sarah's eyes. All the ridicule she suffered from the scientific community, all the snickers from even those she had most admired among her peers, all the stinging criticisms she had received that had gone as far as to question her professional credentials had all evaporated in a single moment. She had always pinned her hopes on the day that she would be vindicated, that she would find the proof that her theories were correct. Granted, the reality was not what she had expected, but it didn't matter. All the financial and emotional pain had been worth it in the end.

"G-Give me a moment, please," said Sarah in a shaky voice. "It's not every day I have my life's work validated in the space of a few minutes."

"I'm really happy for you, Sarah," said Twilight in a soft voice. "You could say I'm a fellow scientist. I know what the joy of discovery feels like. But I do need to ask you a question."

Sarah wiped her eyes and nodded. "Yes, anything."

"Can you please describe in detail what objects you found at that first site, the ones that were stolen?"

Despite the time that had elapsed since that incident, the find had so excited her that she could recall just about every detail of the exquisite gems and crystals, which she relayed to Twilight. "I wish I had pictures, but they were taken as well."

"It's okay," said Twilight. "Those artifacts were left behind accidentally by explorers from my world. They're essentially what you would think of as little devices that provided useful functions, except they use magic instead of technology."

Sarah's eyes widened. "Magic? Are you serious?"

"I know it may be hard to believe, but think of it as a sort of energy that you can't see or feel."

"You don't mean like radiation? Was I somehow contaminated? Did they cause--"

"No," Twilight said firmly. "They're completely harmless to you. I suspect that they were stolen -- and the petroglyphs erased -- simply to prevent your people from piecing together what was happening."

Sarah gasped. "So I was being purposely suppressed!"

"Yes, but not by your peers or anyone else from among your people." Twilight sighed. "This is all the work of a pony named Sunset Shimmer. I wouldn't be surprised if she had influenced your peers against you as well, just to prevent your theories from catching on. All it would take is a simple unbelievability curse."

Sarah frowned. "I felt like I didn't dare say anything for fear of reprisal against my family!"

"Sunset would never do that," said Twilight. "But I could see her taking advantage of your belief that she would."

"Doctor Tanner," said Anthony. "We need to know if you had any contact at all with Sunset Shimmer."

"That name is not familiar at all," said Sarah.

"Twilight claims that she has an alias: Sadie Sommers."

Sarah's stomach twisted. "You don't mean Sunny??"

Anthony raised an eyebrow. "You know her?"

"She's a good friend of the family. Or ... well ... she started to be just a few days ago."

Anthony leaned back in his seat. "You knew her for only a few days, and yet you claim she's a good friend? Isn't that a bit odd?"

"Not really, given the circumstances," said Twilight. "The ponies of my world tend to form friendships easily. It's not uncommon to call someone a good friend after knowing them for only a short while. If Sunset intended to duplicate all aspects of pony society, it makes sense she would include this as well."

Sarah felt like her head was spinning. "My daughter Laura is really close to her. They're in the same shelter together. Now you're telling me Laura is associating with a monster?!"

"Sarah, she's not a monster," Twilight said.

"I'd call the destruction of the human race a monstrous act," said Anthony.

Twilight sighed. "I don't mean it that way."

"Even Hitler was kind to dogs," Kevin said. "Perhaps Sunset's ideals are twisted, but on a personal level, she could very well live up to her nickname."

"I don't want my daughter associating with somepony who may be the least bit of danger to her," said Sarah. "I either want her out of that shelter and reunited with me, or move me into the shelter with her so I protect her."

"Doctor Tanner, we have to tread lightly here," said Anthony. "According to Twilight, Sunset is a being wielding a power we don't understand or have any defense against. Right now, we're reasonably sure she has no idea that Twilight is collaborating with us. We need to maintain that advantage as long as possible."

"You're asking me to throw my daughter to the wolves," Sarah protested. "Isn't there anything that can be done to protect her?"

"Sarah, I know we've only met, but I'm asking you to trust me, please," said Twilight. "Sunset will not harm your daughter. At worst, she would encourage her to use her pony magic."

"Pony magic?" Sarah asked in a bemused voice.

"All ponies can do magic in one way or another," said Twilight.

