Chapter 45 - Doubt and Resolve
"Before she left, Laura suggested that if they give us a choice of where to go, we should go a few miles north of town, closer to Green Mountain," said Emma.
"Did she say why?" asked Kelly.
"We're in a sort of valley here," said Joan. "It will be easier for us pegasi to keep rain clouds contained, at least until we're more proficient at this."
"There's also a lake near Green Mountain," Emma explained. "It will be a good source of water from evaporation."
"Won't we have to worry about it running out?" asked Kelly.
"Not really. There are lots of ways to tap moisture from the atmosphere. We just want to start small until we get better at this. Laura thinks once we actually get into the open skies, we'll start to better sense the overall flow of air and moisture across the Front Range."
"What about seeds to start crops?"
"I've got that covered," said Chris. "I started buying agricultural supplies in anticipation of spring. I've got some seed stores."
"Won't it take time for them to grow?" Kelly asked.
Joan's husband waved a hoof. "Earth ponies got this. There's still plenty of native plants and flowers we can eat in the interim. I think we can hasten that along at least."
"Laura mentioned we should be thinking of the other towns nearby," said Joan.
"Of course," said Chris. "Ponies never hoard."
Fred narrowed his eyes. Despite the peaceful nature of the ponies around him, he couldn't help but be reminded of his days in Afghanistan. His missions were often to contain or push back the enemy; he wasn't about to be asked to convince the Taliban to change their deeply held religious or social convictions. That was what he felt he was up against here.
"Not just supplies, though," said Emma. "Laura thought a contingent of pegasi should fly to towns like Breckenridge and see how they're doing."
"That's a great idea," said Emma's father. "Let them know that they're not alone in this."
Fred also noted how Laura was still seen as their tacit leader even in her absence. While he had not wanted to compete against her, he had hoped her departure would have left a power vacuum that he could fill.
Much of their planning simply made sense. He certainly didn't want to be a burden, and he imagined the others didn't, either. Planning a self-sustaining community was really a no-brainer. He wanted to think they would figure this out without a shared vision.
"I had heard that some humans were being hostile towards ponies," said Kelly in a nervous voice. "Wouldn't flying everywhere open you up to attack?"
"We're going to have to take some chances," said Chris. "Ponies always help other ponies."
"I know, I just wouldn't want to lose any of my friends."
"I don't think we need to worry as much about that. I feel that we'll be protected."
Fred's fore-hoof shot up. "Whoa, wait. Protected by who?"
Chris turned to him and smiled. "By God."
"And just where did God show up in all this?"
"I felt it was implied by the vision," said Chris.
Fred frowned. "That white mare was no god."
"No, but I took her to be an incarnation of the Virgin Mary."
Fred had never been particularly religious himself, but he had educated himself about religious faith due to the diversity of people he might encounter when he was still with Special Forces. "You're Catholic, right?"
"Yes, that's right," said Chris.
Fred looked around. "Any other Catholics here?"
Joan and her husband tentatively raised their hooves. "Um, more like lapsed Catholics, though," said Joan. "We don't go to church as often as maybe we should."
"But we've always seen Chris there when we did," said her husband.
"Did either of you see that creature as Mary?" Fred asked.
Joan averted her eyes briefly. "Well, not really, but I could see why some might."
Fred turned to the others. "Do any of you feel funny about Chris' interpretation?"
"I don't," said Emma. "I'm not all that religious myself, but I don't see why I should be upset that Chris wants to interpret it that way."
Other ponies nodded their heads in agreement.
Fred pointed a hoof at Chris. "And how do you feel about others not seeing that creature as Mary?"
"I'm not sure what you're getting at," said Chris.
"Does it bother you any?"
"Why should it? They have different beliefs than I do. It shouldn't change what we're doing or how I feel. There are no barriers to friendship."
"I'm afraid I have to echo Chris' confusion," said Emma's father. "Just what are you getting at, Fred?"
Fred was desperate to latch onto anything that would shatter the perception of some benevolent spirit setting them on the road to pony utopia while at the same time avoiding disrupting their plans to meet the new challenges arising from their transformation. He was afraid that telling them the truth behind the vision would again paint him as crazy in the head.
He certainly didn't want everypony at each other's throats over their religions convictions. If anything, this reaction should be a breath of fresh air. He had seen enough religion-inspired violence to last him a lifetime.
Fred glanced back to Joan. She and her husband were speaking quietly but urgently to one another.
"It all comes back to what I was saying before," said Fred. "I'm trying to distinguish between the message and the messenger. Did the message of the vision make sense? From a practical standpoint, yes. But the messenger may have her own agenda. Maybe if that creature hadn't appeared, and we were left to draw our own conclusions, I'd feel better about it. Instead, I feel like she was there to make sure we had only one interpretation: hers."
"But what if that is the right interpretation?" Emma asked.
"Define 'right.'" said Fred.
Emma hesitated. "Well ... what other interpretation is there? We have these abilities, we know we're going to have to help each other to survive, so doesn't it make sense to follow her?"
Fred raised an eyebrow. "Follow her? This creature is your leader now?"
Emma's ears drew back slightly. "I didn't quite mean it that way. I meant more follow what she said and showed us."
"Okay, let's come back to something you said before. You said you didn't mind Chris seeing the creature as the Virgin Mary."
Emma nodded. "Yes. It's what Chris said, there's no barriers to friendship."
"And yet you're arguing with me about the interpretation of the vision, as if there is One True Way to interpret it. Isn't that a bit of a contradiction?"
When Emma gave him a distressed look, her father wrapped a fore-leg around her barrel and said, "With all due respect, Fred, why are you trying to shoot down this vision?"
"I'm not, actually," said Fred. "I'd absolutely love a world of peace and friendship. When we finally get turned loose, I'm going to be standing with the rest of you to make this work. What I'm getting at is this: I would much rather you all looked at the aspects of the vision and decide just purely on their merits whether you take them to heart or not, and not because somepony came along at the end and said 'oh, by the way, this means kindness, this means generosity' and so on."
The other ponies glanced at each other with expressions ranging from outright confusion to genuine thoughtfulness. Joan nodded to her husband before stepping towards Fred. "We think we see what you're getting at, Fred. The truth is, when Chris mentioned his take on it, we did start to wonder if maybe he was right, and this was some way of calling us back into the fold."
"The Church would always welcome you back," said Chris gently.
"Yes, I know, but ... we had our reasons for lapsing, and those really haven't changed. I'm very grateful for your understanding, and I guess that's one reason why I want to believe in this vision. It lets my husband and I decide for ourselves what we really believe in terms of God without being judged."
"You just made my point for me," Fred said. "You looked at part of that vision and said 'hey, this works for me, I'm going for it.' I'm the last pony who would ever advocate fighting over beliefs, but at the same time, I don't think anypony should tell you what to believe."
"I guess I still don't quite understand," said Emma. "But I think you really do care about the rest of us. I really struggle now to see you as a lot of ponies thought of you before all this started."
In that simple statement, Fred realized that this was a struggle for him as well. He had been granted what had been denied to him for so long: a network of friends who seemed to really care about him. He talked about separating the message from the messenger, but when that messenger was somepony who had sent him through hell for the past twenty years, it was difficult not to want to find a reason to reject the message outright.