Sarah swallowed. "She has wings."

"Then she'll be able to fly and potentially control the weather."

Anthony turned to her. "I beg your pardon? Control the weather?"

"Er ..." Twilight murmured. "Perhaps I better hold the equivalent of a 'Magic 101' lecture soon."

"If you would, please," said Anthony. "In the meantime, let's get back on topic. Doctor Tanner, did you have any contact with Sadie Sommers before this?"

"None at all," said Sarah. "I didn't even know she existed."

"Forgive me for beating a dead ho ... ugh ..." Kevin began, running a hand through his hair. "What I mean is, I keep coming back to Fred Turner's claims of his companion."

"Yes, Doctor Conner, I know," said Anthony. "The theory has more merit now, though much of the evidence is still circumstantial."

"I just want to point out that Sunny's residency in Lazy Pines would allow her to more easily visit Mr. Turner."

"Or she could have teleported in from anywhere in the world."

"No, she couldn't," said Twilight. "Teleportation has limitations. First, you need a good picture of the target location in your head. You can't teleport to an unfamiliar area. That's why it took Starlight and I time to reach one of your settlements. Another limitation is distance. Despite having a reasonably clear picture of what the basement of Sunset's home looked like, I couldn't teleport that far. Finally, a location can be shielded against teleportation. Given these limitations, Kevin is correct. This town would be an ideal place for Sunset."

Anthony leaned forward. "Thank you for your time, Doctor Tanner, you've been very helpful."

"What about Laura?" Sarah said. "I still want to see her."

Anthony folded his hands. "Can we trust you not to give her some sort of warning about our suspicions of Sadie Sommers?"

Sarah frowned. "If you would just transfer her to the shelter I'm in, it would be a moot point, wouldn't it?"

"Not really, especially if Miss Sommers has a vested interest in keeping a relationship going with your daughter."

"I will not have her used as a pawn by either you or her."

"Wait, stop," said Twilight. She hopped off her chair. "May I speak with Sarah alone, please?"

"That depends on whether Mrs. Tanner is okay with that," said Kevin.

Sarah stared as Twilight stepped up to her. She felt a connection with this creature that she could not explain. Perhaps if this has been a week ago, Twilight would have seen utterly alien to her, but now ...

"I'll talk to her," said Sarah in a soft voice.

Anthony looked doubtful, but he stood and gestured for his fellow agents to follow. Kevin nodded to Sarah and headed out after them.

Twilight waited until the door had closed before she spoke. "I want to apologize for everything that's happened to your family. You shouldn't have been put through this."

"I feel better about it now than I did before," said Sarah.

"Sadly, that's an inherent part of the transformation itself."

"You mean my mind is being affected?"

"In a way," said Twilight. "We all have something inside us that tells us what we are. If it's telling you that you're a pony, it's hard to dispute it. Before this started, it told you that you were a human."

Sarah nodded slowly. "If I may ask, do you have family of your own?"

Twilight smiled. "I have a brother I'm very close to, and his wife, and my parents, and grandparents. I don't have any foals -- children -- of my own, but I have a little niece I love very much. I wouldn't want anything to happen to them, either."

"Then you can understand how I feel."

"I do. How old is Laura?"

"Seventeen."

"Do you have an age that's considered adulthood on your world?"

"Legally, that would be eighteen," said Sarah. "But to be honest, it might as well not matter. Laura always strove to be responsible. I'm very proud of her, even if the circumstances behind her drive are less than ideal." Sarah paused. "Did you really say that Laura could control the weather?"

"If her abilities were developed properly, yes," said Twilight. "Pegasi on my world have an instinct for it but still need to develop the skill over time."

"That's so ironic," Sarah said softly.

"How so?"

"Well, it's a long story," said Sarah. "Suffice it to say, there was an incident of violent weather when she was younger, and I think my younger daughter Jenny was traumatized by it. I only found out recently that Laura had blamed herself for it all this time."

Twilight looked thoughtful. "That is interesting that Laura became a pegasus."

"Twilight, are you implying that this is irreversible?"