"Thank you, Emma," Fred said softly. "I really appreciate that."
"I'm afraid I'm not going to waver in what I believe, Fred," said Chris. "But I'm not about to impose it on others. You make a good point. I would love to have others see things as I do, but they have to choose to do so."
Fred smiled. He had finally managed to make them think. Maybe they would go on to create some sort of idealistic society, but it would be because they wanted to, and not because Sunset Shimmer dictated it.
"So, um, I suppose it's nice having your sister back, huh?"
Jenny had not realized that her conversation with James had lapsed into another awkward silence until he spoke. She had to look around to see what part of the shelter they had wandered into, as she had been moving mostly on automatic. "Yeah, it's nice, actually," Jenny said with all sincerity, though her voice was a bit distant.
James' ears swiveled slightly. "Is something wrong?"
"Wrong? No, why?" Jenny replied more by reflex than anything else.
"Something's off about your voice. Are you and Laura still having issues?"
"Things have never been better between us," said Jenny. "Whatever the hell happened when I was little doesn't seem to be bothering her anymore."
James tilted his head. "What do you mean 'whatever the hell happened?' I thought you agreed it was a storm that you just don't remember."
Jenny sighed. "I'm not sure I really want to get into this."
"Come on, you've started to open up to me in the last day or so," said James. "Don't shut down now."
Jenny gazed at James, her eyes glistening slightly. "Okay, I'll tell you, but I want you to treat this seriously."
James' ears rose. "Why wouldn't I?"
"Because it's going to sound like my fantasies again. It's not. I don't know what it is."
"It's really bothering you, though."
Jenny realized that trying to keep any sort of emotional issue from a fellow pony was next to impossible. Too many cues betrayed her feelings, everything from the movement of her ears to even her scent. Perhaps that was why she was loathe to return to Laura despite enjoying their better relationship; she didn't want Laura to pick up on it and get the wrong idea.
"I had a dream the night before," said Jenny in a low voice. "Just before I woke up fully a pony."
"You hadn't mentioned that to me before," James said delicately. "You almost always recounted dreams to me that--"
Jenny stopped and whirled around to face him. "That's what I meant about taking me seriously. You were going to mention about how I used my dreams in my fantasies, weren't you?"
James rubbed a hoof through his mane. "Yeah, but it was just a comment, that's all. Why are you so on edge?"
Jenny stomped a fore-hoof. "I'm not!"
James glanced down at the hoof, then back at Jenny's face and smirked faintly.
"All right, maybe I am a little," said Jenny in a more contrite voice. "I have no idea why."
"So what happened in this dream?" James asked.
Jenny hesitated. "I don't remember all of it. When I first woke up, it just sort of vanished from my head. I don't know why I'm starting to remember it now. Well, no, I sorta do, but I don't know why that triggered it."
James sat on his haunches and wrapped his tail around them. "I think you better explain this in more detail."
Jenny saw the silent invitation for what it was. She had found that sitting or laying next to another pony made the moment feel more intimate. Not necessarily in a romantic sense, as she felt the same thing when close to her father. The need to accept the invite felt almost instinctual, like she simply needed the support of another pony.
She sat next to James, though she was careful not to actually press her body to his. "I was the peasant girl, and I stood near a manor destroyed by a storm." She paused. "That's all I remembered when I first woke up, but earlier today something happened that made me remember that the Fae Queen was in the dream."
James' eyes widened. "Really?"
"That's why I was afraid you wouldn't take this seriously. It didn't feel like it was part of my fantasies."
"Could it be the other way around?" James asked. "Thinking about them provoked the dream?"
"I haven't been thinking about them at all. We're living them, in a way."
"Huh. I hadn't thought about it like that."
"That's what I was told in the shared dream we all had," said Jenny. "But then when we heard about Sunny, it made me remember the Fae Queen."
"Sunny?" James asked. "Laura's friend, you mean?"
"Yeah. Supposedly she's the one who's behind all this."
James gave her a dubious look. "Are you serious?"
"I'm not sure what to think," Jenny said. "Laura was really upset at first when she heard about it, but now she seems to be over it already. She's too excited about what she can do."
"A lot of us are," said James. "But I'm still curious about this dream. What was the Fae Queen doing?"
Jenny closed her eyes as she struggled to see her murky memories. She remembered saying something, but not exactly what, or what happened after that. "All I can remember is that she caused the storm."
"She never did anything like that in your fantasies."
"Which is exactly why this is so confusing to me," Jenny said in an urgent voice. "She never did something like that in anything I ever thought up about her."
"So could this just be a random dream?"
Jenny frowned. "Well, it has to be, right? But it's weird that I forgot it, then remembered it again later. That's not how dreams work. You remember them soon as you wake up, and they fade over time unless you really focus on them. And why would hearing about Sunny trigger it? Or make me think of her as the Fae Queen?"
James blinked. "You hadn't mentioned that last part."
Jenny looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean, I ... wait ... no, I didn't." She bolted to her hooves. "I had forgotten that detail, something that happened earlier today, and now I remembered it again! What the hell?!"
James' ears had drawn back in surprise at her outburst, but now they slowly swiveled forward as he stood. "You said you were excited at seeing your sister again and hearing what she could do."
"I know, but I don't forget details like that," said Jenny. "Especially not when what Sunny supposedly did was almost exactly what the Fae Queen was doing. Something weird is going on."
"Are you sure it wasn't just a dream?"
Jenny rolled her eyes. "Oh, right, like that shared vision we all had was 'just a dream.'"
"But that was different, wasn't it?" James said in a confused voice. "It was special because we all had it."
Jenny was about to protest when she remembered what the mare had said in that vision, that Jenny had already taken steps towards being a better pony. Was all this focus on her odd dream just another manifestation of her self-centered attitudes? Was she already backsliding by making it all about herself again?
"It's just really odd, that's all," Jenny said in a subdued voice. "Maybe I'll get over it if I don't think about it too much."
"Just so you know, I wasn't trying to dismiss your dream, Jenny," said James. "I just don't like seeing you upset."
Jenny caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Laura was demonstrating flying maneuvers to four other pegasi, some of whom had only just finishing transforming that morning.
My sister can control the weather.
That thought should be familiar to her, something that made sense. Laura was a pegasus, so of course she could control the weather. Yet why did Jenny still have a vague idea in the back of her head that something was still off about this arrangement? Why would a dream she had initially forgotten now continue to pester her even as she watched her sister?
Jenny turned her head back towards James. "Thanks. I'll try not to let this bother me too much. Maybe once they finally let us out of here, things will settle down."
"I want to speak to whoever the fuck is in charge around here," Eileen protested.
"Ms. McDermott, everyone right now is really busy," said the flustered nurse who had tried unsuccessfully to get Eileen to submit to blood draw. "Now, please, if you would get back into bed and let me--"
"Fuck that, and fuck your needles. Even a blind man can see I'm perfectly fine. If I haven't started going pony by now, I'm not going to ever."
"We don't know that yet."
"Well, I do, because I'm tired of being cooped up in here," said Eileen. "Last I heard, I can't be held here against my will, so I'm discharging myself."
"There's been a change in circumstances, ma'am."
Eileen raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? Unless some idiot in Washington decided to declare martial law, you--"
"That's exactly what we're under, Ms. McDermott," said the nurse in a slightly quavering voice.
Eileen stared for a long moment. "You're shitting me."
"I wish I were. Things have gotten that bad."
Eileen let out an exasperated sigh and ran a hand through her hair as she started to pace. "You're telling me the whole world is going to shit? Am I going to be one of the last humans left?"
"You'll at least have the company of the emergency zone staff," said the nurse. "We've also received the counterspell."
"Yeah, but I thought that purple pony was supposed to fix everything."
"From what I understand, ma'am, she's still working on that."
"So is that why I'm being kept here?" Eileen demanded. "Is this some sort of bunker for what's going to be left of humanity?"
"It's not that," said the nurse. "I mean, I certainly hope it won't come to that. The truth is, there's really no place for you to go."
"I can go back to my sister's house. I'm supposed to be looking after it anyway."
"But there's no food supplies coming in except for the emergency zone staff and their patients, and we have no idea how long the electric grid can stay up in this part of the country with as many people who are sick with the flu or ETS symptoms."
"What about Denver?"
"The transportation grid is still shut down. Absolutely no interstate travel allowed." The nurse paused. "Plus I've heard that things have gotten really bad there. Over half the population has ETS."
"So what you're telling me is that this is the zombie apocalypse, but the zombies are small, colorful horses," Eileen deadpanned. "I swear to God, I'm living through it and I can barely believe it. All right, how about this: can I be reunited with my son?"
"That would be Robert McDermott?" the nurse asked.
"Yes, he's in the same shelter with my sister and her husband."
"I'm not sure we can do that."
"Why the fuck not?" Eileen demanded. "I'm supposed to be cured, right? It's not like I can pick up ETS from any of them now."
"I realize that, ma'am, but we don't know what the situation in the shelters will be right now. There's talk of moving them or something like that. I don't know all the details."
"Then I want to talk to someone who does have the details. I want to see my son."
"You're not the only one who has loved ones desperate to see their family!" the nurse exploded.
Eileen flinched, her eyes widening.
"I h-have a husband and a little girl four states over," the nurse said in a choked voice, her eyes shimmering. "I've barely talked to them in the past week because I'm pulling fifteen hour shifts, and I just heard this morning that they were starting to get ETS symptoms. I have no clue if I'll get to them before they change."
Eileen swallowed. "Fuck, I'm sorry."
The nurse took a deep breath and wiped her eyes quickly with the back of her hand. "I'm just trying to tell you that a lot of us are in the same position you are, Ms. McDermott, but we have to make do until this is over. One way or another."
Eileen let out a ragged sigh and ran her hand through her disheveled hair. She remembered all the promises she had made to start remaking herself when this was over. Yet now "over" seemed so far away that it was just a vanishing point in the unreachable distance. Perhaps that was just another delaying action, using the crisis to postpone the work she needed to do. Just like she had before, only then it was "when I get a little more money" or "when I get a better job," things that conveniently never seemed to materialize.
Eileen turned back to the nurse. "Okay, how about this: if the powers-that-be here can declare me healthy, then put me to work doing something."
The nurse blinked. "I'm sorry?"
"I don't know shit about medicine, but surely you need a warm body for something? Fuck, I'll clean toilets and bedpans if that's what you need. I just want to do something to help. What good is keeping me confined to bed in a hospital room going to do any of us?"
"That's not a decision I can make," the nurse said in an uncertain voice.
"Then go find someone who can!" Eileen declared. "Look, if things are that bad and that busy around here, any help you can get could make a fix for this giant mess go faster, right?"
Eileen knew her logic was not quite solid. They needed technicians and physicians, not some loser who didn't have the sense to realize she had no business trying to raise a child. Yet this wasn't about proving to Bob or to her sister that she could be a good mother, it was about proving to herself that she could be a better person.
Becoming a pony won't solve your problems. That was what Twilight had told her. She probably would have been just as lousy a pony as she had been a human. It was time to show she could be a better human.
"All right, I'll see what I can do," said the nurse. "And thanks for putting up with my meltdown just now."
Eileen smirked. "Hell, I wish I could be as calm as you were, especially when dealing with horrible patients like me."
The nurse smiled faintly. "I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
"Hey, wait, before you go," Eileen called out. "What's your name?"
The nurse turned around and gave her a confused look. "Isn't it on my ..." She trailed off as she looked on her uniform where her name tag should be and saw only a discolored space. "I didn't even notice it had fallen off. My name's Linda."
"And call me Eileen, please."
Linda smiled more fully before heading out.
"Maybe the world is going to go to pony hell," Eileen muttered. "But I'll be damned if I'm going to just sit on the sidelines and watch it happen."
When Bob was upset, especially to the point where interacting with the world felt awkward, he would retreat to his room and close the door to shut out everyone else for a while until he resolved his issue or found something to distract him.
As the day wore on, Bob felt he had become the embodiment of awkwardness. He could no longer stand despite having balanced fine on his hooves just that morning. Dark green fur covered his now fully equine legs and over much of his torso and arms. His hands could not really be called that anymore, but nor were they hooves yet. His horn had fully emerged, and when he thought his nose looked and felt like it jutted out further, Sarah had confirmed that he was developing a muzzle.
Yet not only did he have nowhere to retreat to, he felt an aching need to be close to others. If he concentrated hard enough, he could tell himself that this was all part of the induced transformation. Hearing from Sarah that somepony had actually been identified as the culprit and taken into custody had sparked some bit of introspection.
Part of his old personality still held sway, as he did not voice his needs, yet his family sensed it anyway. Somepony always remained close, Sarah more often than anypony else. Her magic replaced his useless hands, and it made him all the more eager to start using his own horn.
He could have just accepted the rewiring of his brain, but he couldn't help but examine it more closely. It truly did seem like a program, with symbols and relationships that formed patterns. The term "runes" seemed appropriate for these symbols, and "spell" for the relationships between them. He couldn't keep these revelations to himself, and he expounded on them to Sarah.
"So you really are casting a spell when you levitate stuff, Aunt Sarah," said Bob. "You just don't think of it that way, just like you don't think about how you walk or talk. It's just wired into your skill memory."
Sarah smiled gently. She lay on her belly with her fore-hooves crossed, her tail swishing idly. "It still takes some practice to get good at it."
"You're getting better at it every hour it seems."
"I certainly hope so," said Sarah in a wistful voice.
Another urge nagged at Bob. "Are you going back to archaeology?"
"I want to," said Sarah softly. "I really want to."
Despite not quite completing his transformation, Bob had started picking up nuances in pony body language. "What's to stop you?"
"I wish you had seen the same vision as everypony else," said Sarah. "It would explain things a lot more than I ever could."
"But you said somepony was behind all this, that they did this deliberately to us. Wouldn't it follow that the vision came from her as well?"
"It probably did," said Sarah. "And maybe that was wrong, but I still can't get over how much it spoke to me. It touched on everything I've been worried about since this started."