Twilight gave her a sad look. "I don't know yet. I'm hoping it's not. I would dearly love to delve into how to change you all back, but I have to pick my battles. I have to stop the spread of this first. If it is permanent, I feel you have a right to know what abilities you may possess." She turned to the side and gestured with a wing towards her haunches. "This is called a cutie mark. Ponies of my world get one when they know what their greatest talent is. Having a purpose means something to us. I'm sure it does to you, too."

Sarah took a shuddering breath and lifted her hands. Already they had started to grow stiff. "I know all too well about that. I'm about to lose mine. I'm just glad you were able to confirm my theories before that happened."

"You don't have to lose your purpose, Sarah."

Sarah lowered her hands. "I don't understand."

Twilight turned towards the classroom whiteboard. She pointed to a marker. "Keep you eye on that, please." Her horn started to glow, and so did the marker. The latter rose into the air.

"Oh my God," Sarah murmured.

Twilight applied the marker to the board, but it simply skittered across the surface. "Hmm, this doesn't have a little clicky button like the pen did. How does the writing tip come out?"

"Um, you have to pull the cap off, Twilight."

Twilight did so. "Ah, there we go!" She lifted the marker to the board and drew in sweeping loops and spirals. "This is a symbol from the written language of my world. It means 'hope.'"

Sarah stared, her eyes glistening.

Twilight turned to her, still levitating the marker. "It's what I want to leave you with. If I have it in my power to change you and your family back to fully human, I will do it in a heartbeat. But if I can't, I want you to know that things are not hopeless. You don't have to follow whatever fate Sunset Shimmer dictates for you. You can still be in control of your own destiny regardless of what body you have."

Sarah raised a trembling hand to her horn as she stared at the glowing, levitating marker.

"Ponies of my world are not told what cutie mark they should get," said Twilight. "Nor should you be told how you have to live your life after this."

Sarah let out a ragged sigh. "All I want is for my family to be safe and happy."

"I promise you, I'll do everything I can to see that comes true."

Sarah lowered her hand. "Thank you for talking to me, Twilight. You're the first one other than Doctor Conner who I feel has been straight with me since this started."

"I wouldn't be so hasty to blame your fellow humans. They had no idea what they were dealing with. After being in this world for only a day, I dearly wish contact had come about under different circumstances."

Sarah smiled faintly. "I think we would've become good friends."

"Nothing says we can't now," said Twilight. "Friendship is one of our most treasured and powerful institutions."

"Powerful?" Sarah asked.

Twilight smiled. "In my world, friendship is magic."

"Twilight, may I ask what your next step is in combating this?"

"I want to craft a counterspell," said Twilight. "I intend to examine a human who has the spell but no symptoms yet."

"You can't do it on somepony who's already transforming?"

"I need to cast the counterspell to make sure it works. That will be far easier on someone who's not transforming yet."

Sarah considered. "Twilight, I would like to make a request ..."


Starlight's eyes widened as the hospital room door opened and her gaze fell upon its patient. Star Singer lay on her side, her hooves drawn towards her as if to make herself as small as possible. An IV was threaded into one of her fore-legs, and several patches over her shaved chest lead to wires that snaked towards the heart monitor, itself issuing a regular, sonorous beep.

Starlight advanced and saw that Star Singer's eyes were glazed, staring straight ahead at nothing, the pupils partially shrunk. Occasionally she blinked, but that and the steady rise and fall of her barrel were the only signs of life. She waved a fore-hoof in front of Star's eyes to no avail.

"<Star Singer, can you hear me?>" Starlight said in Equestrian. "<This is Starlight Glimmer. What happened to you?>"

Star Singer remained unresponsive.

"Was that your native language?" said Sandra in a bemused voice. "It sounded so much like singing."

"Then you probably wouldn't be surprised how many spontaneous musical numbers break out on my world," Starlight said as her horn started to glow.

"What are you doing now?" Sandra asked warily.

"I'm checking for evidence of mind magic." Starlight paused, then shook her head. "And I came up empty. Whatever happened to her, that wasn't it. What can cause this sort of thing in your world?"

"Anything from physical trauma to extreme psychological disturbance," said Sandra. "We examined her and did some imaging. She doesn't have any obvious injuries, assuming we're interpreting pony anatomy correctly."

Starlight leaned closer to Star's horn. "No evidence of mana burn, either."