"I can't really dispute the gist of the vision," said Bob. "Working together as a peaceful society makes sense if we're going to survive. It's just that it seemed to touch everypony personally."
Sarah sighed. "It did."
It was easy for Bob to subsume himself to this vision by proxy. He might even see it for himself if he were fully pony by morning. His adoptive family had never been this close. Wasn't that alone worth all the initial turmoil?
He raised a misshapen hand and stared at it. He wanted it to be a hoof. He wanted this to be over, but he felt like he needed to get there on his own terms, no matter how much of a struggle it was. "What if ... what if that was just to make the vision stick?"
Sarah gave him a puzzled look. "I don't understand."
"Like advertising," said Bob. "It supposedly works better when targeted."
"But I still have to do something about my own faults that get in the way of us all working together," said Sarah.
That did make sense to Bob. The vision as he heard it recounted through others made everything seem so simple: follow five tenets, and everything will turn out okay. Yet wasn't that overly simplistic? Wasn't there more to it?
Failing to find fault with that, he instead turned to something that he could still examine. "Your vision was given to you by somepony who's considered a criminal."
"I know, but you can't deny that I disrupted my family more than I should have."
"Because you were pursuing something that was really important to you, and that you were very good at."
"I really appreciate your kind words, but--"
"They're not just words." Bob paused before adding, "I know you're good because I've read everything you ever wrote on archaeology, and not just after you specialized in Native Americans."
Sarah stared. "What? Really?"
Bob blushed faintly. "You started your archaeology blog back when I was six."
Sarah nodded slowly.
"Do you remember username DisplacedSon?"
"Yes, of course I do. He was my very first follower. He still follows me."
"That was me, Aunt Sarah."
Sarah's ears twitched, and her eyes widened. "H-he ... you never failed to make a comment on my posts. Every single one." Her eyes glistened. "And never failed to give me words of encouragement when I felt like my theories were being shot down without a proper hearing."
"Your theories were radical, but they deserved to be heard," Bob said.
"And they were correct," Sarah said in a quavering voice. "My theories were right, even if not quite in the way I had thought. And ... and Twilight even said maybe Sunset was behind them failing to gain traction."
Bob tilted his head. "Twilight?"
Sarah shook her head quickly, "Never mind. I'm not sure how much I should say about that, other than she said I should be free to find my own destiny."
"Then why not continue your archaeological work?"
"Bob, before I answer that, please tell me why you never said anything," said Sarah in a plaintive voice. "Why didn't you ever tell me you were that interested in my work?"
Bob sighed. "I think you know the reason."
Sarah looked thoughtful for a moment. Her ears drooped slightly. "You were worried how Harry would take it, because he was so focused on connecting with you more."
"Yes."
Sarah glanced to the side, and Bob followed her gaze. Harold and Jenny sat next to one another as they discussed plans with other earth ponies for when then were released. "I don't think you need to worry about that anymore," Sarah said, a small smile playing across her muzzle.
"Maybe not," Bob said softly. "We had a talk about it a few days ago, before he was completely pony. I think we worked it out."
"I'm really glad to hear that."
"So what about my question?" Bob asked. "Why not keep doing what you really liked?"
Sarah gave him a forlorn look. "I don't want to neglect my family again."
"I'm sure you can work through that. Maybe even more so now, if everything we've ever found important about society is being tossed out the window. For instance, how are things like money going to matter now?"
Sarah remained quiet, looking thoughtful.
"I guess there's some selfish interest at work, too," said Bob. "I can't secretly follow you from the shadows via your blog anymore."
Sarah smiled. "Are you really that interested in archaeology?"
"Maybe. I don't quite know. I just want the chance to find out, and I thought going through you was the way to do it."
Sarah's eyes shimmered. She stood, trotted over to Bob, and wrapped her fore-legs around him in a gentle hug. "I-I have to confess, I always wished my family was more interested in my work. I never knew I had my wish all along."
Bob returned the hug as best as his still morphing body would allow. "I'm sorry I never told you. I guess I was also worried about the implications that I considered you more my mother than my birth mother was."
Sarah let out a heavy sigh and hugged Bob tighter.
Bob closed his eyes and fought back tears. "My mother missed so many opportunities. I don't want to see that happen to you."
Sarah drew back from the embrace and wiped her eyes with the back of a hoof. "I don't want to give up archaeology. I've put too much of my life into it. I just need to think about it for a bit. I'm not ready to make a decision yet."
Sarah's words from earlier echoed now in Bob's head: I should be free to find my own destiny. Perhaps that was the missing piece. What was harmony without some sort of drive to do something you really cared about, even if it didn't contribute to this utopic vision? Surely there had to be room for that.
"Laura told me she was sure everything would work out in the end," Bob said.
"It will," said Sarah. "Things are better. It's just some of the details I still need to figure out."
Laura gazed at the group of pegasi that had grown from only four to fifteen in the space of only an hour. Yet in that short span of time, she had managed to get all of them flying steady and sure, and now they hovered with ease as non-pegasi friends and family looked on in awe and pride. Sometimes she was not even aware that a new one had joined until she brought them to a stop and actually did a count.
She was grateful they had trickled in. Despite her newly-found confidence, she would have found it daunting had all of them shown up at once. Even now she felt just a bit nervous. She couldn't use Sunny's words to fall back on to shore her up, even though she still wanted to reject the idea that Sunny had done anything wrong.
"Okay, now I want to show you something else, but it's kind of hard to explain," said Laura.
"Weather control?" cried a very eager twelve year old colt. His wings flapped in a blur that made a faint buzzing sound. "Please tell me you're going to teach us that!"
Laura smiled. "It's more that I want to show you how you can sense the stuff that can lead to that. You have to take it a little at a time."
"But didn't you create a rain cloud all by yourself?" asked a mare.
"And indoors!" cried a stallion.
"Not by myself," Laura said quickly. "I had two very talented friends to help me, and even then we had to puzzle it out."
"I think I can already sense some of it!" the colt said excitedly. "I told my mother that it feels more humid in here today than it did yesterday, and she just looked at me funny."
"But it is more moist today, isn't it?" said another. "I can feel it myself. I think they turned up the humidifiers since the weather's been so dry the past few days."
"I can't feel it," another pegasus said in a glum voice.
"Neither can I," echoed another.
"Don't worry," said Laura. "That's what I want to show you. What we found out was that you get a better sense for these things when you're moving. I think it has something to do with the air flowing over your wings."
"So what do we do?" the colt asked.
Laura turned away from them. "Follow me. We're going to fly in a wide circle around the room. Just take it slow, and try to go single-file." She turned her head back towards them. "Ready?"
A sea of nodding heads was her response.
"Then let's go!"
The pegasi easily fell into a line behind her without much jockeying for position, as if they already had an instinct for coordination with their fellow fliers. At once a technician called up to them, "Miss Tanner! No making indoor rain clouds, please!"
"We're not, I promise!" Laura called back. "There's not enough moisture here for one anyway."
"Laura, be careful," a familiar voice called up from below.
Laura face-hoofed. "Yes, Mom."
Several pegasi behind her giggled.
Laura did as well. "While we're not making a cloud, this is how you would move to create one. You concentrate the moisture in the center of your circle."
"I can feel it!" cried the little colt.
"So can I!" cried another. "I couldn't before, but now I can!"
"I didn't realize it was this simple!" marveled another.
"Is it moving? I think it's moving!"
"I can feel it moving, too, like we're drawing it in!"
Laura had already sensed it herself, as if she had a connection not to just the flow of air but the movement of her fellow pegasi. They weren't individual ponies each doing their own part and just happened to be very well coordinated. Something was passing through all of them, as if their magic had somehow been linked together. Now she understood how she, Emma, and Joan had pulled off their feat; some sort of unspoken communication had connected them.
Yet she realized something else as well. She had them move slowly specifically so they would avoid actually trying to create a cloud, but having so many pegasi working together was the same as a few pegasi working more quickly.
"Everypony, stop!" Laura called out, and she spun around in place.
The other pegasi complied, but not without a few disappointed noises.
Laura smiled so hard, her muzzle ached. "No, it's okay. I stopped us only because we were doing this almost too well, and I promised we wouldn't make it rain," she said in an elated voice. She thrust a hoof towards the center of their flight circle. "Look, can you see it? It's kinda of wispy but--"
"I can see it!" the little colt cried.
"So can I!" another cried.
Just faintly visible in the overhead lights of the auditorium were slowly undulating strings of wispy fog. Below, a humming noise arose as the humidifiers activated one after the other as they suddenly detected a very dry environment. Several technicians gave them disapproving looks, but no one said a word of protest. "Yes, you did," said Laura, so pleased that her voice quavered from the force of her emotions. "We did it together."
As the other pegasi looked at their work with reactions ranging from astonishment to awe, many of Laura's doubts melted away. Maybe Sunny had lied to her or done something to her against her will, but what did it matter? Laura had never felt this enthusiastic about anything in her life. This wasn't about Jenny or past sins anymore. Perhaps she had entered into this lark with the thought of becoming some sort of great storm-tamer, but she finally understood that was not where her future lay. Her true talent was far more fundamental than that.
Something felt within her grasp, something that would forever silence any questions of what her life path would be. It felt so close, it had a tangible force, and once it did arrive, she would know for sure.
There would be a sign ...
Like a sort of mark ...
Like ... a cutie mark.
The term had simply popped into her head. It quickly turned from alien, to familiar, to desired. It would make her feel complete. Then the question of how she got here would never matter again.
The little colt suddenly buzzed up to her. "Are we gonna get a chance to make real clouds and really make it rain?"
Laura smiled. "We will. I promise."
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I just have a gut feeling that getting a cutie mark will only make things worse with the mental brainwashing that Sunset did. Twilight needs to get the antidote ready faster then she expects and she should have been allowed to stop the transformed from going down their dangerous path. This is looking to be bad.
I am annoyed that kevin is taking the sudden change of the ponies on how they feel about the transformation once it was nearing completion at face value.
Why is no one talking about the dangers of letting the pegasi use their magic? Unlike equestria, any changes to the weather on earth would have a chain reaction that could lead to a variety of natural disasters.
I'm glad to see there are ponies questioning the vision. It means they really are in control of themselves.
I have the feeling that Laura will count to the ones who will stay Pony permanently, especially after discovering their special talent in form of the Cutie Mark. Maybe it's really something alike the "final nail in the coffin" and would prevent a counterspell from working on such Ponies.
On another note it remained to be seen if completely transformed Ponies can even be turned back at all. It could be that the spell only works on partly transformed ones. That would be a doozy.
And then there is the problem that I'm not sure how the spell would work if the human-turned-Ponies decide for themselves to stay Ponies and the spell can't force them back if they don't want to.
So many options. I can't wait to see what happens next.
8331623
Cuttie mark magic seems to be far more complex and isn't something that Sunset could fully incorporate. The way it is described it is so magically complex ponies trying to unravel it would be like asking a person from four or five hundred years ago to figure out how a supercomputer works if you plopped a supercomputer down in front of them in their own time periods. They might get some vague impressions after years of study but there is simply too many foundational concepts that would be forever beyond them.
Starlight knows more than any other pony and it doesn't seem to really even scratch the surface. Sunset is unlikely to have figured out much more especially cut off from ponies with cuttie marks to study for the last twenty years. Cuttie marks sealing the deal might just be a coincidence that she couldn't anticipate ahead of time but definitely wasn't going to complain about. But it is highly doubtful she could make cuttie marks behave certain ways given they are that magically beyond pony knowledge even with how brilliant she is.
The fact that cuttie mark magic is so fundamentally too advanced for Twilight or any other pony to currently grasp does seal the deal. Maybe with centuries more time they could figure it out but they clearly don't have that time. Leonardo Di Vinci couldn't be expected to figure out and make complex microchips and Sunset can't figure out making cuttie marks behave the way she wants. The most she can do is instill a drive to want one but what they turn out to be is beyond her dictates.
8331644
Nope.
Don't worry about that. A city changes the Weather Patterns. Cars do, cows do... Even Swimming pools do. They change the flow of air, heating and moving it. But those changes are negated on a larger scale. Global Warming, largely caused human invention, has greatly changed the weather patterns, but this is the effect of Bilions of Humans over hundreds of years. And yet the world hasn't gone into the next ice age early yet.
10-15,000 pegasai aren't going to cause any world disturbing weather pagers by manipulating weather on a local level.
All this harmony, so little chaos...
8331644
It doesn't really work that way. Sure, they are putting more energy into the system but there is no telling where that energy will end up, and energy has a tendency to dissipate. If they put more energy into a low energy area, I think there would be a reduction in storms in the medium term because there would be a smaller difference between different locations (and more energy in high energy areas would increase storms).
There is no reason to believe one way or the other that it would result in a net increase in disasters because we don't know how they would act.
Wait-wait-wait! Sunset tried to tap into Alicorn's pool of power? And it caused that storm!?
Hmm, Eileen could be a wake-up call for "ponies" by living in New-Ponyville. It's hard to forget about human existence if one is living right here. This could test how "tolerant" they are. And if human is living in "pony" town, some may start thinking that "pony" living in human city is not so far-fetched.
8331831
But how about the fact it isn't just one pegasi but hundreds of them
8331644
You mean like, a tornado in Colorado can cause a butterfly to flap its wings in China?
The only way to know if it is their decision to remain a pony is to turn them back into human, asks their opinion and then turn them back if they want.
The problem with this Sunset is Hubris.
Just realized a certain irony. Those that do the most to maintain their "identity" as ponies like Fred and Bob are actually closer to receiving their cuttie marks than many other ponies. Cuttie marks are marks of identity and that drive to know and maintain their identity actually makes it more likely a pony will get their cuttie mark. Laura is also getting close but she has really been pushing herself to find her new identity. Most other ponies not doing as much thinking for themselves actually might delay getting cuttie marks.
Am i a bad person for hoping that it does?
Laura is going to be president of the USPS.
United States Pony Society, not United States Postal Service. But she would probably be better than whoever is in charge now of the USPS.
So Sunset was responsible for that tornado..... Interesting....