"Mana burn?" Sandra asked.

"Something that can happen to a unicorn when channeling too much power, or if a spell backfires such that the magic flow reverses." Starlight tilted her head. "Huh. I wonder if this is a self-induced healing trance."

"You mean, like a hypnotic state?"

"Something like that," said Starlight. "Unicorn healers on our world can induce a trance to let the body devote most of its energy towards healing, But, again, she's not injured, not physically, anyway." Starlight peered at Star Singer's face. "She almost looked frightened."

"She was discovered when a National Guard patrol heard a scream."

Starlight's eyes widened. "A scream?"

"When they went looking for the source, they found her in this state."

"When was this?"

"Late last night, about nine PM."

"I don't know how you measure time of day yet. Can you describe it in terms of light or dark or sun position?"

"Early night, a few hours after the skies became completely dark."

Starlight turned her head back towards Star Singer. Her gaze fell on Star's cutie mark. "No, that can't be it."

"What is it?"

Starlight raised an eyebrow. "You sure you want me to explain this? I've seen how much humans have trouble believing in magic."

"I'm trying to be as open-minded as possible," said Sandra. "Please, just tell me."

"Well, okay," said Starlight in a wary voice. "Star Singer's talent is that she can see the future. Well, sorta see it. She said she usually doesn't get precise dates and times, just general ideas of big events, usually threats. It's what started Sunset on her crazy plans in the first place, and Star Singer was always paranoid about her visions herself."

Sandra did indeed appear as if she were struggling to work this into her worldview. She finally raised a hand to her forehead and said, "If I ever appear like I'm having trouble, it's because of my oath: do no harm. As much as I want to let you have free rein, I have to think of the safety of my patients."

"Yeah, I get it," said Starlight. "But where I'm going with this is: what if Star Singer tried to use her ability and saw something that so shocked her that she retreated into this trance as a means to get over it?"

"So taking her out of it would be dangerous?"

"It could, yeah."

"So we're back at square one," said Sandra. "Twilight was convinced this was important somehow."

"I've come to trust her on that score." Starlight approached the bed. "Okay, maybe I can try something that won't disrupt her trance. If whatever she saw is still fresh in her head, I could get a reading off her thoughts."

"A mind-reading spell?" Sandra said in a dubious voice.

"Not quite," said Starlight as her horn lighted. "Reading minds is sort of a myth, but a mind can be compelled to reveal its secrets. Since her conscious senses are out to lunch, I have to see if I can get a direct link into her head."

"A Vulcan mind-meld," Sandra deadpanned.

Starlight paused, and the glow of her horn faded. "Wait, you have someone who can do this?"

Sandra blinked. "That's not--"

"If you do, get him up here and have him do this Vulcan thing. I can guide him if he has questions about how pony minds work."

"That was a joke, Starlight," said Sandra.

"Oh," said Starlight. "No offense, but your language is weird."

"That aside, what good will this do? For all we know, she saw a vision of our world falling to Sunset Shimmer."

"Yeah, but there may be details we can use," said Starlight. "If it helps any, all the baddies she saw in her visions back in Equestria were dealt with." She rubbed a hoof through her mane and averted her eyes for a moment. "In one manner or another. The point is, Twilight was involved in dealing with every one of them, but she usually had more of a clue what she was doing. Not so much now. Anything we can find out can help."

Sandra folded her arms and considered. "The problem is, Starlight, this isn't like allowing a visiting surgeon into the operating room. In that case, I can watch and know if the surgeon is doing harm. I'd have no idea in this case. Not intentional harm, mind you."

"What I want to do should be safe," said Starlight. "The worst that will happen is it doesn't work. The only other choice is to do nothing and give Sunset another advantage."

Sandra stared at Star Singer for another moment before finally saying. "All right, do it."

Starlight nodded before turning towards Star Singer, her horn glowing. "So I may go completely still while I do this. Don't worry about it or try to rouse me." Starlight closed her eyes. "Now, let me concentrate ..."


Starlight opened her eyes inside a small bedroom.

The room was cozily furnished, the lighting subdued. A window overlooked a tree-lined street in Canterlot. Pictures of unicorns of varying ages festooned the walls. The only one she recognized was Moondancer.