8331971
Think she already established that in her own mental self recrimination a few chapters ago but never was really given a reason why. No clue what she was trying to do or even if the tornado was a mistake or diliberate. She definitely felt guilty over it though as she tells a need to make it up to the Tanners by taking special interest in them. Wonder if she feels similar guilt over what misery she caused Sarah with deliberately sabotaging her archaeological career. Sarah hasn't spoken much on the subject but sure she wants to give Sunset a thrashing for that despite "ponies always forgive"
The point of mental brainwashing is ..
" Forget whatever bothered you when you were human , and you are pony now, you will happy because you will not be bothered from those things when you were human, and transformation back human you would be bothered by those things again. "
So that will make those ponies don't want to change back.
Oh , the most important about mental brainwashing is .. " Pony always forgive , so we can forgive Sunset Shimmer "
Noooo! Laura! Don't
look into the light!give in to the programming!8332058
hmm what about the Geneva accords? i mean if sunset is arrested she may not have a trial or even legal aid or console since they apply to humans and not ponies if so we humans could do very inhumane things to sunset and not be held accountable i think that twilight should find out about the Geneva accords either by studying human and or human law or have a human tell her about it. that could be enough reason to take sunset to be tried under equestrian law on her native world due to the fact sunset is an equestrian citizen not a american or human citizen and would have no legal rights on earth since she wasn't born on earth so i guess if humans were to work with ponies griffins and what have you, the Geneva accords would need to be revised to include all sentient and sapient individuals
Am I the only one who is half expecting Eileen to turn on everyone and try to free Sunset? It feels like a big jump but something about her personality and drives make me think she could end up in a situation like that especially if it came to be that Bob or other members of her family could not be changed back. It would be her warped vision of protecting her family to try to make Sunset's plans come to fruition. All it would take would be one promise from Sunset that she could undo Twilight's counterspell.
This quote here made me think of Fallout. All the humans go into the Vaults and then when they come out ponies have taken over the world and it's all like Equestria. XD
I don't trust this other being at all we only have her word to take about the devourers and now apparently she has at one time contacted Celestia in the past, was aware of the ponies and was aware that Sunset Shimmer plans for the human race and could have easily presented the ponyfication of the human race. If anything I think she is one of the Devourers and instead of just consuming magic where ever it cultivate it until she can harvester when the bounty is abandonment and the has the same plans for the ponies word if ever she ever reaches it. I wonder if the 'help' she provided to Celestia to stabilize her energies to not consume everything bit of magic around them is just the precursor of ascended 'alicorn' of becoming a devourers them selves.
I wonder if the Sunset unusually resistant powerful cutie part is linked to the apparent proto veneration of of from the new pony population? I don't think their would actually much wast of green food in the US simply considering how much is usually wasted in all supermarkets and I don't think the new ponies need that much more food to feed themselves especially with how much nutritions our harvested food it compared to horses needing to eat hay all day long. Plus, apparently ponies have a much more efficient digestive system then horses because the nutritiously pore food in the cold climates originated from.
She's done it. She has crossed that threshold. Damn. As much as I have said she was beyond help, that she was too far gone, I thought SS should have her already long neck stretched out another inch or two, not out of malice, but because it's the only salvation she can get. She so crazy, she cannot comprehend she's mad. Star Singer is only additional fuel to a roaring fire. She was never of sound mind, as anyone who had decades to grasp what they were doing would have stopped and seen the bigger implications at one point or another. Not to mention overestimating her own abilities, not considering she may ultimately fail, reach a hurdle she cannot leap over, even after seeing flaws in her execution. (overplaying instincts). It still does not occur to her the plan was a wreck.
Ironically, she may have saved them from something worse. Something that was coming for them anyway, but would have taken longer. Centuries, even millennia longer, but eventually would anyway, as magic would manifest earth over time, but slow enough for humanity not to know about it, and not know about devourers until they were hot on their tails already. Hastening magic saturation may well have hastened the devourers knowledge of it, and their advancement, ironically raising awareness of them, rather than remaining unaware and not knowing what would hit them.
Fred, Rob, you two go on being awesome. You two go on thinking objectively, and being open minded. Your parties need you. And Rob, quit acting like Sky. Sky hated her parents, and wanted nothing more than to be rid of them. You're doing the same, and you may regret it. I don't know what she was on about, but you still have your mum, and should make everything up to her as you can. And connect potentially permanent ponies with their bipedal equals. Fred, make things up to your daughter. You still have her, and should make the best of it. She stood by you when all others abandoned and virtually forgot about you. Don't lose her like WL's father lost his daughter forever.
Doctor Connor, I'm surprised at you. You'll mess things up even further. Morals and compassion are nice, but being good and right often means letting them fall to the wayside of being objective as possible. Pragmatism trumps all else, doctor.
Laura, Laura. What are we going to do with you? I expected to make comments about Jennifer like this, but not you. What an ironic turn of events. It disturbs me. The rapid progress of Pegasi instincts in particular scare me to no end. It's like our own rapid descent into self sustaining technology, only worse. Progress progresses too fast, and we fail to predict the fallout and chaos it triggers. Cars are mass produced, rather than being kept a well guarded secret, get shipped and bought worldwide, then people with poor hand eye coordination are provided another means to make the streets a warzone. Not to mention pollution threatens public health, a problem that's nonexistent when cars are few and far between. Mobile phones, may cause brain tumors, and certainly do result in even more inattention than we ever had. Do we run tests to see if people can use them only when stationary, and gauge that they will be used responsibly, or do we sell them to the world, consequences be damned? Altering the climate and ecosystem deliberately seems like more needless tampering, made worse by the fact that it's a deliberate effort without caution nor test runs for foresight. There could be all kinds of unforeseen consequences to this. I'm glad they are being watched. If this enthusiasm was left unchecked, the whole planet's function could be destroyed. If used only to sustain a village, I'm all for it. If it results in an explosive population, every foal of which needs to eat with no end in sight, it'll have bad expansion as a result, much like the Eurasians thought every part of the earth needed human inhabiting. We saw where that went. More land converted to desert than ever before. There's going to be way more ponies than needed for the earth to function, especially if they end up shunning birth control. What Sadie Sommers, Shady Summers, Sunset Shimmer has unleashed is not unlike us bringing about Skynet or Watson. Machines that can function in our absence, and would not die off nor shut down in our absence should we vanish, or abandon earth. Ever increasing numbers of ponies unbalancing the earth's ecosystem is sure with or without Sunny now if it's not stopped.
"Ponies always forgive?" Fred certainly caught that. Fortunately, they seem to have some independent thought, even if they are more susceptible to suggestion. Even more fortunate, Sunset can only tie it so tight when she has known the ponies in question for years, and gotten to know them personally. A total stranger she just met would not have their deepest desires and dreams out in the open for her to manipulate so meticulously and precise. So there's that. As much as they toss the word "Friend" around, the word does not apply to mere acquaintances. Someone you just met, but have not known for more than five minutes is not a friend. A friend is known for years. A friend is close to you through turbulent times, time after time. Help you out out of pure desire, free from external coercion. Chooses to spend time with you by your own merits, verses someone else they would rather avoid. This vapid idealized fantasy sounds like something last gen ponies would live in. It's nice and all, but it's not real, nor does it give you a chance for continuous growth, a reward all its own. And it does not make for a compelling narrative fiction wise.
And one of Lu's comments sets her apart from other version here. "I have lost track of the heavy decisions Tia and I have made in the past" Thus confirming they do have actual, real limits, and are not these omnipotent, all knowing databases, artificial beings much like our own internet and the computers that make it possible. Far too many tales suck the relatability out of them by having an infallible learning curve in addition to immortality. Kills any suspense any tale like that could ever have, as their success is guaranteed. I'm glad this story avoids that trapping. When things can be removed from your mind, lessons can be lost, and mistakes can be repeated. Not so much when you never suffer Aesop amnesia, and cannot forget any lesson learned. The show confirms this with the parasprite. Tia surely knew what it was, but it slipped her mind. And forgetting how to dreamwalk, something I imagine she did once upon a time, unless nightmares were allowed to run rampant for a millennium. Thanks for not letting a good story fall into this trapping.
8331623
8331761
In addition, its worth remembering that a cutie mark does not define a pony, an pony defines the cutie mark. A cutie mark forms when a pony discovers an important part of themselves, be it a talent or personality trait. That does not mean the cutie mark creates that trait though. The trait has always been there, the cutie mark merely brings it out even more and even then a pony is not inherently limited to her cutie mark. Twilight's mark in magic does not stop her from being good at organizing, nor does Applejack's apple cutie do anything to reduce her skill in carpentry. They could have chosen entirely different professions and performed well in them, the only reason they chose not to is because they enjoy what they do with their talents, because all a cutie mark is is a reflection of the pony.
8332248
Clearly, which is why those who do the most to maintain identities are the ones who will be getting cuttie marks first. The majority of ponies haven't given a lot of thought about who they are only what they should be doing. Bob and Fred clearly give a lot of thought about who they are and Laura has given a lot of thought about who she should be--so Bob, Fred, and Laura seem the highest chances of getting cuttie marks first. Ponies that have only started to think about these things like Jenny, Harold, Sarah, Heather, and likely many unnamed others would take more time with ones who are simply being led from place to place (like Laura's little herd who seem just focused on "what would Laura want") taking the greatest amount of time to actually come into a certain identity.
Dang...I've never wanted a pony to not earn a cutie mark before.
I am somewhat torn between shouting at Sandra's insistence to not call ETS psychologically manipulative and shaking my head in disappointment. ETS has shown to drastically change a victim’s attitude and personality, as well as introduce consistent ticks and mannerisms. One case of this is happenstance, two is coincidence, but several thousand exact cases of near-equal personality shifts is clearly not a quirk of an engineered disease.
For God’s sake, the mere mention of a nearly identical dream happening to thousands of people should be raising all of the red flags. I understand that I have the advantage of being the reader and that Sandra and Kevin are MDs so their thought process is based on process of elimination, but Anthony's on the money here: Sunset's brainwashed them.
I bet that sunset does end up being judge in a human court, she will be declared insane and transferred to equestrian custody.
8331623
What would happen if Starlight removed the cutie mark from a transformed person?
Let's say they decided that ETS ponies were not mentally competent, and could be turned back against their will.
If Cutie Marks are the point where an ETS transformation is irreversible, as it permanently marks a pony as having some kind of destiny, would removing it reverse the transformation, or would it create worse psychological problems?
Way to go Laura! You're one step closer to happiness and destiny. Is it me does the whole "changing ponies aback into humans to save them from devourers" seems somewhat irrelevant? I mean we were told in the earlier chapters that humans would develope their own magic in time regardless. (That's if we don't kill eachother off before then).
The species that created the devourers wee based on technology, but died out.
Magical species were killed by the devourers so they had little to no chance.
Why not go with sunset shimmers idea and have a race that uses both magic and tech?
8331852
I doubt Anthony and the president would allow it, how would they get their money from taxes and mortgages then?
Any idea on what Sunset's punishment should be at the end of this?
Her actions are nothing more than 'soft genocide' with a side of inspiring 'treason' on a global scale; and all so these new ponies can be power batteries against threats to ponies. The worst thing here is Sunset acknowledges that Humans have the capacity to come together and preserver and thrive by our own ingenuity against odds and situations she would think impossible without magic.
Why did she not ask Humans for help instead of assume that her solution is the only answer that can work? Like with time pieces or media for storing music we have many different ways of doing it. Whose to say Tiriek could be a threat with his magic if we hit him with microwave jamming for instance.
8332728
Starlight can't actually remove a mark. The reason that she was having to hold on to Sunset's cuttie mark is because it is technically still attached and releasing it would have it slap back to Sunset like a rubber band. Her taking it off the flank takes away the impact on personality and talent but doesn't sever its connection to the pony. So she can't actual remove cuttie marks from any of the transformed who get them and even trying could be really bad as this is like trying to sever part of their soul. The psychological and if you wish metaphysical implications of that are actually very horrifying and there is a reason it terrifies and disgusts Star Singer. If humans in the story knew what it implied they would be opposed too no matter how much they want to change the ponies back. It is very hard to describe it as anything but evil it is literally stealing souls.
8332776
Treason? That's a bit of a stretch; I don't think she ever proclaimed any loyalty to an earth government.
8332846
The debate about whether or not the ETS ponies are drones programmed by Sunset would extend to cutie marks as well.
Sunset didn't do much to a person's core personalities traits. Eileen probably would have been the same fool she always was, as she points out. But becoming ponies has changed the outlook and the goals of a lot of people, in a way that may put them in conflict with the rest of American society
Would "cutie marks" be seen as some form of brainwashing? Since they apparently guide people toward their purpose in life. And wouldn't removing them take away what is essentially psychological conditioning?
8332863
It's not Sunset's loyalty that has been warped but the Transformed Humans, and it was Sunset that cultivated the distrust of the United States in the Transformed. These new ponies may very well commit treason in their desire to follow the instincts and advice Sunset gave them.
It is terrible that Sunset is so the ends justifies the means.
8332903
Cuttie marks are beyond Sunset's capabilities to directly influence. I am more in the idea that the will be closer reflections of their non influenced self hence ponies that are actually thinking being the ones more likely to get them. Removing the marks might remove some element of pony but imagine taking Sarah's enthusiasm for archaeology or Fred's commitment as a soldier or Bobs contemplative nature--these are likely the things that would be tied up in their potential cuttie marks. To remove those marks seems the equivalent of giving them a lobotomy in many respects.
I love this story, but does anyone think that it's weird that Sara's archaeological theory was that Europeans or Asians had contact with Native Americans and described equines to them, and when she discovers it was actually extra-dimensional nonhuman aliens, instead of commenting on how wrong she got it, she considers it a validation of her hypotheses? She's claimed she was right all along three times now, and yet she was waaaaaay off (not that she could possibly have guessed the truth). I mean, its the equivalent of a meteorologist predicting sunshine and getting a hurricane hundreds of miles from the ocean, then basking in the glory of their 'success'.