Starlight understood at once. The pony who was the target of this spell often used imagery to make sense of what was happening to their mind, so they could convince themselves that they were doing this of their own free will. One common imagery was sitting down in a cozy space reading their diary or journal out loud and not noticing another pony was there.

Here, however, where Star Singer was in a healing trance, she was not present. Instead, a book sat neatly in the middle of the bed, a large heart inscribed on the cover with the words "My Diary" written within.

Starlight hopped up onto the bed, and after a moment's scrutiny, she opened the diary with a nudge of magic. Dear Diary, the first page read. I'm so stupid. I never should have suggested I go on this lark. I came here thinking I could talk some sense into Sunset, but all I seemed to do was urge her on! Worse, she sounds almost reasonable to me. Yes, even after all this time, I want her plans to work. I want ponykind to be safe. What if she really is doing these natives a favor? What if this will benefit them as well?

"Yeah, who's surprised?" Starlight murmured. "I told Twilight it was a terrible idea to send her on ahead."

She tried to advance a few pages at a time, but the book resisted. She gritted her teeth, and her horn glowed brighter, but the book would not budge. All she could do was turn to the very next page, and even then it wouldn't let her go further until she read it.

Starlight sighed. "Fiiiine."

Dear Diary: Sunset wants me to help her. She claims she doesn't really need my help, just that it would be nice to work together again. Why is this so important to her? I want her to be successful even though I know it's wrong! She was right when she said this was our dream, not just hers. If I had come to this world with her twenty years ago, I might have gone along with her plans. What does that make me? A monster? A misguided fool?

"Huh," Starlight said in a low voice. "I guess she really did have doubts. Now can I skip to ... nope." She turned the page.

Dear Diary: I broke down. I helped her. Princess Celestia may throw me in a dungeon if I ever get back, but I did it.

Starlight frowned. "I can think of some worse things than a dungeon, to be honest."

She had blood samples from a native immune to her modified virus. She claimed once again I didn't have to help, that she had things under control. But does she really? Was she more worried than she let on? Did I help her out of some misguided need for her friendship again?

Starlight's mouth fell open. "She was actively investigating his immunity?"

Now she no longer needed the diary to encourage her to read each entry. She quickly turned to the next.

Dear Diary: I am so very angry with Sunset. I told her about humanity's magical awakening, and she acted as if I told her about the weather.

"What do you mean, humanity's magical awakening?!" Starlight cried.

I tried to contact Twilight, but I knew that was a failed endeavor from the start. Maybe that's the only reason I tried, knowing I would fail. Part of me wants to stay loyal to Sunset, to see our dream realized, TO MAKE THE VISIONS STOP. I want to tell you all about this, dear diary, but I want to give her another chance.

Starlight face-hoofed and uttered in English, "Fuck!" If there was one good thing she could say about the native language, it had plenty of swear words.

I'm going to Sing to the stars. I'm going to find out if Sunset is right, that a threat exists that only a magical pony society can face down.

Starlight frantically flipped to the next page, and her pupils shrank to pinpricks at the words scrawled across the page:

IT COMES TO DEVOUR ALL, AND ALL THE MAGIC RAINBOWS IN CREATION WON'T STOP IT

As she read the last word, the diary abruptly burst into flame.


Starlight gasped as her eyes snapped open.

"Are you all right, Starlight?" asked Sandra.

Starlight whirled around to face her. "We have to talk to Twilight, now!"

"What is it?" said Sandra. "Did you learn anything?"

"Not what I was expecting. Sunset already knows what's causing Kevin's immunity!"

"How would Sunset know something like that?"

"Because Star Singer happens to have an education in biology and was stupid enough to help Sunset. She said Sunset had samples of Kevin's blood."

Sandra's eyes widened. "Two vials had been reported as lost or misplaced."

"I can almost guarantee you that Sunset took them."

"And Sadie was a volunteer at the hospital for years and would know where they were stored," said Sandra. "Shit. I better let Mr. Heller know. Did you learn the details of what Star Singer found out?"

Starlight rolled her eyes. "Of course not, that would be too easy, wouldn't it? I did get a clue, but I need Twilight to help me figure out what it means."

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