8332248
A cutie mark does not completely define a normal pony. We've already established the transformed's heads have been screwed with far beyond that of a normal pony, to a degree best described by its conservative lower bound of "extreme". God only knows what Sunset may have implanted (deliberate or not) into what happens when they get a cutie mark. They're already basically cultists.
These past few chatpers I have been having that weird feeling that Laura is indeed going to get a cutie amrk and stay a pony for good. And that she migth end up being the only one, or almost the only one.
8333026
So, could a cutie mark be a sign of mental competence? If cutie marks reflect a person's destiny, wouldn't getting one be a sign that the ETS people have found their calling on their own, and are not being subconsciously manipulated by Sunset?
8333174
Less manipulated might be a better way of phrasing it. Hard to say anything on the subject. Maybe they would override any mental tampering maybe they just do nothing one way or another in terms of the tampering and maybe Sunset put other tampering in for when they get they get cuttie marked. Wait and see approach. Removing them completely (which doesn't seem possible but theoretically) would be tampering on a dangerous level though that could leave them in a worse state than the Our Town villagers were in. I would assume non responsive state "lights are on but no one is home" at worse or permanent clinical depression at best case scenario. It just isn't a viable option which means that cuttie marks are a sealed deal for keeping them as ponies even if they had an unlikely mechanism to remove them.
Hmm, what if Triss was the one who got mad with power when she got Lvl2 ascension, and completely wiped entire inhabited star systems, with Devourers being last resort weapon of remaining alien races? What if she would never have restored her sanity if not for Devourers devouring all that excess of uncontrolled magic? If so, she may be living in constant regret.
8332846
There's some mysterious stuff with CMs:
- Tirek's drainage and "Alicorn power transfer" from episode "Twilight's Kingdom" causes Cutie Marks to fade and disappear.
- Cutie Pox: Cutie Marks gone mad.
- Luna's Cutie Mark got purple when she's turned into NMM.
- Fluttershy's Cutie Mark changed to bats trio when she turned into a vampire-fruit-bat-pony.
- When CMC got their Cutie Marks, it was much more "explosive" than usual.
- Magical Mystery Cure replacement of cutie mark changed memories of all ponies involved, but no actual skills were gained
- Celestia gained dream-walking ability (just raw ability without experience) when SG swapped Luna's and Celestia's Cutie Marks
- Cutie Marks of non-Mane 6 ponies can glow (Cadance, Diamond Tiara, Coloratura)
- etc
8333052
No, it's the equivalent of a meteorologist predicting sunshine and getting a super-comet blinding entire hemisphere.
8333237
The Tirek thing I think would be another case of cuttie mark supression. The loss of magic making the cuttie marks to basically go dormant with no magic feeding into them.
MMC swap I think is a case of mismatching cuttie mark to pony that isn't actually "tuned" to it. It still tried to impart desire but failed to correctly impart skill because it was "out of tune". Not directly connected to pony just kind of plastered on. Pony still connected to original cuttie mark even if some pony else was wearing it which allowed the original cuttie mark to eventually power through with prompting. EDIT:more I think on it don't think A cuttie mark switch actually happened more of a confusion of the cuttie mark identity-temporarily fooling the cuttie mark to think it was one of the others making it take the design and impart desire of the talents but not actually being able to impart the talents. And one that was easily remedied by just "jogging the cuttie Mark's memory". Thinking this sense the same mark seemed to appear on multiple ponies at once but seems more plausible that the marks never left just changed their design. In short Starswirl's failed spell temporarily hypnotized the cuttie marks into thinking they were other cuttie marks.
Flutterbat gained part of the essence of a fruit bat and cuttie mark reflected the new being same with Nightmare Moon and her dark side.
Glowing cuttie marks due to the map is likely something to do with harmony magic interacting with them which is another whole field that ponies may not have a good understanding of.
Crusaders are an interesting case but the similarity and simultaneous gaining might indicate some shared bond between the marks.
Cuttie pox created marks not tuned to any pony and conflicted with one another. They imparted skills and had a very mind controlling type of desire but were at so much odds with one another they caused distress. Not being directly tuned to Applebloom were removable. Like they were taped on rather than part of her.
Agent Heller about creating a pony society you could a.) give the ponies land and allow them to create their own society parallel to humans or b.) ask Equestria how best to create one, also the current socioeconomic structure is already down the drain.
Kevin the reason Laura still wants to be a pony is because the transformation has dramatically improved just about every aspect of her life from her family life, to her social life, to her self confidence, becoming a pony has been a very good experience for her overall and it just might be the best thing that has ever happened to her.
Fred the reason the Laura's new friends still see her as their leader is because they are expressing the loyalty that the dream/vision installed in them plus they see being separated from her as a short term incontinence as they fully expect to be reunited in a day or two, also considering the ponies already have a location in mind for New Ponyville (my nickname for the place) they likely are not going to go for wherever the government set up the camp unless the government decided to let them pick the spot.
Now that I think about it, it would be hilarious for the new ponies to name their new settlement Ponyville (likely with Laura as the mayor) only to discover that their already is a Ponyville in Equestria and thus rename their new town New Ponyville.
New Ponyville could also become the capital of pony society on Earth (existing alongside but largely separate to human society sort of like the two world's in Harry Potter but without all the secrecy) and Laura could end up being the first President.
All the new ponies are in for a shock when they meet Princess Celestia due to the dream/vision and because at least one person views her as a major figure in their religion (in this case the Virgin Mary), it should be noted that despite not wanting or needing worship both Celestia and Luna fit the definition of goddesses established in classical mythology i.e. insanely powerful immortal being who control the very forces of nature, in their case Equestria's Sun and Moon respectively.
8332590
True they were being manipulated (some more then others) but it has been shown that they are still perfectly capable of critical thought, holding different opinions, and are capable of rational decision making (like Heather's decision to help stop the spread of ETS) and to be declared mentally incompetent as far as I know you have to be unable to think rationally or be a clear and present danger to yourself and others and aside from forcing society to reinvent itself these transformed ponies have yet to really be a danger to anything other then a wall, also getting them declared mentally incompetent just to circumvent the need for consent is completely immoral and makes those who request it no better then Sunset, plus Twilight would never perform a reverse transformation on somepony without the consent of the individual.
8332676
Considering that a part of being legally insane is not being able to understand what you did was wrong, this is a very real possibility.
8333149
I've been getting that feeling for quite a while and given how this chapter ended I'm thinking that we will find out what her Cutie Mark is on August 12th but on the scale of millions likely thousands will gain cutie marks by the time Twilight has found a way to reverse the Transformation and that's assuming that Twilight would be willing to forcibly transform millions without their consent, regardless of what the U.S. government wants her to do.
The fact that she's accepting that easily is goddamn terrifying
8333053
I highly doubt Sunset can predict, much less alter, what kind of cutie mark a pony gets. That would require a fundamental understanding of cutie marks not even Starlight possesses, and Starlight is the mare who made cutie marks a focal point of her studies. At best Sunset can use the batpony gimmick to fire off another tailored 'believe who you are' dream, reinforcing the pony's belief that the cutie mark is a destiny she must follow, rather than just a reflection of the pony.